Al Stewart

[fox69]

"Rain Barrel"

"Rain Barrel"



I'm hiding in a rain barrel inside these consul walls
This shaft of light is so narrow I can't see much at all
Outside I hear the feet running
And voices all around
Footsoldiers with their guns coming
I can't make a sound

But if Mr. Williams keeps his word
My life could still be saved
I might live to see a time
When all these roads are paved
But if they break inside these walls
You won't see me again
But if Mr. Williams keeps his word
Somewhere, my story will be heard

I'm living in a strange country, it's so hard to find
It's not on any map, you carry it in your heart and mind
Outside I hear the ground shaking up from underneath
It's only when the empire's breaking
That you see their teeth

But if Mr. Williams keeps his word
My life could still be saved
I might live to see a time
When all these roads are paved
But if they break inside these walls
You won't see me again
But if Mr. Williams keeps his word
Somewhere, my story will be heard

I'm hiding in a rain barrel with one small patch of sky
Don't think I'm going to see tomorrow
Going to bid this world good-bye.

 

[fox69]

"Real And Unreal"

"Real And Unreal"



Did you ever have the feeling
You're the only person living in the world
And people that you see
Are one-dimensional and never there at all
Even just the commonplace
Warm familiar greetings are a lie
Their voices and their faces are as empty
As the space beyond the sky

Marilyn is walking with her scarf
Around her head against the rain
The doorways and the shops fill up with people
And it's pouring down again
A man with an umbrella seems to see her
But he turns and looks away
And nothing really matters 'cause there's
Nothing that she wants to do or say

In the real and unreal
In the real and unreal

As she puts the key inside the door
She's just an ordinary girl
Did you ever have the feeling
You're the only person living in the world

In the real and unreal
In the real and unreal

Tomorrow comes around
And yet she doesn't feel a part of it all
Did you ever have the feeling
You're the only person living in the world
Only person living in the world
Only person living in the world

 

[fox69]

"Red Toupee"

"Red Toupee"



To catalina on a fishing boat
We call it henry cisneros
We got no money but we stay afloat
The jellyfishes don't scare us
You're telling everybody life's a ball
Too many pleasures to mention
You do a cartwheel in the shopping mall
You seem to get their attention

In your red toupee
In your red toupee

You take your number to a broadway play
It keeps her well out of danger
You're blowing bubbles in the matinee
You never looked any stranger

In your red toupee
In your red toupee

People say that you're unusual
You just tell them they're confused
If only they were more like you
They'd brighten up their day

In your red toupee
In your red toupee

Promenades in furs and laces
People put on airs and graces
Bedroom eyes in boardroom faces
Oh where will it lead

To catalina on a fishing boat
We call it henry cisneros
We got no money but we stay afloat
Those jellyfishes don't scare us

In our red toupees
Oh we got our red toupees
In your mauve toupee
Turquoise toupee
In your green toupee
Cerise toupee
Why are you wearing that strange toupee

 

[fox69]

"Roads To Moscow"

"Roads To Moscow"


They crossed over the border the hour before dawn
moving in lines through the day
Most of our planes were destroyed on the ground where they lay
Waiting for orders we held in the wood
Word from the front never came
By evening the sound of the gunfire was miles away

I softly move through the shadows, slip away through the trees
Crossing their lines in the mist in the fields on our hands and our knees

And all that I ever
Was able to see
The fire in the air, glowing red
Silhouetting the smoke on the breeze

All summer they drove us back through the Ukraine
Smolensk and Viasma soon fell
By Autumn we stood with our backs to the town of Orel
Closer and closer to Moscow they come
Riding the wind like a bell
General Guderian stands at the crest of the hill

Winter brought with the rains, oceans of mud filled the roads
Gluing the tracks of their tanks to the ground, while the skies filled with snow

And all that I ever
Was able to see
The fire in the air, glowing red
Silhouetting the snow on the breeze

(Ah, Ah, Ah) [x4]

(Ah, Ah, Ah) [all thru bridge]
In the footsteps of Napoleon, the shadow figures stagger through the winter
Falling back before the gates of Moscow, standing in the wings like an avenger
And far away behind their lines, the partisans are stirring in the forest
Coming unexpectedly upon their outpost, growing like a promise
You'll never know, you'll never know, which way to turn, which way to look you'll never see us
As we steal into the blackness of the night you'll never know, you'll never hear us

