Al Stewart

Night Of The 4th Of May

Al Stewart


And the days they flew by 
And the leaves fell from the trees 
And many times you came around 
And many times you slept with me 
And every time that we made love 
You wrote it down in your diary 
Lady of ladies 

But I would always say to you 
Don't ask about tomorrow 
Give what you have, take what you need 
Your time is only now 
Don't try to tie me down to promises 
I live for today, today is all there is 
And freedom seems to be everything to me 

I took you down to a party 
On the night of the 4th of May 
And a strange and growing restlessness 
Had hung in the air all day 
The need to try and tear down 
And destroy all that we'd made 
Lady of ladies 

You whispered in my ear and asked me 
If I fancied her 
You told me that he'd phoned you 
When I was in America 
Daring each other just to say okay 
Swop for tonight, didn't I always say 
That freedom seems to be everything to me 

And she came and she sat down beside me 
And you found an excuse to go downstairs 
And she smiled and made 
The kind of conversation that you do 
And later on she said 
'My last train has gone 
Oh I wonder if you could run me home' 

And I found vou in the hallway and told you 
That was all that I would do 
Just run her home and it's through 
Oh I thought you knewBut I must confess 
I laid my head on her breast 
And it seemed so hard 
To pull it away 

Her hand touched my hand 
And her eyes were offering the rest 
If it wasn't for you, oh I would have stayed 
But I came back home through the morning 
To find you lying awake 
And I knew all at once what you'd done 
And I heard myself say 
"Why did you have to sleep with him 
Anyone else 
Wouldn't have mattered 
Half 
As much as him" 

I don't want to touch you 
Somehow you feel unclean 
I just wish that you 
Were five hundred miles away from me 
Don't talk at all, don't start to cry 
Just pack up your things 
Lady of ladies 

And though I'd always told myself 
That when our time ended 
I'd walk away with no regrets 
And no attempts to stay 
Somehow it doesn't seem to be that way 
I find I'm needing every word you say 
This freedom seems to be everything to me 

And you went up to Cambridge 
And you stayed in your brother's room 
And you wrote me a letter and sent it the same afternoon 
You said "I just want to hurt myself 
Oh I need you so badly now" 

And you told me 
"Without you there seems to be no horizon at all 
Just no crack in the wall 
No place lower to fall 

"Hey don't leave me, don't leave me 
The shapelessness of the dawn 
Floods above and beneath me, 
I can't go on 

And I had to walk right into the trap 
And I had to say please come back 
Though I felt all the while 
My resistance slipping away 

Why did I have to fall for you 
Anyone else 
Wouldn't have hurt me 
Half 
As much as you