Jim’s invitation for this week’s Song Lyric Sunday, in his post Title Track, is to play a song that became the title song of an album. In some cases, I guess the song might have been released as a single before the album, thereby ‘becoming’ a title track, but sometimes they just arrive on the album itself. I’ve chosen to play you two songs which fit the category, by one of my favourite singer-songwriters, who I’m happy to report is still going strong to this day having released his first album all the way back in 1967. The chap in question is Al Stewart, and amongst all the great music he has given us two of his albums really stand out.
This is the title track of the first of those that I’m playing (in the wrong chronological order, but so what!):
And for SLS, here are the lyrics:
It was late in December, the sky turned to snow All round the day was going down slow Night like a river beginning to flow I felt the beat of my mind go Drifting into time passages Years go falling in the fading light Time passages Buy me a ticket on the last train home tonight
Well I’m not the kind to live in the past The years run too short and the days too fast The things you lean on are the things that don’t last Well it’s just now and then my line gets cast into these Time passages There’s something back here that you left behind Oh time passages Buy me a ticket on the last train home tonight
Hear the echoes and feel yourself starting to turn Don’t know why you should feel That there’s something to learn It’s just a game that you play
Well the picture is changing Now you’re part of a crowd They’re laughing at something And the music’s loud A girl comes towards you You once used to know You reach out your hand But you’re all alone, in these Time passages I know you’re in there, you’re just out of sight Time passages Buy me a ticket on the last train home tonight
Source: LyricFind
Songwriters: Alistair Ian Stewart / Peter Harry White
Time Passages, both the album and the single, were released in September 1978. This was Al’s eighth album, and it reached #10 in the US and #39 in the UK – he generally fared better over there, for some reason, which is no doubt what prompted him to move to the States in 1977, where he has lived ever since. The single made #7 in the US but wasn’t a chart hit in the UK. Al began his career during the 1960s folk revival period in the UK. He played at the initial Glastonbury Festival in 1970, knew Yoko Ono before she met John Lennon, shared a London flat with Paul Simon (who was collaborating with Bruce Woodley of the Seekers), and hosted at the Les Cousins folk club in London, which was noted as a meeting place for folk and blues musicians, such as Cat Stevens, Van Morrison, Bert Jansch (of Pentangle), and many others.
He was born in Scotland but grew up in Dorset, where his mother had moved after his father was killed in a plane crash six months before he was born. He began his career playing in local bands in the Bournemouth area, and in August 1963, he went to see The Beatles play there. He and a friend posed as representatives for Rickenbacker guitars and they made it to the dressing room, where they found the band between performances. John Lennon chatted with them and let Al play his black Rickenbacker 325 guitar. He then discovered a liking for Bob Dylan’s music, and began playing acoustic guitar and writing the songs which have become his trademark through sixteen studio albums and five live releases, the most recent of which was in August 2024 with his current band The Empty Pockets.
Time Passages describes the singer planning a trip home in late December (presumably for Christmas) and his nostalgic memories of the past. As songs about going home for Christmas go, I much prefer this to Chris Rea’s! I love the image of the girl he once knew being a kind of mirage in his memory – we’ve all been there, haven’t we, with ‘the one that got away.’
Two years prior to this album Al had released the one which made him a big name, especially in the US. This one:
Year Of The Cat came out in October 1976 and is his best performing album, reaching #5 in the US and #38 in the UK (we have never really done him justice, have we?). The title track had been released as a single in July of that year, and peaked at #8 in the US and #31 in the UK. This is it:
In the interests of keeping this to a manageable length I won’t give you the full lyrics, just the first couple of verses:
On a morning from a Bogart movie In a country where they turn back time You go strolling through the crowd like Peter Lorre Contemplating a crime
She comes out of the sun in a silk dress Running like a watercolor in the rain Don’t bother asking for explanations She’ll just tell you that she came
In the year of the cat
She doesn’t give you time for questions As she locks up your arm in hers And you follow ’til your sense of which direction Completely disappears
The imagery in that is typical of his intelligent songwriting, one of the reasons I have loved his music ever since his first album, Bedsitter Images. If you don’t know him but have enjoyed these two songs I can recommend him highly to you – you won’t be disappointed if you explore further.
That’s all from me for today and as always I hope you enjoyed the tunes, and maybe even the waffle too. Have a lovely day, and I hope to see you again for Tuesday Tunes 🎶
