Al Stewart

[fox69]

"Necromancer"

"Necromancer"



Oh the sweet addiction
Of forbidden fruit
Oh the strange affliction
That has taken root

Oh the hidden cancer
Cancer of the soul
Oh the necromancer
Inside us all

I have never seen this many
People gathered in one place together
Don't ask about it
You don't want to know

Caught up in the fury of euphoria
They say will last forever
Don't ask about it
It might just be so

Oh the burning candle
Oh the pretty flame
Come fly into the night with us
And feel the same

Oh the sweet surrender
Oh the solemn vow
Leave your old identity
And join us now

I believe that I have been
Through this before
And I can still remember
Maybe a past life
I just can't tell
The faces and the uniforms
Are changed yet
There's something so familiar
Am I still under
That same old spell

Oh the sweet addiction
Of forbidden fruit
Oh the strange affliction
That has taken root

Oh the love of darkness
Oh the vampire's kiss
Have mercy on a people
Who would dream like this
Who would dream like this
Like this

 

[fox69]

"Next Time"

"Next Time"



He heard the clatter of her heels in the street
The clock said half-past three
He lay there waiting in the dark to hear
The scraping of the front-door key
He wouldn't say to her
"Don't want to know where you were"
She wouldn't find him there
Next time

She missed the train, she felt the rain upon her face
It seemed to clear her head
She watched him drive into the night
A broken tail-light, a speck of red
She still felt his touch
It didn't seem to mean that much
She wouldn't go back there
Next time

When you were just a kid you loved
To go to movies in the afternoon
And so you left the factory
And got a job in the projection-room
Bette Davis plays
Ran away with the passing days
You'll be a movie-star
Next time

 

[fox69]

"Night Meeting"

"Night Meeting"



It was a night meeting
Somewhere in a troubled land
They came with no greeting
Left without a shaken hand.

Nearby the town sleeping
Was unaware of what was done
No need for watchkeeping
They'll be gone before the sun.

You may not see just where the sense is
In the actions of the State
You may not know the consequences
Of their actions till too late
The rival factions still debate
As shadows gather at your gate.

It was a night meeting
They won't admit on either side
There'll be no press briefing
Information classified.

It was a night meeting
Independently arranged
To get a signed treaty
Force the government to change.

Secret diplomacy
Without the means to make their policy prevail
Meanwhile the powers that be
Behind the scenes have guaranteed to see them fail.

You seem beyond the jurisdiction
Of the democratic powers
You do not see the contradiction
Of the watchmen in the towers
You turn your back as night devours
The final chance, the final hours.

It was a night meeting
These are men who won't be missed
Their lives were just fleeting
They don't officially exist.

 

[fox69]

"Night Of The 4th Of May"

"Night Of The 4th Of May"



And the days they flew by
And the leaves fell from the trees
And many times you came around
And many times you slept with me
And every time that we made love
You wrote it down in your diary
Lady of ladies

But I would always say to you
Don't ask about tomorrow
Give what you have, take what you need
Your time is only now
Don't try to tie me down to promises
I live for today, today is all there is
And freedom seems to be everything to me

I took you down to a party
On the night of the 4th of May
And a strange and growing restlessness
Had hung in the air all day
The need to try and tear down
And destroy all that we'd made
Lady of ladies

You whispered in my ear and asked me
If I fancied her
You told me that he'd phoned you
When I was in America
Daring each other just to say okay
Swap for tonight, didn't I always say
That freedom seems to be everything to me

And she came and she sat down beside me
And you found an excuse to go downstairs
And she smiled and made
The kind of conversation that you do
And later on she said
'My last train has gone
Oh I wonder if you could run me home'

And I found vou in the hallway and told you
That was all that I would do
Just run her home and it's through
Oh I thought you knew
But I must confess
I laid my head on her breast
And it seemed so hard
To pull it away

Her hand touched my hand
And her eyes were offering the rest
If it wasn't for you, oh I would have stayed
But I came back home through the morning
To find you lying awake
And I knew all at once what you'd done
And I heard myself say
"Why did you have to sleep with him
Anyone else Wouldn't have mattered
Half
As much as him"

I don't want to touch you
Somehow you feel unclean
I just wish that you
Were five hundred miles away from me
Don't talk at all, don't start to cry
Just pack up your things
Lady of ladies

And though I'd always told myself
That when our time ended
I'd walk away with no regrets
And no attempts to stay
Somehow it doesn't seem to be that way
I find I'm needing every word you say
This freedom seems to be everything to me

