This Is The Time

Album: The Bridge (1986)
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  • We walked on the beach beside that old hotel
    They're tearing it down now
    But it's just as well
    I haven't shown you everything a man can do
    So stay with me baby
    I've got plans for you

    This is the time to remember
    'Cause it will not last forever
    These are the days to hold on to
    'Cause we won't
    Although we'll want to
    This is the time
    But time is gonna change
    You've given me the best of you
    And now I need the rest of you

    Did you know that before you came into my life
    It was some kind of miracle that I survived
    Some day we will both look back and have to laugh
    We lived through a lifetime and the aftermath

    This is the time to remember
    'Cause it will not last forever
    These are the days to hold on to
    'Cause we won't
    Although we want to
    This is the time
    But time is gonna change
    I know we've got to move somehow
    But I don't want to lose you know

    Sometimes it's so easy
    To let a day slip on by
    Without even seeing each other at all
    But this is the time you'll turn back and so will I
    And those will be the days you can never recall

    And so we embrace again behind the dunes
    This beach is cold on winter afternoons
    Ah, but holding you close is like holding the summer sun
    I'm warm from the memory of days to come

    This is the time to remember
    'Cause it will not last forever
    These are the days to hold on to
    'Cause we won't
    Although we'll want to
    This is the time
    But time is gonna change
    You've given me the best of you
    But now I need the rest of you Writer/s: Billy Joel
    Publisher: Universal Music Publishing Group
    Lyrics licensed and provided by LyricFind

Comments: 2

  • La Zalewski from PennsylvaniaI really became a fan of this older tune when it was used in an episode of The Goldbergs. Love the drumming by Liberty of course. The odd guitar work always seemed out of tune or sloppy. Not sure who it was playing.
  • Groovus Maximus from Boston, MaAnother breathtakingly beautiful, supremely nostalgic effort on Joel's part -- to imply or insinuate that it's mawkish, maudlin or even remotely jejune is an insult to the man! From the gentle waves of the smooth intro, very evocative of the coast, a sweetly sentimental story unfolds, slowly blossoming like the petals of a flower as Billy effortlessly transports us to the scene of that stroll by the 'old hotel' and what it meant (and continues to mean) to the lovers. Add in David Brown's superb clean jazz guitar work and the subtle swing of DeVitto & Stegmeyer's locked-in rhythm section and you have an instant classic to savor for years to come, as I have for over half my life...
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