Al Stewart - Russians & Americans (1984) by Al Stewart (보컬) on maniadb.com

I came upon two strangers on a black and white TV
In a hotel room called nowhere, in the dead of half-past three
Their eyes met across the captain's table
Both trying to resist, but just weren't able
The one that got away.

You knew it had to happen, the music grew intense
In love affairs on oceans, the feelings seem immense
Looks like they headed into stormy weather
Oh, they saw it, even though they stuck together
The one that got away

Now he sees past the glamour, she sees past the lies
The night is quick to anger, the dawn is slow to rise
Who knows what the powers are that divide us?
She still keeps a photograph beside herThe one that got away
The one that got away

We met on the beach amid rumours of war
Your head in your hand, what you saw you won't say
As the newspapers flew in the wind.

I can see you're one of that kind
Who carry ‘round a time bomb in their mind, no one knows
When you'll slip the pin.

Rumours of war, rumours of war.

I see that your dress is torn at the edge
You were lost, intense, like a man on a ledge, waiting to jump
As the waves break over the shore.

You say there's a storm that can't be delayed
And lately it seems to be comin' this way, you can hear it break
Like the slam of a door.

Rumours of war, rumours of war.

You tell me, just look all around
At the past and the present, the cross and the crescent
The signs and the planets are lining up like before.

There are souls on fire in the day and the night
On the left and the right, in the black and the white
You can see it burn in the eyes of the rich and the poor.

Rumours of war, rumours of war.

Rumours of war, rumours of war.

It was a night meeting
Somewhere in a troubled land
They came with no greeting
Left without a shaken hand.

Nearby the town sleeping
Was unaware of what was done
No need for watchkeeping
They'll be gone before the sun.

You may not see just where the sense is
In the actions of the State
You may not know the consequences
Of their actions till too late
The rival factions still debate
As shadows gather at your gate.

It was a night meeting
They won't admit on either side
There'll be no press briefing
Information classified.

It was a night meeting
Independently arranged
To get a signed treaty
Force the government to change.

Secret diplomacy
Without the means to make their policy prevail
Meanwhile the powers that be
Behind the scenes have guaranteed to see them fail.

You seem beyond the jurisdiction
Of the democratic powers
You do not see the contradiction
Of the watchmen in the towers
You turn your back as night devours
The final chance, the final hours.

It was a night meeting
These are men who won't be missed
Their lives were just fleeting
They don't officially exist.

Linda was killed last Saturday about fifteen blocks from where she lives
In a car crash, people gathered ‘round the graveside friends and relatives dressed in black
Preacher mumblin' how she's bound to go to Heaven
The service started at half-past ten, it was all over by eleven.

They say it's God's to give, and God's to take away
But why He happened to pick Linda on a Saturday night, no one could say
Maybe it's just one of those things, one of those things.

They found guy the who did it, he had the lobotomy and the chicken eyes
And he gazed around the courtroom with a kind of vague surprise
Reminded me of one of those Vikings with the long-handled swords
The kind of guy even Joan Baez would not feel non-violent towards.

Said he wasn't looking, maybe he had had a bit too much
It was dark, it was raining, he didn't see the light or some such
It was just one of those things, one of those things.

I asked my local guru the situation and he gave me this reply
While pointing a bony finger up into the general direction of the sky
’Get on with your own life, it is not ours to reason why’
Said he used to worry about it once when he was young, now he doesn't even bother to try.

He left me with a feeling that what he said was basically sound
Like a black hole in space or philosophy, useless but profound
Just one of those things, one of those things.

Tonight I'm gonna take myself down to my local cafe
Gonna get smashed out of my mind, gonna waste myself away
Gonna drink and drink and sink into that dark abyss
I wanna be just like that Viking, I wanna know if ignorance is truly bliss.

Linda's in the cold ground, won't see her anymore
Somewhere out on the highway tonight, the drunken engines roar
It's just one of those things, one of those things.

Oh, just one of those things.

You're a strange girl, you come from a strange family
You're a strange girl, I don't understand your vanity.

Your mother's taking pills all day, she's looking to escape
Your uncle's in the County Jail for statutory rape
Just another runner never made it to the tape.

Your cousin gets his kicks setting everything on fire
Your little brother always lets the air out of my tyres
Your sister wants to prove that she's an object of desire.

You're a strange girl, you come from a strange family
You're a strange girl, I don't understand your fantasy.

Your father's a collector and his things are a delight
He likes cameras and binoculars and everything in sight
He collects them in a wagon in the middle of the night.

Every holiday's a nightmare and it's giving me the chills
Everybody ends up fighting, I remember it still
The only thing that they agree on is it's me they want to kill.

You're a strange girl, you come from a strange family
You're a strange girl, I don't understand your vanity.

I think we ought to break up, I could really use the rest
Everything I like you say is something you detest
But every time I try to leave you say you love me best.

I was looking for some mystery, I thought you'd be the girl
I really must admit you were like nothing in this world
I finally got the oyster but I never found the pearl.

You're a strange girl, you come from a strange family
You're a strange girl, I don't understand your vanity.

You're a strange girl, you come from a strange family
You're a strange girl, I think you're headed for calamity.

(Strange strange) girl
(Strange strange) girl
(Strange strange) most peculiar!
(Strange strange) girl.

Late at night
When reality's failing and nothing is prevailing but the wind, I come to you
Out of sight
Like a fugitive trailing across a barren land, you let me in, you always do.

My reason is caught by a sudden gust of lateral thought that sweeps me far beyond
It's the opium of the night
And the ocean of words that we throw in the air grow more absurd and nobody seems to care
It's a refugee's respite.

Cafe Society.

Late at night (late at night)
While the city lies sleeping and solitude is keeping me awake, I think of you
Dim your lights (dim your lights)
Oh, I want to sink deep in that river of oblivion you make, I need it too.

Let me check-in my mind with my coat at the door ‘cause I want to go flying where I've never been before
Some inviting dark ravine
If the hand that you hold in the dead of the night is a little too cold, the body seems just right
It's a Toulouse Lautrec scene.

Cafe Society.

(‘Excuse me, sir, are you a member ?’)

Inside the lonely building sits the candidate
His speech is typed and ready, the hundred dollar plates
Sit on deserted tables beneath fluorescent light
But no one comes to hear him; no cheers disturb the night

So where are all the voters? Where the voters' wives?
They've all gone to the movies, trying to understand their lives
The candidate is slipping into some dream of old
Not noticing around him, a thousand rubber chickens going cold.

Lori, don't go right now
Now that you've come this far
Lori, you don't know how
Close you really are.

There's nothing you can't do
It's up to you to let it go
Put the past behind
Out of sight and out of mind.

Lori, you're never gonna see
Behind the untried door
You know it doesn't have to be
The way it was before.

You're not the only one who found too soon
The more you care
The more you stand to lose
I've been inside your shoes
So Lori, don't go right now.

I know you just take anything on trust
Why don't you open up and show the way you feel ?
What's there to hide ?
What is it that's inside of you that you seem so unwilling to reveal ?

So let's just take it slow
It's not as though
I'm asking for your secrets or your soul
You need a hand to hold
So Lori, don't go right now.

Lori, don't go right now
Lori, don't go right now.