Al Stewart (with Roger Taylor) - Roads To Moscow

Roads To Moscow by Al Stewart with Roger Taylor on backing vocals and percussion. Recorded at Trident studios in 1972 during Queen's first album session and released on Al's album 'Past, Present and Future' in 1973. Written by Al Stewart.

Lyrics:

They crossed over the border the 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 silhouetting 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 backs to the town of Orel
Closer and closer to Moscow they came - 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
Gluing 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 silhouetting 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 an avenger
And far away behind their lines the partisans are stirring in the forest
Coming unexpectedly upon their outposts, growing like a promise
You'll never know, you'll 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 roads 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 approach to begin
It's been almost four years that I've carried a gun
At home it will 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 the 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
When I was caught behind their 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 and 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

-------------------------------------
"Queen" "Freddie Mercury" "Brian May" "Roger Taylor" "John Deacon" "Keep Yourself Alive" "Queen II" "Seven Seas of Rhye" Sheer Heart Attack" Killer Queen" "Now I'm Here" "A Night at the Opera" "Bohemian Rhapsody" "You're My Best Friend" "A Day At The Races" "Somebody To Love" "Tie Your Mother Down" "Good Old Fashioned Lover Boy" "News Of The World" We Will Rock You" We Are The Champions" "Spread Your Wings" "Jazz" "Bicycle Race" "Don't Stop Me Now" "Fat Bottomed Girls" "Live Killers" "Love Of My Life" "The Game" "Play The Game" "Save Me" "Another One Bites The Dust" "Crazy Little Thing Called Love" "Flash Gordon" "Flash" "The Hero" "Hot Space" "Body Language" "Under Pressure" "Las Palabras De Amor" "The Works" "The Complete Works" "Radio Ga Ga" "I Want To Break Free" "It's A Hard Life" "Hammer To Fall" "A Kind Of Magic" "One Vision" "Who Wants To Live Forever" "Friends Will Be Friends" "The Miracle" "Breakthru" "Scandal" "I Want It All" "The Invisible Man" "Innuendo" "I'm Going Slightly Mad" "These Are The Days of our Lives" "The Show Must Go On" "Headlong" "Live at Wembley" "At The Beeb" "Classic Queen" "Made In Heaven" "Heaven for Everyone" "Mother Love" "Too Much Love Will Kill You" "I Was Born To Love You" You Don't Fool Me" A Winter's Tale" "Queen + Paul Rodgers" "Greatest Hits" "Greatest Hits II" "Greatest Hits III" Queen Rocks" "Queen Rock Montreal" "Stone Cold Classics" "Queen on Fire Live at the Bowl" "Return of the Champions" "Larry Lurex" "The Cross" "The Eye" "Ibex" "Wreckage" "We Will Rock You The Musical" "WWRY"

Category:

Music

Tags:

• Queen

[phuchuebuddy44]

Stalin was a cunt

[claytonave]

@drfjcmd Sorry but greatturbo is entirely worng. The song is written about a Russian soldier who serves his country but is betrayed and imprisoned by Stalin regime.. the Ivan Denisovitch novel was written from Solzhenistyn's experiences in the Stalinist labour camps. Turbo should really do some research

[50gtg]

53 brit here, this song exudes the futility of war and the angst of the ordinary joe bloggs in the scheme of things.go to war pigs by sabbath same theme

[darklillithca]

@esf428 No, Steven - it is the narrative of a Russian soldier, the battles in Eastern Europe and then the subsequent siege of Moscow by Germany. After being taken prisoner for a day, the soldier returns but under Stalin, after the war, any soldier who had been taken by the enemy, regardless for how long, would find himself sent to the gulags.

[Diarmid63]

One of the most evocative story songs that has ever been written. It and Canadian Railroad Trilogy by Lightfoot are both works of sheer genuis.

[Karnakdmagnificent]

@ReevesPete if you think you REALLY have freedom of speech--- just go out and try to exercise your illusion of freedom-- incl freedom of speech-- in America today! The country is owned by monstrous corporations and their ultra rich "captains" who will make sure you are shut down and hauled off. America started dying with the Vietnam genocide war. It's a dying culture of rabid consumption now....RIP the once great place

[CoreaKixx420]

Simply one of the greatest songs ever written...a masterpiece if you will. Thanx for the terrific post!!!!!! From Tim in Ontario, Canada...very much appreciated!!!

[ReevesPete]

@Karnakdmagnificent Appreciate your input and Freedom of Speech (THAT did NOT come from your commie friends,) came from AMERICA AND AMERICANS! Keep yaking your dckhole but please don't come back to America. Pete Reeves 1908 Pine Ave., Altoona, PA

[ReevesPete]

@LifeinSlowLane NOT one mention of the Soviet Union first siding with Germany. TALK ABOUT MYOPIC! NOT one mention of the Purges prior to the war or the LockDown of Eastern Europe following the war. And the fact is Vietnam and Korea should be hateful of Communism and the Soviets for bankrolling their wars and deaths. America responded but it was the Communist who made it possible (THE DEAT AND DESTRUCTION!) We were ready to build roads, schools, hospitals, KFC's...

[thailandajarn]

@dhsbear What?

[drinfothv]

truly one of the great songs ever written about the absolute misery of war. most human beings have no idea just how bad humanity has treated each other and this planet. WHEN WILL LEARN?

[Karnakdmagnificent]

@LifeinSlowLane RIGHT! Vast majority of Americans have their heads up their asses about the rest of the world because of our myopic educational experience. I know first hand as a product of the idiotic American education system. Thank God I questioned it all and got a "real" education and read, read, read, and read!!!! And lived all over the world!!! Now living OUTSIDE America!!!! Loved this song in the 70s!!!! AL STEWART STILL ROCKS!!