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Al Stewart — On The Border
Album: Year Of The Cat
Avg rating:
7.5

Your rating:
Total ratings: 2512









Released: 1976
Length: 3:15
Plays (last 30 days): 1
The fishing boats go out across the evening water
Smuggling guns and arms across the Spanish border
The wind whips up the waves so loud
The ghost moon sails among the clouds
Turns the rifles into silver on the border

On my wall the colours of the maps are running
From Africa the winds they talk of changes coming
The torches flare up in the night
The hand that sets the farms alight
Has spread the word to those who're waiting on the border

In the village where I grew up
Nothing seems the same
Still you never see the change from day to day
And no-one notices the customs slip away

Late last night the rain was knocking at my window
I moved across the darkened room and in the lampglow
I thought I saw down in the street
The spirit of the century
Telling us that we're all standing on the border

In the islands where I grew up
Nothing seems the same
It's just the patterns that remain
An empty shell
But there's a strangeness in the air you feel too well

The fishing boats go out across the evening water
Smuggling guns and arms across the Spanish border
The wind whips up the waves so loud
The ghost moon sails among the clouds
Turns the rifles into silver on the border

On the border
On the border
On the border
Comments (191)add comment
 timmus wrote:
How is it that such well-crafted music like this doesn't get popular anymore?  I wonder where things went off the rails.



Well, let's see, we could start with Stock, Aitkin & Waterman.... maybe...then move on to that Cowell bloke...
How is it that such well-crafted music like this doesn't get popular anymore?  I wonder where things went off the rails.
Today is the day I finally bump this masterpiece from a 9 to it's well deserved 10.
Good, but I prefer the original version. And the live one is even better
Good song, but the live version in "Rhymes in rooms" is even better
I'm not a musical genius or even a musical moron...but I knw what I like!
Just bought tickets to see Al Stewart this summer. Never saw him before but some you tube videos are circulating from his latest tour. Always enjoyed his music. 
Saw Al Stewart on this tour. Great. I’ve always liked him. Tim Renwick’s guitar is superb!
I have always appreciated what a well crafted song this is. 
The live version on Rhymes in Rooms lifts this to another level imho.
 jmddj wrote:

Late response to nomnol in Ontario: this was a more commercial album. His prior stuff really highlighted his storytelling- if you’ve never heard it, Roads to Moscow (on Past Present and Future) is an incredible recounting of one soldier’s experience fighting the Nazis - historical references abound- not often you hear the developer of the Blitzkrieg mentioned by name in a song. Haunting imagery in his lyrics. I won’t spoil the ending as it delivers an incredible twist. The whole album is a gem.

Try reading "One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich" 

Tony in NJ

W.A.S.T.E.



Fascinated by the cover art

70s ultra kitch
If you never heard this before and closed your eyes you could be forgiven for thinking it’s Neil Tenant from Pet Shop Boys!!
 bigbobbybubba wrote:
This song just never gets old and it takes me back to my first year in college when everything was all about possibilities and achievements of something better, something more.
 
same age, same college memory, except my roommate played this album endlessly. Surprised it has held up so well to me.
This song just never gets old and it takes me back to my first year in college when everything was all about possibilities and achievements of something better, something more.
I love the Wikipedia photo of Al performing at McCabe's Guitar Shop in 2010. I know McCabe's is a "noted forum" for folk acts, as well as a guitar shop, lol; but there was a time Al would be playing bigger halls, and rightly so..
 jayhamiljr wrote:

The rest of his works, generally speaking and IMHO, are as good or better, though less commercial. Year of the Cat had so many songs playable on FM channels, and contributed much to expanding his audience and fame. If you like this, you'll pretty much like his whole body of work. For something darker and some great story telling, try the album Modern Times. 
 
