Modern Times

Album: Modern Times (1975)
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  • 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 lie
    Where all our memories lie

    Do you remember the time we were young?
    Lowly, lowly, low
    Outside 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 movies 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 he 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
    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 ... I 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
    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 yesterdayAnd 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

    Ivy
    Ivy Writer/s: ALISTAIR IAN STEWART, DAVID MUDGE
    Publisher: Universal Music Publishing Group
    Lyrics licensed and provided by LyricFind

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