Old Hanoi Lyrics - Nanci Griffith

Where are all the Satchel Boys 

Selling books outside the Metripole? 

Books to read in English, books of light and sorrows 

Of this foreign land and they are gone and they've flown away 

Where are all the cyclos 

With their drivers pedaling grace? 

Crowded out by motorbike, confined to lesser space 

In old Hanoi and they grew wings and they've flown away 

And in the words of Graham Greene 

Like the Quiet American 

Who's searching these sacred streets 

For old Hanoi 

And in all of these sacred things 

That I've been blessed in life to see 

I believe Im in someones dream 

In history 

Where is the eloquence 

Of the ladies on their bicycles? 

Dressed in their au dias in the lotus flowered nights 

Of Indochine and they rode to progress and they've flown away 

And in the words of Graham Greene 

Like the Quiet American 

Who's searching these sacred streets 

For old Hanoi, old Hanoi, old Hanoi 

Searching for Indochine, the old Hanoi 

Cherchant l Indochine, in old Hanoi, in old Hanoi