I’ve always liked story songs, and this one spans a lot of time and ground. The song hits over 9 minutes, but it builds all the way. The bass doesn’t kick in until after the two-minute mark.
This 1973 song is like a book pulled from a shelf in some old library. Along with a story, you have a great melodic backing. This was Al Stewart before his radio hits, before Year of the Cat made him a star. He was still a cult artist at this point. I was really impressed by the lyrics and music alike. It’s not a song that you play at a party, but one that you listen to.
It was on the album Past, Present, and Future, and it isn’t an easily accessible album, and that is part of the charm. It’s more intellectual, with Stewart going with his passion rather than being commercial. His inspiration for this song came from British scholar Erika Cheetham, who wrote books interpreting Nostradamus’s prophecies.
Stewart sought out Cheetham, and they became friends. Stewart and Cheetham would go over prophecies that Nostradamus made. He included prophecies about historical figures like Napoleon and Hitler in the song. He said that he focused on the idea of prophecy itself, the tension between fate and free will. The sense that history moves in cycles… So yes, it is interesting. I’ve gained a whole new respect for Al Stewart, the songwriter.
All songs on this album have historical themes, each song representing a decade of the 20th century. John Anthony was the producer, and he went for more of an atmospheric sound to go with the lyrics. It worked because the lyrics get center stage, but the music is very strong. Stewart’s fans like this album, and in 2015, he performed the entire album at the Royal Albert Hall.
The album peaked at #133 on the Billboard Album Charts in 1974.
Nostradamus
In the east the wind is blowing the boats across the seaAnd their sails will fill the morning and their cries ring out to me
Oh, the more it changes, the more it stays the sameAnd the hand just re-arranges the players in the game
Oh, I had a dreamIt seemed I stood aloneAnd the veil of all the yearsGoes sinking from my eyes like a stone
A king shall fall and put to death by the English parliament shall beFire and plague to London come in the year of six and twenties threeAn emperor of France shall rise who will be born near ItalyHis rule cost his empire dear, Napoloron his name shall be
From Castile does Franco come and the Government driven out shall beAn English king seeks divorce, and from his throne cast down is heOne named Hister shall become a captain of Greater GermanieNo law does this man observe and bloody his rise and fall shall be
Man, man, your time is sand, your ways are leaves upon the seaI am the eyes of Nostradamus, all your ways are known to meMan, man, your time is sand, your ways are leaves upon the seaI am the eyes of Nostradamus, all your ways are known to me
In the new lands of America three brothers now shall come to powerTwo alone are born to rule but all must die before their hourTwo great men yet brothers not make the north united standIts power be seen to grow, and fear possess the eastern lands
Three leagues from the gates of Rome a Pope named Pol is doomed to dieA great wall that divides a city at this time is cast asideThese are the signs I bring to youto show you when the time is nigh
Man, man, your time is sand, your ways are leaves upon the seaI am the eyes of Nostradamus, all your ways are known to me
Man, man, your time is sand, your ways are leaves upon the seaI am the eyes of Nostradamus, all your ways are known to me
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