Yes; or go a couple of years further back to 'Past, Present, and Future', especially "Roads to Moscow"; brilliant, and historically accurate.
That was an amazing segue from William Orbit's "Water From a Vine Leaf," so once again, {#Notworthy} Bill!
College days. Really overplayed back then, but it sounds surprisingly good today.
Brings back real good memories.Sound unmistakeable..great storyteller..fortunate to have seen him at the Roxy in L.A. Phenomenal muscians...incredible mandolin and sax player.
 nomnol wrote:
The Year of the Cat always plays well. This song is a great song too. What are the rest of his works like? Never took the time to find out but I suspect RP listeners may be informed.
 
The rest of his works, generally speaking and IMHO, are as good or better, though less commercial. Year of the Cat had so many songs playable on FM channels, and contributed much to expanding his audience and fame. If you like this, you'll pretty much like his whole body of work. For something darker and some great story telling, try the album Modern Times. 
Damn his music is good.
One of those rare British musicians that sings without an American accent.  Thus he sounds exactly like The Pet Shop Boys.  
This is a classic. Al Stewart is a national treasure -- a great musician and a magical story-teller.
Great stuff.
Polished "soft rock" from the 70's  that still sounds great.
 jmddj wrote:
Late response to nomnol in Ontario: this was a more commercial album. His prior stuff really highlighted his storytelling- if you’ve never heard it, Roads to Moscow (on Past Present and Future) is an incredible recounting of one soldier’s experience fighting the Nazis - historical references abound- not often you hear the developer of the Blitzkrieg mentioned by name in a song. Haunting imagery in his lyrics. I won’t spoil the ending as it delivers an incredible twist. The whole album is a gem.
 
Probably my favorite AS song. Brutal history.
c.
That is so CRAZY!! I was listening to RP all day and at one point I thought of this song and wondered why RP never played it. Super suspicious! 
 Grayson wrote:
Timeless, albeit slightly cheesy but cheesy in a good way, quality about this song. Not Neil Young kinda timelessness, but a moody gawd I really need to get the f outta the f-ing city kinda timelessness. 
 
LOL!  That's a totally different type of timelessness....and I'm also laughing at how "Accountant" Al looks in the Wiki photo....weird and cool to this accountant!  Long Live RP!! (this one's still an 8 for me) 
Late response to nomnol in Ontario: this was a more commercial album. His prior stuff really highlighted his storytelling- if you’ve never heard it, Roads to Moscow (on Past Present and Future) is an incredible recounting of one soldier’s experience fighting the Nazis - historical references abound- not often you hear the developer of the Blitzkrieg mentioned by name in a song. Haunting imagery in his lyrics. I won’t spoil the ending as it delivers an incredible twist. The whole album is a gem.
There seems to be a fair bit of Al Stewart played recently. Thank you.
Wonderful,great story telling ! ....... 10    From Naugatuck ,Connecticut    :o) 
The Year of the Cat always plays well. This song is a great song too. What are the rest of his works like? Never took the time to find out but I suspect RP listeners may be informed.
Timeless, albeit slightly cheesy but cheesy in a good way, quality about this song. Not Neil Young kinda timelessness, but a moody gawd I really need to get the f outta the f-ing city kinda timelessness. 
See? the 70's weren't THAT bad...
Holds up well - 
 DD gypsyman wrote:
recognition time, including artist, album, and song = 2.5 seconds. not bad for 35 years after it came out. listened to it every day for awhile.....

 
About .5 seconds for me. Those piano octaves are unmistakable.
Al Stewart sure does paint a picture with his lyrics and instrumentation.
...The ghost moon sails among the clouds/turns the rifles into silver....

Al Stewart writes some truly poetic lyrics, and this album is shot through with them.
We also enjoyed an Al Stewart concert with Dave Nachmanoff at the Musical Instrument Museum in Phoenix back in July, 2016.

A point Al highlighted in this song is his line,

"The spirit of the century
Telling us that we're all standing on the border"

 prophesying the fact that terrorism has created a situation where we are all on the border.

Norm 
 molson wrote:
Great album, I have played it hundreds of times! Fun facts, Alan Parsons produced this record, Dark Side the Moon (PF) and Ambrosia's 1st record. Amazing, you can actually hear Alan Parsons "effect" in all 3 records and of course every Alan Parsons record ever recorded:-).

