Al Stewart

[fox69]

"Songs Out Of Clay"

"Songs Out Of Clay"



"Oh I know that you are an artist" she said
"For you make your songs out of clay
You carry the dust on your hands and your face
You never quite brushed it away
You were trying to chisel a perfect truth
When the instrument broke in your hand
Now you sit all alone on the greenhouse roof
With your shoes full of sand"
And the golden rays of the sun divide
In the slanting mists of the rain
And Maggie is on the road again

"Oh I know that you were a sailor" she said
"Till you came too close to the shore
And like any shipwrecked sailor now
You live by an open door
And when evening sails in the masts of the trees
Your feet seem to slip on the ground
And you long for the little ship
In which you can safely drown"
And the silver mounds of the waves divide
At the feet of the wind and the rain
And Maggie is far at sea again

"0h I know that you were an outlaw" she said
"And you robbed both the rich and the poor
Now you seek my bed like a sanctuary
But you keep one eye on the door
And you press my hand in the dead of the night
And say I can heal all your wounds
In the morning your eyes just look hunted again
You'll be leaving soon"
And the silver rays of the moon divide
In the slanting mists of the rain
And Maggie is on the prowl again

"So I know that you are an artist" she said
"And you make your songs out of clay
For you carry the dust on your hands and your face
You never quite brushed it away
And you work with your back to an open door
While the light is beginning to fade
And the windows are liquid the sky is alive
And the night is jade"

And the silver rays of the moon divide
In the slanting mists of the rain
And Maggie is on the road again

And the silver rays of the moon divide
At the feet of the wind and the rain
And Maggie, I'm at your door again

 

[fox69]

"Strange Girl"

"Strange Girl"



You're a strange girl, you come from a strange family
You're a strange girl, I don't understand your vanity.

Your mother's taking pills all day, she's looking to escape
Your uncle's in the County Jail for statutory rape
Just another runner never made it to the tape.

Your cousin gets his kicks setting everything on fire
Your little brother always lets the air out of my tyres
Your sister wants to prove that she's an object of desire.

You're a strange girl, you come from a strange family
You're a strange girl, I don't understand your fantasy.

Your father's a collector and his things are a delight
He likes cameras and binoculars and everything in sight
He collects them in a wagon in the middle of the night.

Every holiday's a nightmare and it's giving me the chills
Everybody ends up fighting, I remember it still
The only thing that they agree on is it's me they want to kill.

You're a strange girl, you come from a strange family
You're a strange girl, I don't understand your vanity.

I think we ought to break up, I could really use the rest
Everything I like you say is something you detest
But every time I try to leave you say you love me best.

I was looking for some mystery, I thought you'd be the girl
I really must admit you were like nothing in this world
I finally got the oyster but I never found the pearl.

You're a strange girl, you come from a strange family
You're a strange girl, I don't understand your vanity.

You're a strange girl, you come from a strange family
You're a strange girl, I think you're headed for calamity.

(Strange strange) girl
(Strange strange) girl
(Strange strange) most peculiar!
(Strange strange) girl.

 

[fox69]

"Swallow Wind"

"Swallow Wind"



Look out, look out, Phoenix cried
My time must be at hand
I'm feeling cold and I don't know why
The ground moves where I stand.

All the lies she gave to me
In words that twist and bend
Now the only place for me
Is down in the swallow wind.

Far off and long ago
She came when I was young
A silver moon shining in her eyes
And strange the song she sang.

All so easy I trusted her
I thought she was my friend
Now the only place for me
Is down in the swallow wind.

And I don't really know what to tell you now
It's something I just can't control
I thought you wanted to take my love
Now you want my soul.

Last time I saw her
She was standing in the sand
The ashen moon was in her hair
And a cross was in her hand.

I'm sailing alone, she cried
Though I can't believe I sinned
Now the only place for me
Is down in the swallow wind.

 

[fox69]

"Swiss Cottage Manoeuvres"

"Swiss Cottage Manoeuvres"



On a Christmas cake day one
Friday in August
In a bookshop in Charing Cross Road
I first set eyes on a girl and at once I did know

She had eyes like a poet and hair like a rainbow
Reflecting the lights that did glow
And the sadness she kept in her eyes
Struck my senses a blow

And so as by chance at the touch of a glance
We could find ourselves out in the road
With no crush of time to defeat us and no place to go
And I couldn't say how but the coffee bar crowd
Had appeared through the silence that broke
And she said "Oh my father's a judge in St Albans you know."

