Deep Beneath the City / Not There Yet by Kristen Anderson-Lopez Lyrics

[ALL]
Deep beneath the city
With a thousand other strangers
Packed like driven cattle
Speeding through a maze
Rattling and lurching
Reading poetry in motion
A muffled speaker tells us
To expect delays

[JANE & NATE]
Shit

[ALI]
Sorry

[TRENT]
Excuse me

[CHRIS]
Hold the door
[NATE]
Wait!

[MS. WILLIAMS]
I should’ve hailed a cab

[TRENT]
Edits to the contract are due

[JANE]
Did I forget my phone?

[ALI]
That construction is new

[TRENT]
Monthly pass

[ALI]
Late for class

[MS. WILLIAMS]
Kiss my ass

[ALI, MS. WILLIAMS, & TRENT]
Oh my god
[NATE]
God, I hope my unemployment claim comes through

[MS. WILLIAMS]
Why did I wear these heels?

[CHRIS]
Gotta make my quota this week

[JANE]
Where in the hell’s the train?

[NATE]
This aroma’s unique

[ALI]
I’m so late

[TRENT]
Ten oh eight

[JANE]
Hate the wait

[JANE & TRENT]
Don’t they know
[JANE, TRENT & NATE]
That I got places that

[ALL]
I need to go

[JANE]
But I’m not there yet
I’m not there yet

[ALL]
Still

[ALI]
Five

[JANE]
Nine

[TRENT]
Twelve

[MS. WILLIAMS]
Ten

[NATE]
Forty-six
Minutes away
On the F

[JANE]
On the R

[ALI & TRENT]
On the friggin’ A

[JANE]
Have to get where I

[ALL]
Have to get
But I’m not there yet!

[DAVE]
Excuse me -

[SOPHIA]
Ouch!

[STEVEN]
A seat!

[NINA]
Is that lady pregnant or fat?

[STEVEN]
I think -

[DAVE]
Another route?

[SOPHIA]
Hey! Don’t eye me like that!
What a sleaze

[NINA]
C’mon, please

[STEVEN]
If I squeeze

[NINA, STEVEN, & SOPHIA]
Holy crap!

[DAVE]
Crap, why is the seat all wet where I just sat?

[NATE]
I wish I knew the time

[JANE]
Where is this audition?

[STEVEN]
A-choo!

[TRENT]
Did I just miss my stop?

[ALI]
Thanks, I don’t want the flu

[NINA]
Meet the goal

[SOPHIA]
Grab the pole

[TRENT]
No control

[JANE, TRENT, ALTHEA & ALI]
MTA

[JANE, TRENT & ALI]
I’m goin’ somewhere
And you’re

[JANE, TRENT, ALTHEA, NATE & ALI]
In my way, ‘cause

[ALL]
I’m not there yet
I’m not there yet
Still

[ALI]
Three

[JANE]
Five

[TRENT]
Nine

[MS. WILLIAMS]
Eight

[NATE]
Thirteen
Minutes so far

[JANE, NATE & ALI]
Underground on a track in a crowded car
Til I get where I

[ALL]
Have to get
But I’m not there yet

[ALL]
How long until

[JANE]
I can do
What I dreamed I would do
I would do for a living?

[ALL]
And how long ‘til

[TRENT]
I can love who I love
And my world is forgiving?

[ALL]
I thought by now

[NATE & ALI]
I’d be back on my feet
And I’d be where I need to be

[JANE, NATE, TRENT & ALI]
Instead I’m packed with strangers

[ALL]
Riding the uptown

[JANE & ALI]
3

[TRENT & NINA]
Downtown D

[ALTHEA & SOPHIA]
Crosstown E

[NATE, CHRIS, DAVE, & STEVEN]
Local G

[BOXMAN, spoken]
Ladies and gentlemen, due to train traffic ahead we are being momentarily held.

[ALL, spoken]
Fuck!

[ALL]
Gotta deal with the fact that
I’m not the one drivin’
Gotta tune out the world
As a means of survivin’
Not at home, not at play, not at work, not in bed
Not asleep, not awake, not alive and not dead
Not in place but still not moving ahead

[BOXMAN]
Eight million souls so busy rushing around
Blind to the beauty of the moment
And deaf to the sound
Of the polyrhythmic melody
The multilayered harmony
The everchanging symphony
Of life underground
Where together we ride, and together we wait
In a tiny metal room as we zoom toward our fate
And we stress on the express, and we bitch and we moan
In an unnatural proximity, together but alone
Eight million souls race to their destinations
In this limbo life we live between stations

[ALL]
No I’m not there!
Why am I not there yet?
Just

[ALI]
Two

[JANE]
One

[NATE]
Four

[MS. WILLIAMS]
Six

[TRENT]
Seventeen
Minutes from here

[ALI, JANE, & TRENT]
But the track and the map and my route’s not clear

[ALL]
Will I get where I have to get?

[ALI]
I’m not there

[MS. WILLIAMS]
Not there

[JANE, TRENT, CHRIS, ALTHEA, NATE & ALI]
Not there
I’m

[ALL]
Deep beneath the city
With a thousand other strangers!