Modern Times Lyrics

Modern Times lyrics

(Dave Mudge/Al Stewart)

 

 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

 ------------------------------------------------------------