"Italian Balconies" -- NPR Tiny Desk Contest 2025 -- Lara Herscovitch & the Highway Philosophers

“Italian Balconies” - NPR Tiny Desk Contest 2025 entry, recorded live Feb 5 2025. Lara Herscovitch & the Highway Philosophers, feat. David Childs (keyboard) & Pierce Campbell (bass/vox).
The song was inspired originally by the people across Italy who, during the fear and confusion and trauma and grief of the early COVID-19 pandemic lockdown, took to their open windows and balconies to sing - to themselves, to each other, with each other, for each other.
It came from my own deep reflection about the lockdown period and what I saw, experienced, felt, and learned… What I missed and didn’t miss… What I wanted to hold onto, what I wanted to let go of… It contains my deep hope that I - and we - remember the lessons from the stillness of that time and choose healthier ways of being.
Lyrics:
Milo see it snowing
We’re going nowhere quickly
Milo show me how to sit still
Been so busy doing things that all fools will
Every clock is broken, everyone’s vertigo
Swimming in an everlasting plastic sideshow
I miss the quiet of a quarantine
Any forest talking to the trees
Bridging all the lonely
Singing from Italian balconies / Singing from Italian balconies
Milo remember lockdown
Dolphins swimming Istanbul and we could see the bluest sky
Over China for the first time
In such a long time
Every clock is broken, everyone’s vertigo
Swimming in an everlasting plastic sideshow
I miss the wisdom of a quarantine
In any forest listening to the trees
Bridging all the lonely
Singing from Italian balconies / Singing from Italian balconies
Remember when we said we’d never
Never go back, never go back
Remember when we said we’d never, never never - forget
What if we were still…
Thank you signs on paper plates
Painted hearts on wooden crates
Hands against a windowpane
Showing how much love remains
What if we were still…
Music & Lyrics by Lara Herscovitch (BMI) (c)2023. All Rights Reserved. LaraHerscovitch.com
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[@DThompson55]

Outstanding!

[@NealBraverman.]

Hi Lara, so Wonderful to see and hear you and your band do this Tiny Desk concert 🎶! I am still doing Virtual ROM and I know you’ll be Live in West Roxbury in April 2 days before my Birthday! I hope I can get to see you there! Always, Neal :)) 🎤🎶🌟☃️👍🌈👏👏☮️