China Lyrics
China, all the way to New York
I can feel the distance getting close
You're right next to me, but I need an airplane
I can feel the distance as you breathe
[Chorus]
Sometimes I think you want me to touch you
How can I when you build the Great Wall around you?
In your eyes I saw a future together
Oh, you just look away in the distance
[Verse 2]
China decorates our table
Funny how the cracks don't seem to show
Pour the wine, dear, you say we'll take a holiday
But we never can agree on where to go
[Chorus]
Sometimes I think you want me to touch you
How can I when you build the Great Wall around you?
In your eyes I saw a future together
Oh, you just look away in the distance
[Interlude]
China all the way to New York
Maybe you got lost in Mexico
You're right next to me, I think that you can hear me
Funny how the distance learns to grow
[Chorus]
Sometimes I think you want me to touch you
How can I when you build the Great Wall around you?
[Outro]
I can feel the distance
I can feel the distance
I can feel the distance getting close
About
“China”, the third single from Little Earthquakes, was the first song written for the album and originally titled ‘Distance’. The song uses the country China, and the dinnerware, as metaphors for a decaying relationship. It was a minor hit in the UK, peaking at #51 (matching the original peak of the album’s previous single “Silent All These Years”).
The European physical single releases featured some or all of the following non-album songs: “Sugar”, “Flying Dutchman” and “Humpty Dumpty”.
Q&A
Find answers to frequently asked questions about the song and explore its deeper meaning
Amos told Rolling Stone:
There’s been a side to me that’s always been drawn to heart-wrenching love songs. And sometimes I find that you don’t get those necessarily just in the contemporary singer-songwriter world, but also with musical theater, Gershwin, classics. I think that ‘China’ probably came after a big bout of listening to Barbra Streisand. Because you know, if anyone can break your heart, she could.
