Old And Wise

As far as my eyes can see..
There are shadows approaching me..
And to those I left behind
I wanted you to know
You've always shared my deepest thoughts
You follow where I go

And oh,
When I'm old and wise
Bitter words mean little to me
Autumn winds will blow right through me
And someday
In the mist of time
When they asked me if I knew you
I'd smile and say you were a friend of mine
And the sadness would be lifted from my eyes
Oh when I'm old and wise

As far as my eyes can see..
There are shadows surrounding me..
And to those I leave behind
I want you all to know
You've always shared my darkest hours
I'll miss you when I go

And oh,
When I'm old and wise
Heavy words that tossed and blew me
Like autumn winds will blow right through me
And someday,
In the mists of time
When they ask you if you knew me
Remember that you were a friend of mine
As the final curtain falls
Before my eyes
Oh when I'm old and wise

As far as my eyes can see...

Back in the early '80s, Joy waved this black album cover at me saying, "This is a really great album, I think you'll like it!" (ok.. truth be told I can't swear those were the exact words, but it's the kind of thing she'd say. <G>) And yes, I did like it. It was.. interesting. Dreamy.. ethereal.. electronic. Songs that conjure up visions of minstrels singing of the dangers of.. gambling.. games people play... Sad to say, my favourite was the least challenging or innovative of the lot- a floaty ballad titled, "Time".

Alan Parsons eventually did another album called "The Time Machine". This was in 1999, almost twenty years on, still a concept album but no more "The Alan Parsons Project". In the liner notes of a revised for CD "Tales of Mystery and Imagination", he revealed that the "Project" actually refered to that first album of theirs built around the works of Edgar Allan Poe. He never dreamt they would continue. He, Eric Woolfson and Andrew Powell were to collaborate on a further ten albums as "The Alan Parsons Project" (with the exception of "Vulture Culture" which was only Parsons and Woolfson).

As for me, time moved on, I grew older, *laugh!*.. I still like "Time", and I can happily play any album of theirs in it's entirety, some of the songs being particularly meaningful to me at some point in time. I miss the presence of Eric Woolfson. I prefer the albums where he was the executive producer and co-wrote most of the songs. I have two particular favourites, one is "Days are Numbers (The Traveller)", and the other is, obviously :), "Old and Wise".

For the past decade, I've moved from apartment to apartment. Like the traveller I never knew what was coming and never seem to accomplish anything. I always have been restless by nature, always curious about anything that might come up, yet never able to stay long enough to understand. Likewise with people.. it's not that they weren't important to me, but, well.. for some reason or other, they were left behind...

Still.. I'm learning.. *laugh!*

A page with album reviews and more information on "The Alan Parsons Project"
TAO: The Avenue Online
The Alan Parsons Project Mailing List : The Psychobabble Web Pages
Ammonia Avenue - the Alan Parsons Fan Community at LiveJournal

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First online: November '00