Song & Story: THE CITY

THE CITY

by Sarah Aili & Dan Pellarin

WHAT DO YOU MISS MOST ABOUT THE PLACE YOU CALL HOME?

NEW YORK CITY

Before moving to Nashville, I lived in New York City for five years. Before I knew anything about THE CITY, my grandparents and their parents lived there. It wasn't until the early 1940's that my grandparents decided to make the trip out West to sunny California and call it home. By the time I came around, we were a full blown California extended family; blonde, sun kissed and sandy footed.

My grandmother was a singer from a young age and carried that with her to Northern California where she passed it directly onto me. Standing toe to toe at the piano in her living room, she taught me how to sing, how to breathe, how to be comfortable around the piano and mostly how to love the life of a performer.

I would listen to her stories about New York and life in the Big City as a young girl. She was a singer & showgirl and I'd swoon over the images that raced through my mind of the glamour that must be New York City. So what did I do the MOMENT the opportunity came knocking at my California door? I said YES. I lept and just like that I had keys in my pocket to my very first New York City apartment.

Auditions, dance classes, subway passes, fabulous food, interesting people, brand new ideas, performances in brick lined and small black box theaters, pounding the pavement with the rest of them, dancing into the night, walking for hours on cobble stoned streets into the Heights and below them, laying on blankets at Strawberry Fields reading and writing, sitting on park benches wrapped up in scarves and hot chocolate, working late hours and waiting for the late night subway for what sometimes seemed longer than my shift, workshops and parties, conversations and chance meetings, the highs and the lows of New York all wrapped up in the five years of it's hold on me.

NASHVILLE

Five years passed and I was living in Nashville, TN with a new set of keys in my pocket - home. Suddenly I was living in a house with a front & back door and a washing machine of my very own! There were rolling hills and beautiful farm land just down the street from my East Nashville perch. I was back in a car again and could go anywhere in the city within 20 minutes, I could hear the most impressive musicians and songwriters in one square block & in one single afternoon than I had ever been that close to before. Evenings were filled with going out to hear people play their songs I had been listening to on the radio since I was that young sandy footed California girl back home. Having lived in Nashville for six years now, I can honestly say that it's magic has won me over. I am honored to call it home.

HOME

Although I had fallen in love with Nashville, I found that there were moments when the quiet was too loud for me, I had grown accustomed to hearing the sirens and taxi cabs outside my window and found comfort in it. There were times when I still yearned for that New York Minute, Indian Food at 3am, or walking for miles, or knowing there was someone else in the same building I called home.

THE SONG

When I sat down to write a song with [Dan Pellarin](https://www.instagram.com/dan_pellarin/?hl=en), I was so pleased to know that he had just moved to Nashville from New York City as well! We got to talking and reminiscing about some of our favorite things about the city and before long, we had the beginnings of this song: THE CITY.