Al Stewart - Sparks Of Ancient Light (2008) by Al Stewart (보컬) on maniadb.com

It's a good day
For going to sea
Hanno the Navigator said to me.
There's an open sky and a steady breeze
Out beyond the Pillars of Hercules.
Above the foam-kissed waves seagulls scream
Up in the masts of our trireme
And it's a good day
For going to sea
Hanno the Navigator said to me.

Water
Water
From horizon to horizon
All I see is water

Steer beyond all maps and charts
Down along the coast of Africa.
The first Phoenicians on this beach,
Where the monkeys gibber and the parakeets screech.
Strangest women run wild down there,
Covered head to toe in fur and hair.
They fight like demons,
Better let them be,
Hanno the Navigator said to me.

Water
Water
From horizon to horizon
All I see is water

When you pull close to your fire at night
With your family framed in the candlelight,
Safe inside these walls of stone
In the only village you've ever known.

The rain-soaked moon plays splintered crystal
Shadows on your windowsill.
Like sparks of light in the shifting skies,
Our ancient ships go sailing still on

Water
Water
When my sailing days are done
I'll seek Poseidon's daughter.

Oarsmen pull and curse and sweat
Underneath this creaking deck.
At night I hear their stories told,
Strong through storms and weak for gold.
Carthage stands like an azure pearl
Here in the middle of the known world.
And it's a good day
For going to sea,
Hanno the Navigator said to me.

Water
Water
From horizon to horizon
All I see is water.
Water
Water
When my sailing days are done
I'll seek Poseidon's daughter.

It's a good day
For going to sea,
Hanno the Navigator said to me.

After these processions comes the sweeping up
The rag and bone possessions, an old tin cup
The army trucks have hauled away the newly slain
The angry crowd retreats, but they?ll be back again

And the prisoner in the palace does not understand
The ingratitude around him after all he?s done and planned
But if this the way that it must be then he?ll be damned
If he will let them take away his perfect dream

Ministers stuff bank notes into leather bags
Their wives have packed the jewelry and the luggage tanks
The word is on the street now, growing day by day
And even the informers know the stay away

And the prisoner in the palace is appalled by this charade
Feeling strangely unprotected by his miles of golden braid
And if this is the way that it must be then I?m afraid
He will not let them take away his perfect dream

And these mountains of equipment brought from foreign lands
Are now stacked up in the desert being buried by the sand
These rows of helicopters rusting where they stand
Are butterflies to take away the perfect dream

He cried inside the limousine and at the airport too
Where the soldier knelt before him and kissed his shoe
He flew across the desert and the open sea
While they tore down all his statues and his legacy

And the victor greets the newsmen with a strange and stoic style
They take a hundred thousand pictures and in none of them a smile
But this is just the way that it must be now for a while
He?s only come to bring another perfect dream

One day you fell
Down from the sky
You oversaw things
Forgot how to fly
You're an angry bird
Walking in circles all alone
Angry bird
Now you don't belong
You stagger round
Don't like the air
Don't like the ground
Angry bird
Walking in circles all alone
Angry bird
Radical penguins
Led you astray
You say that wings
Are so passe
You're an angry bird
Walking in circles
No way out
Angry bird
Now you say it's pointless
You say you're cursed
You fill the night with
Sarcastic chirps
You're an angry bird

Walking in circles
No way out
Angry bird
You're fallen in
With the avian fringe
That fill your head with
Thoughts of revenge
You're a bird
In the moanly
Pretty lonely
Angry bird
On the moonlight branches
On a summer's night
You can take your chances
You could take flight
Angry bird
Walking in circles
No way out
Angry bird
Your sun is sinking
It's so absurd
What were you thinking
Angry bird

This place is so far away
From what passes for civilized life
No shops and no cars and no city lights
Just a river of stars
Over the southernmost ocean so cold
A small group of rocks, seagulls and ice

Some ramshackle huts
A paper in french from long ago
A finger that juts out into the foam
No boats come this way
A few expeditions that pass now and then
They'll be back someday
But I don't know when

It's the loneliest place on the map
Night time is utterly black
I came here by some grave mishap

And I can't find my way back

It's all as remote
As the wintry smile that you gave
As you buttoned your coat
And love was erased
So this is goodbye
I see you silently rowing away
The desolate sky threatening rain

It's the loneliest place on the map
Night time is utterly black
I came here by some grave mishap
And I can't find my way back

The stranger comes to town
He is greeted like a prince
Society declares him wise and funny
Celebrities are only decorations in this place
What really matters here is old money
His temporary lover has amber coloured skin
In a lush apartment in the city center
Bankers like his company
They always let him in
There is no door to tell him do not enter
They're following a dream
Following a dream
Sleepwalking
A boy has become a member of a most desired club
He has a fine address in these sixties
If hipness could be diagrammed he would be the hub
Girls follow him round like sexy pixies
There's talk among the money men in Miami beach
The train is leaving
You don't want to miss it
Whatever it is he's offering it's there within your reach
So here is the ring
Why don't you kiss it
They're following a dream
Following a dream

Sleepwalking
But there's a country house a world away from here
Where accusations fill the room today
Something has gone missing and it's absolutely clear
A servent left quite suddenly
He didn't ask for money
He just packed up and left quietly away
Back inside the nouveau world
The rich are sitting down
They realize it's time for some assessments
Their charasmatic friend is somehow no where to be found
Along with beggered will and their investments
Someone said they saw him on a plane to Salvador or Moscow
Now the weather's warming
The lure of easy money keeps him constantly employed
It's a social service he's performing
Following a dream
Following a dream
Sleepwalking
They're following a dream
Willingly it seems
Sleepwalking

In the center of the field
stands the favorite player
The ball comes floating in
They say a silent prayer for him

Fifty yards away
A minute left to go
The reflex at his watch
Oh, oh-oh-ohh
He cuts into the right
Gets past a defender
A blur of blue and white
The moment has suspended in time
One man left to beat
He can see the goalkeeper's eyes
There's magic in his feet
Oh, oh-oh-ohh

And a single ray, of sunlight
Reaches down to touch, the golden boy
Seems to light his way, towards the net
In his mind, he sees the headlines
In the morning newspaper.
This'll be a day, they won't forget

Now he's on his own
Completely in control of it all
The shot comes flying in
Headed for the corner of the goal
Bounces off the post
He watches as it falls, oh-ohh
Everyone will say
"He should have passed the ball"

Now the crowd has gone
The stadium is empty
Several hundred times
He will watch the replay on TV
Many years from now
When his name's recalled
Everyone will say
"He should have passed the ball"

He should have passed the ball

There is an independent book store
the last one that remained
all the othres you might look for
have been eaten by the chains
the soldier on
on one cleans the windows panes

and it was there I read the story
so strange it must be real
of a car in Arizona with Elvis at the wheel
he is looking up

the sky has something to reveal

It is the face of Josef Stanhard
being formed by drifting clouds
above the sleeping Memphis mafia
and unsuspecting cows

This is a sign from god....