And evening sings in a voice of amber, the dawn is surely coming
The morning road leads to Stalingrad, and the sky is softly humming

Two broken tigers on fire in the night
Flicker their souls to the wind
We wait in the lines for the final approach to begin
It's been almost four years that I've carried a gun
At home, it will almost be spring
The flames of the tiger are lighting the road to Berlin

I quickly move through the ruins that bow to the ground
The old men and children they send out to face us, they can't slow us down

And all that I ever
Was able to see
The eyes of the city are opening
Now it's the end of a dream

(Ah. Ah, Ah) [x4]

(Ah, Ah, Ah) [thru this section]
I'm coming home, I'm coming home , now you can taste it in the wind the war is over
And I listen to the clicking of the train wheels as we roll across the border
And now they ask about the time that i was caught behind their time and taken prisoner
They only held me for a day, a lucky break i say
They turn and listen closer
I'll never know, I'll never know, why I was taken from the line with all the others
to board a special train and journey deep into the heart of holy Russia

And it's cold and damp in the transit camp and the air is still and sullen
and the pale sun of October whispers the snow will soon be coming
And I wonder when, I'll be home again and the morning answers never
And the evening sighs and the steely, Russian skies go on,
forever...

 

[fox69]

"Rocks In The Ocean"

"Rocks In The Ocean"



On a night just like this, in a place far away
He met with a giri in the spring
And something about him just turned her around
As though she were caught on a string
And being so young they held on to each other
To see what the moment might bring
He loved her then in a secretive way
Not showing his care or his need
She stayed beside him and looked to the day
He would somehow begin to be free
In the chill of the night she would hold him and say
This is how they always should be

Rocks in the ocean, waves on the sea
Keep it in mind,
If love comes unsatisfied, don't forget me
Don't forget me

And so he come to depend on her more
Though the lesson was still to be learned,
Taking for granted the gift that she gave
As though it were something he'd earned
And she for her part growing slowly away
From a love that was never returned
Then came the day that he never foresaw
When he woke to find she was gone
He followed her then to the ends of the world
To tell her how much he'd been wrong
But the more he called her, the more she was lost
Leaving only the words of her song

Rocks in the ocean, waves on the sea
Keep it in mind,
If love comes unsatisfied, don't forget me
Don't forget me

He still listens out for her foot on the stair
As he looks for her down through the years
And the friends that he had have all left one by one
For their words weren't reaching his ears
He chooses instead now to wander alone
To a song that only he hears

Rocks in the ocean, waves on the sea
Keep it in mind,
If love comes unsatisfied, don't forget me
Don't forget me

 

[fox69]

"Royal Courtship"

"Royal Courtship"



I sent my majordomo to your amanuensis
To ascertain your feelings, and strip away pretenses
And then a few days later, you sent back your vizier
And though he spoke quite courtesously
His meaning wasn't clear
Not to my majordomo
Not to my majordomo

So I sent my acolyte to further our relations
And he engaged your ministers in lengthy conversations
One or two were willingto discuss the matter frankly
We then received your advocate
Who told me that you thanked me
Also my majordomo
Also my majordomo

I therefore told my counselor to offer my best wishes
And he was greeted cordially with smiles and festive dishes
I further was encouraged by a note in your handwriting
Delivered by your confidant, it seemed you were inviting

My plenipotentiary with great felicitations
To join your chief of protocol in swift negotiations
But something must have happened
A secret door had closed then
The word from my ambassador was you were indisposed
And could not meet my majordomo
There's nothing I can do now
I sent my majordomo
I sent my majordomo

 

[fox69]

"Rumours Of War"

"Rumours Of War"



We met on the beach amid rumours of war
Your head in your hand, what you saw you won't say
As the newspapers flew in the wind.

I can see you're one of that kind
Who carry ‘round a time bomb in their mind, no one knows
When you'll slip the pin.

Rumours of war, rumours of war.

I see that your dress is torn at the edge
You were lost, intense, like a man on a ledge, waiting to jump
As the waves break over the shore.

You say there's a storm that can't be delayed
And lately it seems to be comin' this way, you can hear it break
Like the slam of a door.

Rumours of war, rumours of war.

