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 lie

Where all our memories lie


Do you remember the time we were young?

Lowly, lowly, low

Outside 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 movies 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 he 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

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 ... I 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

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 yesterdayAnd 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

Ivy

Ivy