Bill, have Rebecca add Ambrosias 1st record to the vault, it is such an amazing masterpiece!! 

 That would be nice, nice, very nice.


Great album, I have played it hundreds of times! Fun facts, Alan Parsons produced this record, Dark Side the Moon (PF) and Ambrosia's 1st record. Amazing, you can actually hear Alan Parsons "effect" in all 3 records and of course every Alan Parsons record ever recorded:-).

Bill, have Rebecca add Ambrosias 1st record to the vault, it is such an amazing masterpiece!! 
Saw him last week at an updated 1882 opera house that sits 320.
What a great evening.
Lots of stories and the music was great.
That's the one!
Timeless and time-marking! Recalling well the times listening enraptured...
My sister played this album when I was just a kid.
Love it though I prefer some other songs on this album.
{#Clap} I loooove this! 
Boy, the time when going to exotic places was dangerous, not suicidal.  So many interesting locations are just gone for us now.

Bummer.

Great record tho. 
 leafmold wrote:
Whatever happened to him, anyway?

 
No lie, a few years ago a local library opened and he was scheduled to play.
WTF!?!

He just played in San Juan Capistrano, CA

Holy cow - he's nearby in a few days!

Al Stewart: Tour
SUNDAY, DECEMBER 7TH, 2014Freight & Salvage Coffee House
2020 Addison Street
Berkeley California 94704
US (510)548-1761
 
{#No} Al, go.....
{#Heartkiss} ..... wonderful track from a groundbreaking classic album
I always liked this song. Reminds me of summers in the 70s in Detroit. Not that we smuggled rifles across the border or any thing...
Great to hear this... esp as I heard a live acoustic version on PSD a couple of hours ago....
recognition time, including artist, album, and song = 2.5 seconds. not bad for 35 years after it came out. listened to it every day for awhile.....
 seaGal wrote:
Always reminds me of making out with my first boyfriend ....
 
Me too. He was cute - we meant to tell you...
Classic.
Excellent!
Echoing all the sentiments here. This was a fine example of a 70s, sexy, trippy mashup.
aaaahhhhhh!!! the seventies were the best...
Always reminds me of making out with my first boyfriend ....
Man, does that song take me somewhere far away, deep into the 70s!
 leafmold wrote:
Whatever happened to him, anyway?
 

He still tours and stuff.  Amazing musician and just a nice guy. 

https://www.alstewart.com/


Whatever happened to him, anyway?
I haven't listened to Stewart on some time, although I do have Past Present and Future. His preoccupations made him quite the unusual popular music artist. 
 bindi wrote:
Alan Parsons engineering this if I recall correctly.  He helped make some classic albums in this period.
 
Not only engineered, but produced it as well.
I don't know why, but I really only like to listen to Al Stewart during the winter...
30+ years... 9 > 9.5
I heard the first chords of this song and managed to crank it up before I was riveted, eyes closed, shivers up and down my spine... I have GOT to get this on CD, as well as "Time Passages."  I'm in the Al Stewart season now...
Come on Bill! I've got work to do and this music won't let me leave the house. Now I'm busy looking through my CD collection for Year of the Cat (my vinyl won't play in the car *S*). Stop it, please!
 Giselle62 wrote:
I've been wanting to know something for a long time...
Is there a "year of the Cat?" or is he using it as a metaphor for an invisible netherworld? If there is no "Year of the Cat" (I mean, I've never seen one of the Chinese restaurant menu) then that song is similar to the Television song "Venus de Milo"
"I fell into the aaaarms of Venus de Milo.." Tom Verlaine singing.
 
IIRC, the Year of the Cat does refer to the alternate calendar mentioned below.  Stewart came into town and did a live radio show on WMMS back when this was still kinda new and explained that the song refers to him being marooned in North Africa somewhere, during the actual Year of the Cat.  The song is a lament about being waylayed in a strange place far from home and enduring the wait.

Could be totally wrong, too lazy to wiki.