You tell me, just look all around
At the past and the present, the cross and the crescent
The signs and the planets are lining up like before.

There are souls on fire in the day and the night
On the left and the right, in the black and the white
You can see it burn in the eyes of the rich and the poor.

Rumours of war, rumours of war.

Rumours of war, rumours of war.

 

[fox69]

"Running Man"

"Running Man"



Before the phone hits the receiver
You're halfway to the door
The voice said 'get out while you can,
There's just ten minutes, nothing more'
Time only for the essentials
Better gather them and run
The false name inside the passport,
The gold bars and the gun
And once again they've come out of the past
And though your mind is cool your heart is beating fast
You've been through it all before
Each time you wish a little more that you could ask

What do you want from me?
What do you need from me?
There's no rest for the running man
Why can't you let him be?'

It's a long and twisting journey
From the sweeping northern plains
To the outcrops of the jungle
Bowed beneath the tropic rains
In the customs hall the officer
Takes you to one side
And his eyes reveal no feeling
As you hand over the bribe
And once again you've bought a little time
And once again you're fading out of sight
Still the fox is growing older
As he calls over his shoulder to the night:

What do you want from me?
What do you need from me?
There's no rest for the running man
Why can't you let him be?

Here, come over here
Beneath a sympathetic moon
We'll sit and talk over old times without a fear
Another beer, from the cafes of the night
The tumbling rhythms of guitars ring loud and clear

One by one they've nailed the others
But you always got away
What it is that keeps you just that step ahead
No one can say
In one last raid the agents
Of the dawn break down the door
Of a house where you were standing
Maybe just an hour before
And still the thread continues to unwind
You take the hidden roads that only you can find
And should they come upon your tracks
There's just a question hanging back you left behind

What do you want from me?
What do you need from me?
No rest for the running man
Why can't you let him be?

What do you want from me?
What do you need from me?

 

[fox69]

"Russians & Americans"

"Russians & Americans"



So here we stand at the edge of 1984, bracing ourselves once again
For the storm approaching as those who long before huddled in caves from the rain
The enemy's face is so hard to see, sometimes it seems that I see him in you
Sometimes in me, who can he be? No use consulting the prophets and leaders they all disagree.

Russians and Americans, here's a song for you
Who carry the weight of the world on your heads
Russians and Americans, tell me if it's true
You really believe all the things that you've said
The red-white-and-blue running into the red.

From the wars of Europe, the pilgrim fathers set off with their hopes and their bond
Some settled down by the coast, others crossed the mountains and into the flatlands beyond
From scramble and dust of Muscovite streets, merchants develop the trade routes and open the door to the East
Pioneer waves choked by the cold breath of winter or baked by the heat of the day.

Russians and Americans, passing through the fire
Of revolution and coming of age
Russians and Americans, driven by desire
Two players push to the front of the stage
The whole world now watches each move that you make.

Two runners caught in the thrill of the race, the finishing line is as far as the stars that the satellites chase
Why quicken the pace? Why does it seem that you choose to lose reason before losing face ?

Russians and Americans, driven by the past
The third world moves in the shadows you cast
Russians and Americans could turn the world to dust
So much to live for, so much undiscussed
So much in common and so little trust.

From the streets of Athens and Rome, the voices still echo to crumbling walls
Look to the past and remember no empire rises that sooner or later won't fall
Forever the changes we still have to face, some people say that a country is more and idea than a place
Though nothing is safe, we still choose the mark that we leave on the open canvas of space.

Russians and Americans
Maybe you should see into the heart of the world, not its head
Russians and Americans
If you want to be the feet of the world, better mind where you tread,
The footprints of history are left where you step.

So here we stand at the edge of 1984.

 

[fox69]

"Sampan"

"Sampan"



The sun is high, looking out I see
The emptiness beyond the jetty
Seagulls raining like confetti
On the Water
Sea and sky come together in
A hazy kiss out on the ocean
Europe seems a foreign notion
Hardly thought of

And would you leave your modern world behind?
I know who I am
Riding in my sampan

In the shade stands the foreman in
A floppy hat and linen suit
Beneath his ancient leather boot
The ground is straining
Far away, figures bend to tap the
Endless seas of rubber trees
To coat the wheels of Paris taxis
Where it's raining

And would you leave your melting world behind?
I know who I am
Riding in my sampan