Duluth native Ben Rosenbush penned a song about the Zenith City for his band’s second album. Ben Rosenbush and the Brighton‘s 2012 release, A Wild Hunger, included a track titled simply “Duluth.”

Rosenbush explained the song in a 2012 interview with City Pages:

The song, “Duluth,” is probably the most straightforward in telling a personal story. It centers on several key images from my childhood. Growing up in Duluth as a young kid, my family and I spent as much time as we could at Park Point, the long narrow strip of beach on Lake Superior that connects Minnesota and Wisconsin. We used to build fires on the beach at night after we’d been swimming in the cold water all day, and I used that image as a metaphor for how the moments of our past echo throughout our lives. The line, “every spark became the sun of a new day,” is to say that those young moments left an indelible impression that continue to shape who I’m becoming.

Duluthians will have no trouble recognizing Park Point in the lyrics.

Duluth

Down the pine needle path, we’re running for the beach grass dunes.
Climb the hill and there’s the lake; you look back as I’m catching up to you.
Twenty years and I’m still running a race for something to come into view.
Oh, the places where you spend your time spend some time in you.

Built our fires on the beach,
watched the city fall asleep,
every spark became the sun of a new day.

Mother’s tanning under the tangerine sun, she’s thinkin’ of jumpin’ in.
Father weaves a trail of footsteps that lead down the beach and deep within.
Swimming backstroke I’m baptized in the cold, cold I still feel on my skin.
Oh, the places where you spend your time spend some time in you.

Built our fires on the beach,
watched the city fall asleep,
every spark became the sun of a new day.
Swam the cold water lake,
let the flame dry off my face,
every spark became the sun of a new day.

Built our fires on the beach,
watched the city fall asleep,
every spark became the sun of a new day.
Swam the cold water lake,
let the flame dry off my face,
every spark became the sun of a new day.