And you went up to Cambridge
And you stayed in your brother's room
And you wrote me a letter and sent it the same afternoon
You said "I just want to hurt myself
Oh I need you so badly now"

And you told me
"Without you there seems to be no horizon at all
Just no crack in the wall
No place lower to fall

"Hey don't leave me, don't leave me
The shapelessness of the dawn
Floods above and beneath me,
I can't go on"

And I had to walk right into the trap
And I had to say please come back
Though I felt all the while
My resistance slipping away

Why did I have to fall for you
Anyone else
Wouldn't have hurt me
Half
As much as you

 

[fox69]

"Night Rolls On"

"Night Rolls On"



Night rolls in
Gone is the wind
Fireflies dancing in your eyes
Now you're holy again
Oh night rolls in
Oh night rolls in

It's like a dream of a long time ago
A footprint lost in the snow
That covers the ground where we summered our lives
Watching them grow
From seeds that you sow

But now the world in all its works and ways
Grays our Novembering days
The fire still glows
That once was a rose

A long time ago
Night rolls in
Gone is the wind
Fireflies dancing in your eyes
And now you're holy again
Oh night rolls in
Oh night rolls in
Night rolls in

Gone is the wind
Fireflies dancing in your eyes
And now you're holy again
Oh night rolls in
Oh night rolls in
Oh night rolls in

 

[fox69]

"Night Train To Munich"

"Night Train To Munich"



Meet me at the station underneath the clock
Carry an umbrella, no need to talk
The man in the homburg, hiding in the fog
Will be watching
Get yourself a ticket, go through the gate
At seven forty-five precisely, don't be late
If anybody follows don't hesitate
Keep on walking

And take the night train to Munich
Rumbling down the track
After half an hour in the restaurant car
Look for the conductor
And there will be a stain on his tunic
A paper underneath his arm
Then you'd better pray that he doesn't look away
Or you'll never, never, never come back.

When you get the paper take a look inside
On page twenty-seven there's a photo of a bride
Underneath the story of a man who died
In Morocco
Memorize the article word for word
The man in the homburg understands the code
Make sure the conversation isn't overheard
They're around you

And take the night train to Munich
Rumbling down the track
After half an hour in the restaurant car
Look for the conductor
And there will be a stain on his tunic
A paper underneath his arm
Then you'd better pray that he doesn't look away
Or you'll never, never, never come back.

I really wouldn't ask if there was anybody else
But I now you've got the knack of taking care of yourself
And they don't know your face so there won't be anyone
Looking for you
When you get to Munich we'll be waiting in the car
Don't look around, just walk straight out
If you don't show, I'm sorry for the pain
I caused you

Upon the night train to Munich
Rumbling down the track
After half an hour in the restaurant car
Look for the conductor
And there will be a stain on his tunic
A paper underneath his arm
Then you'd better pray that he doesn't look away
Or you'll never, never, never come back

 

[fox69]

"Nostradamus"

"Nostradamus"



In the east the wind is blowing the boats across the sea
And their sails will fill the morning and their cries ring out to me
Oh, Oh
Oh, the more it changes, the more it stays the same
And the hand just re-arranges the players in the game

Oh, I had a dream, it seemed I stood alone
And the veil of all the years
Goes sinking from my eyes like a stone

A king shall fall and put to death by the English parliament shall be
Fire and plague to London come in the year of six and twenties three
An emperor of France shall rise who will be born near Italy
His rule shall cost his empire dear, Napoloron his name shall be
From Castile does Franco come and the Government driven out shall be
An English king seeks divorce, and from his throne cast down is he
One named Hister shall become a captain of Greater Germany
No law does this man observe and bloody his rise and fall shall be

Man, man, your time is sand, your ways are leaves upon the sea
I am the eyes of Nostradamus, all your ways are known to me
Man, man, your time is sand, your ways are leaves upon the sea
I am the eyes of Nostradamus, all your ways are known to me

In the new lands of America three brothers now shall come to power
Two alone are born to rule but all must die before their hour
Two great men yet brothers not make the north united stand
Its power be seen to grow, and fear possess the eastern lands
Three leagues from the gates of Rome a Pope named Pol is doomed to die
A great wall that divides a city at this time is cast aside
These are the signs I bring to you to show you when the time is nigh
Man, man, your time is sand, your ways are leaves upon the sea
I am the eyes of Nostradamus, all your ways are known to me

