A little musical interlude while we wait

[Mord]

Some of you may have heard of Al Stewart of Year of The Cat fame and his OTHER song Time Passages, and well some of you younger fellas may never have heard of him period, but what 'd like to turn

you onto is a song of his called Roads To Moscow.

It's about one Soviet soldiers experiences throughout the war.

Al is one of the most intelligent lyricists in music. He shines the brightest when he tackles historical subjects, which range from Lord Grenville's capture by the Spanish, to a nazi fleeing his past in The Running Man, to Nostradamus and his predictions. I think all you

Eastern Front enthusiasts will really like this song.

Below are the Lyrics seek this song out wherever you buy or download music. The lyrics are cool but with the music as a back drop the song plays out like a mini movie. so when you get it, turn out the lights put on the headphones and take a little trip back in time.

Roads To Moscow

Al Stewart

They crossed over the border an hour before dawn

Moving in lines through the day

Most of our planes were destroyed on the ground where they lay

Waiting for orders we held in the wood

Word from the front never came

By evening the sound of the gunfire was miles away

Ah, softly we move through the shadows, slip away through the trees

Crossing their lines in the mists in the fields on our hands and our knees

And all that I ever

was able to see

The fire in the air glowing red

Silouetting the smoke on the breeze

All summer they drove us back through the Ukraine

Smolensk and Viasma soon fell

By autumn we stood with our back to the town of Orel

Closer and Closer to Moscow they come

Riding the wind like a bell

General Guderian stands at the crest of the hill

Winter brought with her the rains, oceans of mud filled the roads

Glueing the tracks of their tanks to the ground

while the sky filled with snow

And all that I ever

was able to see

The fire in the air glowing red

Silouetting the snow on the breeze

In the footsteps of Napoleon the shadow figures stagger through the winter

Falling back before the gates of Moscow, standing in the wings like and avenger

And far behind their lines the partisans are stirring in the forest

Coming unexpectedly upon their outposts, growing like a promise

You'll never know, never know, which way to turn, which way to look, you'll never see us

As we're stealing through the blackness of the night

You'll never know, you'll never hear us

And the evening sings in a voice of amber, the dawn is surely coming

The morning road leads to Stalingrad, and the sky is softly humming

Two broken Tigers on fire in the night

Flicker their souls to the wind

We wait in the lines for the final appraoch to begin

It's been almost four years that I've carried a gun

At home it'll almost be spring

the flames of the Tigers are lighting the Road to Berlin

Ah, quickly we move through the ruins that bow to the ground

The old men and children they send out to face us, they can't slow us down

And all that I ever

was able to see

The eyes of the city are opening

Now it's the end of a dream

I'm coming home, I'm coming home, now you can taste it in the wind the war is over

And I listen to the clicking of the train wheels as we roll across the border

And now they ask me of the time that I was caught behind the lines and taken prisoner

"They only held me for a day, a lucky break" I say

they turn and listen closer

I'll never know, I'll never know why I was taken from the line with all the others

To board a special train and journey deep into the heart of holy Russia

And it's cold and damp in the transit camp and the air is still and sullen

And the pale sun of October whispers the snow will soon be coming

And I wonder when I'll be home again and the morning answers "Never"

And the evening sighs and the steely Russian

skies go on....Forever.

[ February 17, 2002, 10:45 PM: Message edited by: Mord ]

[The Commissar]

*BUMP*

Because the song is absolutely amazing.

Easy to find it on Morpheus, too.

[Mord]

Commisar did you know this song before hand?

I've been a big fan of Al's for many years now and was lucky enough to have met him at a small venue in Maryland.

This song just blows me away everytime I listen to it. The lyrics are cool as is, but you just get a perfect picture of the story with the music.The ending gives me chills.

Anybody reading this download the song It'll get you pysched even more for CMBB. Or better yet go out and get his best of which has a good number of historical songs.

[The Commissar]

Mord,

I was introduced to the song not more then a month ago in the General forum. LGMB started up "another worthless poll", asking people what sort of music they listened to.

One guy (for the life of me I cant remember who) posted the lyrics for Road to Moscow and another very good song, Pink Floyd's "When the Tigers Broke Free". I likewise recommend the later, by the way.

And yes, Roads to Moscow is very haunting at the end. I doubt a better execution could have been possible.

[Mord]

Damn someone beat me to it then! It seems that this forum has definately left no topic undiscussed. I never would have thought someone would have already brought this up. Blood, Horses, Mg's running, bicycles etc. but not Al Stewart.

Well I am glad to hear you dig the song. If your interested in any of his other historical songs email me and I'll write up a list for you.