"Oh well, then perhaps I could help you
You know that St. Albans is miles away
And I've got a room in Swiss Cottage in which you could stay

"She laughed "Oh I couldn't do that,
For I've got to be up in the morning you see.
"So I rang up to find out the first morning train she could take
And so in the gloom of a candlelit room
With spaghetti, two forks and a plate
She said "Oh I really would like to be free and escape."

"Oh well if it's like thatYou don't have to go back
And you're perfectly welcome to stay"
"But I've not finished school yet." she said as she got into bed

And so as she slept and the pure morning crept
Through the windows to take her away
I thought you can't make people be what you want them to be

I could see my self nailed to a dormitory tale
Of a holiday night's escapade
And just yesterday she had seemed like a woman to me

And so like a child with the sleep in her eyes
Where the sadness of age had once been
She left on the train with a "See you again" and a smile

And I couldn't say what I had won or I lost
Or even just what I had seen
But when I'm alone I just think of her once in awhile.

 

[fox69]

"Terminal Eyes"

"Terminal Eyes"



Cut glass porcupine sailing on the Serpentine
Fingers on the skyline pulling down the black blinds
Terminal eyes at the edge of the night
Rivulet of dark wine moving in a straight line
Sumdging out the stop signs, running down the life lines
Terminal eyes at the edge of the night
Shadows on the ceiling, coffee cup congealing
Tarot cards revealing, a solitary feeling
Terminal eyes, but I think it's alright
Silver studded jet plane screaming through the migraine
Cutting through the cellophane, wrappers of your tired brain
Terminal eyes - put out the light
Terminal eyes
Only the lonely Arabian skies
Terminal eyes
Calling you home from your restless disguise
Hands of the windmill moving to a standstill
Rain on the windowsill, ashes on the phone bill
Terminal eyes at the edge of the night
Rain drop fire flies sparkle on the shop blinds
Echoes of the summertime flicker in the street-signs
Terminal eyes at the edge of the night
Shadows on the ceiling, coffee cup congealing
Eyes that look unseeing, hands that look unfeeling
Terminal eyes, I think it's alright
Silver-studded sea plane breaking through the migraine
Cutting through the cellophane, enveloping your tired brain
Terminal eyes, put out the light
Terminal eyes
Only the lonely Arabian skies
Terminal eyes
Calling you home from your restless disguise
Terminal eyes
Only the lonely Arabian skies
Terminal eyes
Calling you home from your restless disguise

 

[fox69]

"The Ballad Of Mary Foster"

"The Ballad Of Mary Foster"



David Foster lives in Gloucester with his family
Works 'til pay-time, through the day-time, then comes home for tea
Steak and kidney, then with Sydney to his club and feels free
They close the bar, he finds his car and then goes home to sleep
And his wife has been with Rosie, in the parlour where it's cosy
Watching telly, doing dishes, patching pants and making wishes
And he'll say "Bill should have wired"
And "Not tonight dear, I'm too tired"
And life drifts slowly by in the provinces

Peter Foster goes to Gloucester for his first school day
Bites his teacher, sees a preacher and is taught to pray
Sees some birds and learns some words it's very, very rude to say
Yes, he's rather like his father was in his young day
And his father has discussions, holding forth about the Russians
"Will the Red Chinese attack us?"
"Do we need the Yanks to back us?
"And in bed she feels his shoulder, but he grunts and just turns over
And life drifts slowly by in the provinces

Wedding rings come with strings but love depends on the little things
"Oh could that still be really you?"
"Is there anything time can't do?
David Foster's been promoted, he's a decent sort
Peter's gone to Dad's old Public School, it's good for sport
They've even got a private parking place down in Huntingdon Court
Maybe soon he'll be a magistrate, the neighbours thought
Yes, and then he'll teach the beatniks
And the hang-around-the-streetnicks
And the good-for-nothing loafers
Who knock girls up on their sofas
And his wife is quite nice, really
Though she seems a little dreamy
Recently...

