Mary Chapin Carpenter's 'Grand Central' Song

Mary Chapin Carpenter

Traci Goudie

Singer Mary Chapin Carpenter has written many songs about the journeys that people take, both metaphorically and literally. On her latest album, Between Here and Gone, Carpenter sings about one man's pilgrimage to Grand Central Terminal in the aftermath of the Sept. 11 attacks.

Carpenter was inspired to write the song "Grand Central Station" after hearing an interview with an iron worker on the first anniversary of the attacks. The man, one of the first at the scene after the towers fell, worked at Ground Zero for days afterward. The iron worker said that at the end of each shift, he felt impelled to go to the train station so the souls of the victims could follow him.

"He'd find himself just going to Grand Central Station and standing on the platform and thinking whoever wanted to go home could catch the train home," says Carpenter.

Carpenter met with NPR's Steve Inskeep at Grand Central Terminal to talk about the song and inspirations behind her new album.