[jwxspoon]

Geez that's a cool song. Thanks for the notice.

jw

[The Commissar]

Mord,

Sure, historically-themed songs would be a welcome addition to my ever-increasing MP3 folder! All I have now even resembling historical is the multitude of Russian Revolution/WW2 hymns and folk songs.

Thanks in advance,

Cheers!

[109 Gustav]

Can someone post it on their website for us poor blokes with Macs who can't use Morpheus? Or email it to me and I'll put it on Last Defense.

[Iron Chef Sakai]

"When the Tigers broke free" by Pink Floyd i think not only has a good sound to it, but is a more honest account of war IMHO. (that stands for in my honest opinion right?) :confused:

[The Commissar]

Originally posted by 109 Gustav:

Or email it to me and I'll put it on Last Defense.

I would e-mail it to you, but the damn song is 7 and a half megabytes in size. Even if I zip it my e-mail couldnt hope to fit that thing.

[Iron Chef Sakai]

I found the lyrics to the song.....

It was just before dawn

One miserable morning in black '44

When the forward commander

Was told to sit tight

When he asked that his men be withdrawn

And the generals gave thanks

As the other ranks

Held back the enemy tanks for a while

And the Anzio bridghead was held for the price

Of a few hundred ordinary lives

And kind old King George sent mother a note

When he heard that father was gone

It was, I recall, in the form of a scroll

With gold leaf and all

And I found it one day

In a drawer of old photographs, hidden away

And my eyes still grow damp

To remember

That his majesty signed

With his own rubber stamp

It was dark all around

There was frost in the ground

When the tigers broke free

And no one survived from the Royal Fusiliers, Company C

They were all left behind

Most of them dead

The rest of them dying

And that's how the high command

Took my daddy from me

[The Commissar]

Originally posted by Iron Chef Sakai:

i think not only has a good sound to it, but is a more honest account of war IMHO

It depends on how you define "honest". If you mean "realistic", its a lot easier to be realistic when you concentrate on one isolated event (a unit left behind to cover the withdrawl of the others, inevitably destroyed in the process) as opposed to brielfy describing one man's journey across the span of the GPW.

Both were meant to be tragic yes, but while "Tigers" concentrated on a small event that led to a man losing his father and hating the "high command" for this folly, "Moscow" was meant to illustrate the immense tragedy that befouled an entire country and its people.

[Captain Wacky]

Originally posted by Iron Chef Sakai:

"When the Tigers broke free" by Pink Floyd i think not only has a good sound to it, but is a more honest account of war IMHO. (that stands for in my honest opinion right?) :confused:

Uh-oh, ICS history account alert!

[The Commissar]

Aaaaand a wee lil' *BUMP*

[Jagdratt]

Both were meant to be tragic yes, but while "Tigers" concentrated on a small event that led to a man losing his father and hating the "high command" for this folly, "Moscow" was meant to illustrate the immense tragedy that befouled an entire country and its people.[/QB]

I'm coming home, I'm coming home, now you can taste it in the wind the war is over,

And I listen to the clicking of the train wheels as we roll across the border,

And now they ask me of the time that I was caught behind the lines and taken prisoner

"They only held me for a day, a lucky break" I say,

They turn and listen closer

I'll never know, I'll never know why I was taken from the line with all the others,

To board a special train and journey deep into the heart of holy Russia

And it's cold and damp in the transit camp and the air is still and sullen

And the pale sun of October whispers the snow will soon be coming

And I wonder when I'll be home again and the morning answers "Never"

And the evening sighs and the steely Russian

skies go on....Forever.

Does this last verse mean he was sent to a gulag for being a POW? Many Soviet soldiers who survived the inhumanity of a Nazi POW camp were - after being 'liberated' - exiled to Soviet gulags for the remainder of their lives. What an awful fate - one that this verse seems to describe in a most haunting way.

[bfamily33]

Originally posted by Jagdratt:

That's how I read it.

[Mord]

Yes he gets sent to a gulag because he was captured by the germans and escaped. The commisars frowned upon such things.

I read some of the Gulag Archipelago By Alexander Soltzenitian(SP?, and almost any Soviet Soldier who was captured by the germans ended up doing time in a gulag. Stalin's point of view was basically, if you survived and your comrades didn't then you must be a collaborator, or traitor.

I highly recommend this book. You'll get a very indepth account of the suffering alot of the USSRs soldiers endured for surviving as POWs. As well as the populace after the war. There is some truly jaw dropping stories in that book. It has a good deal of WWII info to boot.

[ February 19, 2002, 10:12 PM: Message edited by: Mord ]