HOMECOMING: On Friday in the New York City subway I heard yet another accordion rendition of music from The Godfather. Which I like a lot, you know.

But when I arrived back home, heavy-laden and panting and sweating under D.C.’s swampist cloud cover, I heard the hometown equivalent, and felt my spirits rise: Out by the Union Station fountain, a man was playing the saxophone and singing hymns into a microphone. I caught “Amazing Grace,” “Leaning on the Everlasting Arms,” and “The Battle Hymn of the Republic,” as well as a couple I didn’t recognize. They were breathy, shuddery, panhandling-style with syllables missing; and they were everything I love about my city.

Your vote: If I’d been on that taxi line (shut up, I had bags and bags of books, and if you’d heard me wheezing like Black Beauty’s last moments you’d’ve called me a taxi too!) for another ten minutes, which would I have heard first?

a. “Shenandoah”
b. “Lift Ev’ry Voice and Sing”
c. “Moon River”
d. “I Know That My Redeemer Lives”

Oh, heartbreak city, you’re never loved as well as you deserve. In this way you resemble all my sweethearts.