My Village is a Neighborhood

Songwriter: J. Scott Franklin

Senior: Diane Burts

This song is about the life of Diane Burts, a long time resident of Cleveland’s Hough neighborhood. This is how singer/songwriter Scott Franklin describes the process of working with Diane – “I felt like I was watching a movie. Her life has had so many meaningful days and stories that I wanted to do my best to somehow incorporate as many as I could into one song. She says it takes a village to raise a child and sees the whole world as a community. She believes we should watch out for each other.”

Diane Burts

Lyrics

VERSE

She grew up in a another city
in another county in another state
in a concrete jungle with rooftop gardens,
walls of brick and skies of grey

raised by an aunt and an uncle,
she played the organ and she sang
every minute she could and the days passed
in a town where she knew she wouldn’t be staying

She’d left the city of her youth
just before the riots broke
arriving in Cleveland,
where people were healing from riots their own

But she was overwhelmed by the the beauty,
like home at first sight
in the prestige of Case Western,
she was one of a kind

VERSE
College couldn’t have been better,
college couldn’t have been worse
depending on the hour
and the people and the words

It was a lifetime ago and it’s hard to imagine
all the things she did
viola in the philharmonic an actress,
teacher, vocalist (and piano)

Now her viola’s got 6 inches of dust
memories of a life near the Circle in Hough

Museums, gardens and her friends she never feels alone
She’s been around the world, but always loves coming home

CHORUS
Takes a village to raise a child.
Takes one you to change the world
We’ve got to lift each other up,
if your down the street or on a distant shore

And we’re one family, I’m looking out for you my friend
Where I’m living, where I’ve been
put me back in time and I’d l live it all again
My village is my neighborhood
Wouldn’t leave it if I could

VERSE
She met her husband over a flat tire,
and thats not the only thing he changed
now there’s 5 sons and one daughter
26 grand children and 14 great

She’s been across the country
with 2 young sons in a motorhome
Had her windows broken on the Great Plains,
cause that how hard the wind was blowing

in the Vatican she met the Pope
and he gave her baby a kiss
and then Germany, she rode a train,
a train that was on a ship

But nothing beats a walk in the rain,
flowers in the yards down her road
She’s been around the world,
but always loves coming home

CHORUS
Takes a village to raise a child.
Takes one you to change the world
We’ve got to lift each other up,
if your down the street or on a distant shore
And we’re one family, I’m looking out for you my friend
Where I’m living, where I’ve been
put me back in time and I’d l live it all again
My village is my neighborhood
Wouldn’t leave it if I could

VERSE
in 1967 and change she came here all alone
just a girl who faced the problems of this world,
on her own

She was just 17, and some were mean,
some were cruel some were cold
But she stood up, stood out,
made the world a better place, than she’d known

As sure as there’s a God above
and children in his arms
this world was made far better,
that this child was ever born

there’s been a lot of living
and praying and love and growing
She’s been around the world,
but she always loves coming home

VERSE
She’s watched a changing world from a place she’s never leaving
She’s come a long way since she stepped one foot in Cleveland

Think of how brave she had to be to come here all alone
She’s been around the world, but always loves coming home