In A Nick of Time

We kickoff this countdown with a bit of irony. For me, Time Passages by Al Stewart has become a passage through time. I was a senior in high school the year this song came out. I remember cranking up the Pioneer SuperTuner in my Firebird and crusing Route 1, never giving thought to the possibility that the very song pounding out of my Jensen Tri-Axials would one day guide my drifting mind into its own time passages.

Here is #10 in my Time in Song countdown - Al Stewart's Time Passages

Time Passages - Al Stewart circa 1978


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
I know you're back there - you're just out of sight
Time passages
Buy me a ticket on the last train home tonight


Hear the echoes and feel yourself starting to turn
I Don't know why you should feel
That there's something to learn
It's just a game that you play

[Instrumental Interlude]

Well, the picture is changing
You're part of a crowd
They're laughing at something
And the music's loud
A gal comes towards you
You once used to know
You reach out your hand
But you're all alone
In those 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

Oh time passages