Al Stewart - Modern Times

Al Stewart - Modern Times



Hello old friend, what a strange coincidence to find you


It's been fifteen years since we last met, but I still recognised you


So call the barman over here, and let us fill our glasses


and drink a toast to olden times where all our memories llie,


Where all our memories lie



Do you remember the time we were young?


Lowly, lowly, low


Outisde the window the frosty moonlight hung


On the midnight snow


So we pulled our scarves around our faces in the night


Huddled on the doorsteps where the fairylights shone bright


Singing Christmas carols while our breath hung in the light


It all comes back like yesterday


It almost seems like yesterday



Do you remember the changes as we grew?


Slowly, slowly, slow


Sneaking in the back way into mvoies after school


For the evening show


Chasing skinny blue jean girls across the building-site


Checking out the dance floor while the band played "Hold Me Tight"


See the blonde one over there-I bet she'd be alright


It all comes back like yesterday


It almost seems like yesterday



While I talked he sat and never made a sound


Staring at the glass beside me


Hey old friend, tell me what's on your mind?


Silence grows on you like ivy



Do you remember the church across the sands?


Holy, holy, ho


You stood outside and planned to travel the lands


Where the pilgrims go


So you packed your world up inside a canvas sack


Set off down the highway with your rings and Kerouac


Someone said they saw you in Nepal a long time back-


Tell me why you look away


Don't you have a word to say?



He said, "I don't remember...Don't want to remember


In fact I've heard too much already


I don't want to think, just leave me here to drink


Wrapped up in the warmth of New York City


Oh, oh, it seems you just don't know


And you just don't understand me


I've got no use for the tricks of modern times


They tangle all my thoughts like ivy."



So I left him, and I went out to the street


Lowly, lowly, low


Where the red light girls were coming after me-


Forty dollar show


All across the city's heart the lights were coming on


The hotel lift softly hummed a Cole Porter song


If I went to look for him I knew he would be gone


A picture-card of yesterday


A photograph of yesterday



and far off in a deserted part of town


The shadows like a silent army


Flooded out the rooms in pools of blue and brown


And stuck to all the walls like ivy