I was born and brought up on the east side of town
And my earliest days they passed quickly
I would play after school with the kids all around
In the sun and the dust of the back streets
Oh, all through my girlhood the war had its day
And my daddy he would always be leaving
So my brother and I we would sit by her side
Telling our tales through the evening
Oh, I grew with the days and the boys came to call
In the back shed I learned about kissing
But I don't think my mother has noticed at all
For we've heard that my daddy is missing
Then my school days they were over and I went off to work
And my mother grew quieter and greyer
So one day I left her and went off to live
With Billy, a saxophone player

In our broken down attic we laughed and made love
And all that we had we were sharing
Oh, we slept through the day and played into the night
God, we did as we pleased without caring
Oh but a year's passed away and he's left me one day
To play in a far away country
And the sun told my eyes "You've got no place to hide"
As I waited to be having his baby

Oh I lived in the park and the men passed and stared
Each wondering which one had lost her
And one came to ask could he buy me a meal
And he said he was called David Foster
We were married that month and I swore to myself
Somehow I'd pay back what I owed him
Cooking his supper and cleaning his boots
Yes, and kidding myself I could love him
Oh, but now my baby is grown and he's gone out to school
And he looks very much like his daddy
And David has buried himself in his work
And the time on my hands, it hangs heavy

Oh, the neighbours they smile as we pass in the streets
And they make their remarks on the weather
But the butcher and baker deliver things now
And I've stopped going out altogether

Oh, I live by my mirror and stare in my eyes
Trying to make out who I see there
But I'm looking at a woman that I can't recognize
And I don't think she knows me either
There are lines on her face and her hair is a mess
And the light in her eyes it grows colder
In the morning there's nothing will change, ah but yes
I will be just a little bit older

 

[fox69]

"The Candidate"

"The Candidate"



Inside the lonely building sits the candidate
His speech is typed and ready, the hundred dollar plates
Sit on deserted tables beneath fluorescent light
But no one comes to hear him; no cheers disturb the night

So where are all the voters? Where the voters' wives?
They've all gone to the movies, trying to understand their lives
The candidate is slipping into some dream of old
Not noticing around him, a thousand rubber chickens going cold.

 

[fox69]

"The Carmichaels"

"The Carmichaels"



Mr Carmichael says that he loves his wife, I believe he does
Gives her everything that a man can give
But Mr Carmichael beggars himself on the altar of his love
And you can tell him that that's not the way to live

And oh how the wind has blown
The leaves from the linden tree
And oh when the night grows free
Why does Mrs Carmichael come to me?

Mrs Carmichael rises at ten, takes her time, is at her ease
Drinking coffee in slippers and negligee
Opens the door and the milkman brings her dreams, there's no-one sees
Except the statue of Venus and she won't say

And oh how the wind has blown
The leaves from the linden tree
And oh when the night grows free
Why does Mrs Carmichael come to me?

Oh Mr Carmichael, captain and star of his office billiards team
Smiles to greet the applause as his ball goes in
Hurrying back, bringing his victory home but there's no-one here
And supper waits on the table inside a tin

And oh how the linden leaves
Lie tossed as the night wind blows
And struck in his silent pose
Mr Carmichael weeps and there's no-one knows

 

[fox69]

"The Dark And The Rolling Sea"

"The Dark And The Rolling Sea"



Oh you slipped away from the harbour side
In the morning bright and clear
And your sails were filled with the rising wind
And you laughed for all to hear
But you never glanced at the ragged dance
Of your lovers on the quay
Don't call on them when the winds rise high
On the dark and the rolling sea

Oh you set your course for the furthest shores
And you never once looked back
And the flag you flew was a pirate cross
On a field of velvet black
And those landsmen who you but lately knew
Were left stranded on the lea
Don't call on them when the storm clouds rise
On the dark and the rolling sea

Oh I have no need of a chart or creed
You told your waiting crew
For the winds of chance, they will bear us straight
And you spoke as though you knew
So you paid no mind to the warning signs
As you gave your words so free
Don't change your tack when the timbers crack
On the dark and the rolling sea

Now the thunder rails in the great mainsails
And the stars desert the skies
And the rigging strains as the hands of rain
Reach down to wash your eyes
And your oarsmen stands with his knife in hand
And his eyes spell mutiny
Don't call my name when your ship goes down
On the dark and the rolling sea

 

[fox69]

"The Ear Of The Night"

"The Ear Of The Night"



You put your tongue in the ear of the night
Expecting rejection but finding instead
A certain connection that left you surprised
And then gave you electrical thoughts in your head
Emboldened by this you were tempted a kiss
On the brow of a mystery passing you by
And thus we're afforded a simple reward
In the shape of a chord from a street corner choir
Through her window you can see her
With her solitary air
You felt a certain twinge inside you
From her military hair
And you'd have normally acted quite formally
This was the moment to open the door
You instantly mated and constantly dated
Though your mother hated the clothes that she wore
Oh well