Al Stewart - The night that the band got the wine

The earthquake hit at6 19 with a jolt


People went running for the doorways


And for the next half minute it shook


Up on the 17th floor the sommelier wasopening the


wine


He knew the great hotel was solidly built


Still it must have been a miracle thatnothing got spilt





Terry O'Shea got up from the Chippendale chair


Talking on the telephone


Looking perplexed waving a hand in the air


In the great room all alone


Fifty years old today, a microdot billionaire


Putting on a party like a Hollywood guy


With all the food and wine that his money could buy





The band came in arguing as usual


About nothing in particular


It always seemed to be this way


Tuning up andputting out setlists


Of all the stupid songs that musicians hate to play


Still it could be better than usual


The food looked great and it was money not glory


So when the ]clock struck eight


They began the theme] from Love Story








Time went by with no one arriving at at all


It was just Terry and the pictures


of dead people frowning from the wall


They didn't look very pleased


It was completely clear nobody was coming


They were all staying home with their earthquake kits


Waiting for thge aftershocks to hit





Thirty decanters of wine sat ready to pout


1961 Margaux and Petrus and Chateau Latour


Swaying in unison


Lobstrer and caviar shrimp and salmon


They were all laid out with artistic flair


The waiters were already eyeing their share





Teryy got up and he said Enough


And told the band to stop playing that dreadful stuff


He made them all come over to the table


And gave them wine that they had never dreamt of


So they worked their way through the burgundy and port


And started to relax


They discovered thay had more in common than they thought


And so they went back





Over to the stand and started playing again


But this time differently


It got loud and louder and fairly insane


People heard it down in the street


It felt so good, they were smiling at each other


The waiters all ran out covering their ears


There was plaster from the ceiling on the crystal chandeliers





Terry was dancing like a madman andwaving his hands


At anything and everything


Kicking up the dust from the carpet and doing handstands


Cackling and yodeling


This was a birthday bash he hadn't anticipated


Spinning like a top in the middle of the room


While the hotel shook to a sonic boom





After a while he passed out cold on the floor


And dreamed revealing things


Then he didn't have computers anymore


or fawning underlings


He was running through the trees on a tropical isle


No more feeling tense


In a flower pattern shirt of quetionable style


It all made sense





The band went back to their homes in the Hollywood hills


Better than they'd ever felt


Waking up their sleep-addled wives with rambling tales


It didn't go down very well


But as a legacy they called a band meeting


And decided they were going to give up playing covers


From that day on they got along with one anothoer





Terry woke up and strange as the story may seem


Though he felt terrible


He found withthe dawn he could still remember his dream


So ge just fell away


Nobody's seen him since


But I like to think of him


Sitting on a beach like Gaugin wearing a smile


Waiting for the brown-eyed girl, she'll be there in a while


Maybe thinking back now and then to a long ago time


The night that the band got the wine


The night that the band got the wine