I'd not realised that Al Stewart is in fact Scottish - Alasdair Stewart (Wikipedia) - which adds to my liking of him. I remember liking this song when it came out but not really understanding it. Only in later years when I researched the Spanish Civil War / Spanish Revolution and re-heard it on RP did I realise what it's about. Many thanks, again, to RP for re-exposing me to this guy's work, which will result in a couple of CD purchases for sure. Intelligent songwriters are at a bit of a premium in these days of McMusic and the X Factor and should be supported.
Nice less-played track. I should get this album.

nice
I used to love this album back when it came out.  He has a really fluid singing style and the very atmospheric production still sounds fresh.
I love how Al Stewart's delicate vocals can still deliver such powerful words with impact.  I listened to this album until it wouldn't play anymore.  Time to get it on CD. It's classic.{#Music}
dang, killer segue from A Perfect Circle!
outstanding
i agree with cc_rider. holds up very well. 

no more PG's Listening Wind please. 


Forgot how good this song is
this was released in the US in October of '76 actually (the album that is) {#Think}{#Eh}{#Cheesygrin}

I'm surprised how well this holds up. Nice.
simply brutal
 Giselle62 wrote:
I've been wanting to know something for a long time...
Is there a "year of the Cat?" or is he using it as a metaphor for an invisible netherworld? If there is no "Year of the Cat" (I mean, I've never seen one of the Chinese restaurant menu) then that song is similar to the Television song "Venus de Milo"
"I fell into the aaaarms of Venus de Milo.." Tom Verlaine singing.
 
The Year of the Cat comes from Vietnamese astrology, which uses a slightly different sequence of animals than Chinese. The last Year of the Cat was 1999, and the next one is next year, 2011.

I've been wanting to know something for a long time...
Is there a "year of the Cat?" or is he using it as a metaphor for an invisible netherworld? If there is no "Year of the Cat" (I mean, I've never seen one of the Chinese restaurant menu) then that song is similar to the Television song "Venus de Milo"
"I fell into the aaaarms of Venus de Milo.." Tom Verlaine singing.
This version doesn't sound analogue (1978).  Is it a digital remaster?  It sounds very sweet, I like it.
A friend of mine who is the artistic director for the Newberry Opera House is talking to Al at this very moment helping him prepare for his show tonight. I gots to work!{#Headache}
 HarrO wrote:
Oh MAN, what an album. What memories. Have loved this tune for what? it's got to be at least 25 - 30  years.
 

Same . . . never tire of this one
Great to hear this on a gloomy Monday morning ... such evocative lyrics, takes me away.
9 at worst! Great composition, superb album! Ah, the memories.............dig that bass!
Bettered only by the title track, perhaps......now there's a classic.................

Oh MAN, what an album. What memories. Have loved this tune for what? it's got to be at least 25 - 30  years.
 bindi wrote:
Alan Parsons engineering this if I recall correctly.  He helped make some classic albums in this period.
 
You recall correctly.  You can definitely detect his hand on the desk in anything he engineered.  You may have heard some of his other work:  Abbey Road and Dark Side of the Moon.


Alan Parsons engineering this if I recall correctly.  He helped make some classic albums in this period.
Wow, this is an old one!  Great to hear it again, though.  Fantastic.
 shayde wrote:
The live version of this song is awesome.  But this'll do for now.  *bounces*
 

Live version!!!!!??!!!!!............direct me immediately to this "live" gem.............live always trumps studio.....and I love this tune of Al's; one of my personal favourites..............gimme 'da live, please............
 NorthernLad wrote:
Wha.... Cristo has taken on another art project?


 


 sirrus wrote:
Welly wrote:
Always enjoyed Al Stewart's stuff - this is one of my favourites. Although I must say hearing him sing lyrics about being in love with a woman IS a bit of a stretch. NTTAWWT.

You might want to tell his wife and kids that.
 
