Al Stewart

Love Chronicles

Al Stewart


can remember the first girl that I did love 
It was Stephanie 
In kindergarten arithmetic classes she used to 
Sit next to me 
I'd pass her sticky sweets under the table 
Where the teacher couldn't see 
Although she wouldn't remember me now 
Sometimes I wonder where she can be 

I can remember the first girl I kissed 
It was Christine when I was ten 
I'd been told we were moving away 
I thought I'd never see her again 
Oh don't forget me 
I'll be back when they let me 
Before you learn how to lie when you're leaving 
Love is so much easier then 

And at school would you believe three hundred boys 
And no girls at all 
But you're a fool if you should leave 
Just think of the joys of rugby football 
And prep in the morning and Brylcreem and acne 
And cross-country running to kill evil thoughts 
I'm surprised that I survived 
I ran ten thousand miles with my back to the wall 

I can remember the first girl that I made love to 
It was in a park 
In the lower pleasure gardens in Bournemouth 
In summer just after dark 
My mind was reeling: Oh what a feeling. 
I missed the bus and walked twelve miles home 
And it really didn't seem far 

And all through my seventeenth summer 
Running together from crowds and ties 
Taking our clothes off and feeling each other 
With fingers and senses and mouths and eyes 
Incurring the glances of old disapproval 
From elderly local inhabitant's eyes 
Oh time, time we hardly even knew you 
You didn't touch us with your lies 

In the halcyon days of my late adolescence 
My goal seemed clearly in sight 
Playing electric guitar with a beat group 
We set the ballrooms alight 
Camping it up for the dyed blonde receptionists 
Who told us we were al-ri-yi-yight 
On an ego trip for a teenage superstar 
On thirty shillings a nigh-yight 

And so it fell that I came up to London 
To look for fortune and fame 
Starry eyed in my seaside successes 
And much too sure of the game 
First girl I met thereI thought I'd get there 
But the first girl was nearly the last girl 
She left my eyes in the drain 
She sat on my floor in the dead of the night 
Rolling a joint and looking round for a light 
Her clothes were so black and her face was so white 
How could I know what was right? 

And I sat all huddled upon my bed 
Watching her in my innocence 
And it was no sense at all, but too much sense 
That took me to the bridge of impotence 
Oh Artaud's anthology lay spread on the floor 
And the thoughts that she gave me, 
I'd not met before 
And stranded half hypnotised, 
I watched her in awe 
Of everything that she stood for 

And I wanted more than anything to be like her with every sense 
But it was no sense at all, but too much sense 
That took me to the bridge of impotence 
She came over to me and kissed me in play 
Taking my hand between her legs as she lay 
And she looked in my eyes but I turned them away 
Finding no words fit to say 

And I hated myself, but could not move 
Shattered in my confidence 
But it was no sense at all, but too much sense 
That took me to the bridge of impotence 
Now the stare of the lightbulb tore holes in my brain 
As she got up in the silence that hung like a stain 
And I wanted to speak, or to call out her name 
But how could I begin to explain? 

And my prosecuting room still holds 
A strand of her hair in evidence 
But it was no sense at all, but too much sense 
That took me to the bridge of impotence 
Oh I still think about her when the night fills with rain 
And speaks in its voices uneasy and vain 
And I think were I maybe to find her again 
Oh I'd probably see her more plain 

And I should have known she was just like me 
It was after all only common-sense 
But it was no sense at all, but too much sense 
That took me to the bridge of impotence 
But it was no sense at all, but too much sense 
That took me to the bridge of impotence 

At first I didn't go out much at all 
I just stayed at home in my chains 
Picking over the threads of my confidence 
And searching for the remains 
And when I couldn't stand any more of it 
Going down to a club 
Mixing in with the sounds and the crowds 
I let the music cover me up 

And only, lonely, the harlequins and painted phonies 
Pick their ways, through the haze 
Of highs and lows and blues 
And all that I could do was to pick my way to you 
Though I didn't tell you 
You were just a thing to prove 
I was hungry when found you, but I'm alright now 

They sigh, they lie, the refugees and superheroes 
On ice, so nice to see you, what's your name? 
And all that I could do was to say the same to you 
Take you for the moment, though the moment wasn't true 
But I was hungry when I found you and I'm alright now 

Though the street lamp cut through the curfew 
It shed no light on our mind 
It would have been so easy to love you 
At any other time 
Only, lonely, you came to me the night hung coldly 
In your eyes, some other time I might have stayed with you 
But all that I could do was to turn around to you 
Thanks for what you gave me now it's time to say "Adieu" 
I was hungry when I found you but I'm alright now. 

Ba ba ba alright now 

And so it came that I stood disillusioned 
By everything I'd been told 
I just didn't believe love existed 
They were all just digging for gold 
Widows and bankers and typists and businessmen 
Loved each other they said 
But all it was though was just a manoeuvre 
The quickest way into bed 

And so I followed the others' example 
And jumped into the melee 
In the hunting grounds of Earls Court and Swiss Cottage 
I did my best to get laid 
Beer cans and parties, deb girls and arties 
Bouncing around in the social confusion 
Missing and making the grade 

The very first time I must confess 
I thought you'd be like all of the rest 
And we'd be strangers once again 
By the time we were dressed 
But when you'd smoked your cigarette 
And talked of some people that we'd me 
I found myself asking was it set, 
did you have to go yet 

And so you laughed and then kissed me 
And stayed for the whole weekend 
Although the bed was so narrow 
We had to sleep end to end 

And so the weeks passed through my brain 
In their dadaistic chain 
I found myself seeing you again, and again and again 
And all you gave you gave it free 
Asking for nothing back from me 
You gave yourself unselfishly as a part of me 
And where I thought that just plucking 
The fruits of the bed was enough 
It grew to be less like fucking 
And more like making love 

Of all the girls I ever knew 
some loved and some denied me 
And all the words I ever said 
have been no use to hide me 
And all the songs I ever sung 
each one of them untied me 
And all the girls I ever loved 
have left themselves inside me