On a Christmas cake day one Friday in AugustIn a bookshop in Charing Cross RoadI first set eyes on a girl and at once I did knowShe had eyes like a poet and hair like a rainbowReflecting the lights that did glowAnd the sadness she kept in her eyes, struck my senses a blowAnd so as by chance at the touch of a glanceWe could find ourselves out in the roadWith no crush of time to defeat us and no place to goAnd I couldn't say how, but the coffee bar crowdHad appeared through the silence that brokeAnd she said, Oh my father's a judge in St Albans, you knowOh well, then perhaps I could help youYou know that St. Albans is miles awayAnd I've got a room in Swiss CottageIn which you could stayShe laughed, Oh I couldn't do thatFor I've got to be up in the morning you seeSo I rang up to find out the first morning train she could takeAnd so in the gloom of a candlelit roomWith spaghetti, two forks and a plateShe said Oh, I really would like to be free and escapeOh well, if it's like that, you don't have to go backAnd you're perfectly welcome to stayBut I've not finished school yetShe said as she got into bedAnd so as she slept and the pure morning creptThrough the windows to take her awayI thought you can't make people be what you want them to beI could see my self nailed to a dormitory taleOf a holiday night's escapadeAnd just yesterday she had seemed like a woman to meAnd so like a child with the sleep in her eyesWhere the sadness of age had once beenShe left on the train with a 'See You Again' and a smileAnd I couldn't say what I had won or I lostOr even just what I had seenBut when I'm alone I just think of her once in awhile
Lyrics by Al Stewart
(A Child's View Of) The Eisenhower Years \ A Long Way Down From Stephanie A Long Way Down To Stephanie A Man For All Seasons A Small Fruit Song Accident On 3rd Street Almost Lucy Amsterdam Angel Of Mercy Angry Bird Anna Anniversary Antarctica Apple Cider Re-Constitution Bad Reputation Ballad Of Mary Foster Bedsitter Images Beleeka Doodle Day Black Hill Broadway Hotel Cafe Society Candidate Candy Came Back Candy Came Back [*] Carol Charlotte Corday Class of '58 Cleave To Me Clifton In The Rain Constantinople Denise at 16 Don't Forget Me Ear Of The Night Electric Los Angeles Sunset Elvis At The Wheel End Of The Day Feel Like Fields Of France Flying Sorcery Football Hero Genie On A Table Top Gethsemane, Again Gypsy & the Rose Hanno The Navigator Here in angloa Here in angola Hipposong How Does It Happen [*] I'm Falling If It Doesn't Come Naturally, Leave It If It Doesn't Come Naturally, Leave It [Live] In Brooklyn In Red Square [*] - Al Stewart, Peter White In the Dark Indian Summer Ivich Josephine Baker Katherine Of Oregon King Of Portugal Last Days Of The Century License To Steal Life And Life Only Life In Dark Water Like William McKinley Loneliest Place On The Map Lord Grenville Lord Salisbury Lori don t go right now Lori, Don’t Go Right Now Love Chronicles Lover Man Lover Man [*] Manuscript Merlin's Time Midas Shadow Midnight Rocks Modern Times Mona Lisa Talking Mondo Sinistro Murmansk Run / Ellis Island Murmansk Run\/Ellis Island Murmansk runellis island My Enemies Have Sweet Voices Necromancer Next Time Night Meeting Night Rolls In Night Train To Munich Nostradamus Not The One Old Admirals Old Compton Street Blues On the Border One Stage Before One That Got Away - Al Stewart, Peter White One Two Three One two three 1 2 3 One, Two, Three (1, 2, 3) Optical Illusion Out in the Snow Paint By Numbers Peter On The White Sea Post World War Two Blues Pretty Golden Hair Rain Barrel Real And Unreal Red Toupee Ringing Of Bells Ringing of Bells [*] Roads To Moscow Roads to Moscow [Live] Rocks In the Ocean Royal Courtship Rumours Of War Rumours of War - Al Stewart, Peter White Running Man Russians & Americans Sailing Into The Future Samuel, Oh How You've Changed Samuel, Oh How You've Changed! Sand in Your Shoes Scandinavian Girl Shah Of Shahs Silver Kettle Sirens Of Titan Sleepwalking Soho (Needless To Say) Soho (Needless to Say) [Alternate Take] Somewhere in England 1915 Song On the Radio Song on the Radio [Live] Songs Out of Clay Strange Girl Swiss Cottage Maneuvers Terminal Eyes The Candidate The Carmichaels The Dark And Rolling Sea The Dark And The Rolling Sea The Ear Of The Night The Elf The Gypsy and the Rose The Last Day of June 1934 The Loneliest Place On The Map The News From Spain The One That Got Away The Palace Of Versailles The Year of the Cat Time Passages Time Passages [Live] Timeless Skies Tonton Macoute Tonton Macoute [*] Trains Trespasser Turn Into Earth Valentina Way Warren Harding What's Going On? Where Are They Now Where Are They Now? Year Of The Cat You Don't Even Know Me You Should Have Listened To Al Zero She Flies