 

[fox69]

"Not The One"

"Not The One"



It's the kind of grey November day that washes away reflections
In the eyes of hotel porters
And the latticed wooden benches by the sea contain no travellers
Or Irish lady authors
And the girl in the raincoat walks the lanes of Brighton
With her collar turned against the wind
And hovers in the doorways of second-hand bookshops
Among the dust and fading print
And you're not the one she's thinking of
And you're not the one she really wants
Just a point along the line she's leaving from

She goes into a cafe, orders tea, looks at the menu
But there's nothing really on it
And the place is as deserted as a plaza in a heat-wave
And the cloth has jam upon it
But the girl in the raincoat doesn't stop to count the tea-leaves
Or turn to see the mists around the sun
For the winter's unfolding around her
And it's time for moving on
And you're not the one she's thinking of
And you're not the one she really wants
Just a station on the line she's leaving from

And so you sit there in the middle of the carpet
With her suitcases around you
And it comes to you she journeyed to the center of your life
But she never really found you
Just another girl in a raincoat
Who shared the passing of the days
And you're glad of the warmth that she gave you
And you hardly need to say
That she's not the one you're thinking of
No she's not the one you really want
Just a point along the line you're leaving from

 

[fox69]

"Old Admirals"

"Old Admirals"



I can well recall the first time I ever put to sea,
It was on the old "Calcutta" in eighteen fifty-three.
I was just a lad of fourteen years, a midshipman to be
To make my way in sailing ships of the Royal Navy.

By the time that I was twenty-one I'd sailed the world around,
Weathered storms in the China seas with the hatches battened down,
And made my way by starlight off the coast of Newfoundland
And dined on beer and herrings while the waves blew all around.

I live in retirement now and through my window comes the sound
Of seagulls and sets my mind remembering.
The evening stars like memories sail far beyond the distant trees
Way out across the open seas I hear them sing.

Oh, the wooden ships they turned to iron and the iron ships to steel
And shed their sails like autumn leaves with the turning of the wheel
And I was given Captain's rank, and soon took under me
the proudest ship that ever sailed for Queen and country.

Ah, the old queen she passed away with the newborn century
And I received my calling up to the admiralty.
The sands ran through the hourglass each day more rapidly
As we watched the growing of the fleets of High Germany.

So at last the Great War blazed I waited with the passing days
a call to arms that never came, writing letters.
"I may be old now in your eyes, but all my years have made me wise,
You don't see where the danger lies, oh call me back, call me back..."

But the war, it ran its course they could find no use for me
And I live in the country now, grandchildren on my knee
And sometimes think in all this world the saddest thing to be
Old admirals who feel the wind and never put to sea.

Now just like you, I've sailed my dreams like ships across the sea
And some of them they've come on rocks and some faced mutiny
And when they're sunken one by one I'll join that company -
Old admirals who feel the wind, and never put to sea.

 

[fox69]

"Old Compton Street Blues"

"Old Compton Street Blues"



Oh your pictures they don't really do you justice little girl
For you're careful not to let the camera touch your private world
And there's just a hint of sadness in your smile through the dark
As you slip your dress off slowly for the sailor or the clerk
And it could have been so different, and at times you feel bad
For you really did have something that the others never had
And the circle turns and turns and turns so mad, little girl
Ah you must have been just fifteen when you made your mind up first
That you'd make it in the movies and you couldn't lose the thirst
And it took you to the attic where the Agent King holds Court
And his courtesans are fully paid up losers of a sort
He looks at you and tells you that you just might get the part
But you don't get things for nothing and he doesn't want your heart
And the circle turns and turns and turns so mad, little girl
Mmm, you made it to the silver screen and yet you're not a star
And advertising corsets didn't get you too far
But money has its favourites and yours went back to them
So you modeled in a studio in Greek Street for the rent
There you met Antonio, your lover from afar
Who put you on the streets to make the money for his car
And the circle turns and turns and turns so fast, little girl
Ah, your pictures they don't really do you justice any more
For they're crumpled now and faded and were taken long ago
And that faintly coy expression has now left without a trace
Ah there's little of it buried in the ruins of your face
It could have been so different, and at times you feel bad
For you really did have something that the others never had
And the circle turns and turns and turns so mad, little girl
For the circle turns and turns and turns so sad, little girl.
Oh the circle turns and turns and it's too bad, little girl.