Wife and kids?  C'mon.  They haven't been a good beard for at least a generation now.  Welly's point is well taken; Stewart's name is right below Neil Tenant's on the list of rock's great lispers (as Essex Tex cleverly pointed out).


 orpheus wrote:
This was released in 1977, not '78 (this particular album, that is){#Exclaim}{#Ask}{#Yell}
 
ACTUALLY RELEASED IN LATE SUMMER '76.  BECAME THE UNOFFICIAL THEME SONG OF THE PITT PANTHERS THAT FALL WHEN TONY DORSETT LED THEM TO THE NATIONAL TITLE. (SUGAR BOWL VICTORY OVER GEORGIA NEW YEARS DAY 77)

o he still preforms. will be doing a christmas show with Annie Haslam this year . and still does concert at least here on the east coast
 
toterola wrote:
Great song, great album. I wonder where this ol' boy ever got off to? Anybody?
 

Great song, great album. I wonder where this ol' boy ever got off to? Anybody?
This was released in 1977, not '78 (this particular album, that is){#Exclaim}{#Ask}{#Yell}
great album altogether
The live version of this song is awesome.  But this'll do for now.  *bounces*
Classic Al
just had to come by and say thanks RP for all the Al Stewart i've heard over the last few years being a regular listener - would never have heard more than the Year of the Cat otherwise! p.s. yes i support and so should you
Such great memories this brings up! Such a carefree time in life. Why do we ever have to grow old??
"West End Girls"
Great song, IMO. Al Stewart has a distinctive sound (like the Shins and many others) that I really like.
Welly wrote:
Always enjoyed Al Stewart's stuff - this is one of my favourites. Although I must say hearing him sing lyrics about being in love with a woman IS a bit of a stretch. NTTAWWT.
You might want to tell his wife and kids that.
GREAT to hear Al on RP, thank you Bill. I dare say he's among the most literate song writers in popular music. Many songs are a history lesson in themselves (this one included). His recent, though hardly-acknowledged works are also excellent (Check out "Between the Wars" and "Down in the Cellar" (the "wine album")). You should have listened to Al.
Always enjoyed Al Stewart's stuff - this is one of my favourites. Although I must say hearing him sing lyrics about being in love with a woman IS a bit of a stretch. NTTAWWT.
Grow up listening to All Stewart here in the UK Loved him then good to hear him again. I don't understand why so many people want to rubbish him. Maybe they they should listen with a more open mind to some of his music. Thanks Bill from us lot in wet England
Always such a let down!! That first violin note makes me think it will be Jean-Luc Ponty. But no. It's this rubbish! blech!
I don't know about genius, but he sure was underappreciated (though not by me).
coloradojohn wrote:
Al is a musical/lyrical genius no one noticed beyond his smash hit, Year of the Cat.
A hearty I Second That. Grossly underrated. Glad to hear some AS here :)
Beautiful!
I like this...does this sound like Rush to anyone else?
DrLex wrote:
There are some people who appear to only live in the present. I know a guy who simply refuses to watch any movies older than 5 years unless you really do an enormous effort to convince him that it's really good. He can't comprehend how I can still enjoy playing some computer games that are more than 4 years old. When someone dares to play electronic music that's more than 5 years old, he will most likely try to foist some of the latest evolution of the same style of music on you. He seems to live under the delusion that 'old' stuff is incompatible with his 'modern brain'. I have only one word for such kind of people, and it's derived from the Greek word meaning "ignorant person".
totally fucking ditto!!! ignorance spews ignorance
bill, you play great stuff.
It's hard to believe, but there was once a time when this was on the radio so much that I got tired of it.
Shesdifferent wrote:
I have to admit I am a die hard Al Stewart Fan. Did you know this song is about reincarnation?
Al is a musical/lyrical genius no one noticed beyond his smash hit, Year of the Cat. Time Passages has haunting gems on it, too, but this is a solid masterpiece from the first song to the last... and I agree, but think that even more than re-incarnation, it evokes the seamless continuum of time, including war... Maybe you are thinking of One Stage Before...which is chilling, and indeed refers to the phenomenon of, if not re-incarnation, of the eternal connections we all have, again and again... More Al, anytime, Bill!