Class of ’58
(Alternate live version from January 24, 2004 show at the Tractor Tavern,
Seattle)
(Al Stewart)
In the
beginning there were session musicians backing cabaret singers who were
masquerading as teenage stars
Doing bad
cover version of American hits with a whole lot of echo and borrowed riffs on
jazz guitars
For all this false enthusiasm they don't seem alive
In this brand
new world you will be old at 25
You will be
old at 25
And it's a
rapid burn
It's a hard,
hard lesson to learn
It`s a
hard, hard lesson to learn
Then came the kid with the red Colorama
And the Watkins copycat echo chamber and the toothy grin
With one hand
glued to the tremolo wand
While the singer moves around like an Elvis clone
They packed
them in
And every song was short and sweet and every beat was fast
And every
paper in the land said rock-and-roll won't last
You know it won't last, it's just a
rapid burn
And it's a
hard, hard, hard lesson to learn
It's a hard,
hard, hard lesson to learn
Whatcha gonna do when its all over, whatcha gonna do right now?
Whatcha gonna do when its all over, are
you going to get along somehow?
I just don't
know, I just don't know
Feeling like
I do right now
Ask me
tomorrow, ask me tomorrow…
From a
barebones start, no skill, just heart, its funny but a
little sophistication was creeping in
They put a
down payment on a Stratocaster got an organ sound they borrowed from Johnny and
the Hurricanes
There's a man who's a producer and he puts their record out
But the song
comes out on Oriole and does not make the charts
It feels like
the end
And it's a
hard, hard, hard lesson to learn
It's a hard,
hard, hard lesson to learn
Whatcha gonna do when its all over, whatcha gonna do in life?
Will you get
a steady job now, will you get a wife?
I just don't
know, I just don't know
Feeling like
I do right now
Ask me
tomorrow, ask me tomorrow…
Oh, you drift a while but the itch won't go away
You find yourself another band, one that can really play
It all just
clicks one day
Ooh-ah, now I'm on a package tour
Ooh-ah, gonna have a hit for sure
Brian Epstein
says I've got talent to spare
I've got a
flip side co-write, my name's right there
Ooh-ah, now
I'm on a package tour
Ooh-ah, now I'm on the radio
Ooh-ah even
Ready Steady Go
I've met
Andrew Loog Oldham and Cathy Maguire
It's a party
in town
Ooh-ah, now
I'm on the radio
Now I'm on
the radio….
I may not
know much, but I do know I'm partial to an E-Major chord through a stack of
Then came the
first American tour and an endless succession of motel rooms and sleepless
nights
From
ramshackle clubs in the back of beyond to fourth on the bill with the Kinks and
the Hollies and the Dave Clark Five
It's a long, long way from
When
everybody says you're cool life does not seem so hard
It doesn't seem so hard, it feels it's
been earned
And it's a
hard, hard, hard lesson to learn
It's a hard,
hard, hard lesson to learn
Think I'm falling over myself to get to the other side
These pieces
of my past just get in the way,
I've got to
leave them all behind
There's a
palm tree growing in front of my house underneath a yellow sky
And these
local girls won't leave me alone, I don't even know just why
Sha-la-la-la-la-la-la-la,
I've got to
get up soon
Sha-la-la-la-la-la-la-la,
it's the middle of the afternoon
Sha-la-la-la-la-la-la-la, there's nothing I would really change
Sha-la-la-la-la-la-la-la,
the band are acting kinda
strange
They ought to
act their age
Something's going wrong with Johnny
He doesn't
seem to be the same
He sits all
night in his hotel room, checked in under a different name
People come
and go all through the night, they're never people
that I know
Doesn't seem
to want to play much now, he's late for almost every show
If you don't
quit that habit you've got, you're gonna lose
everything
If you don't
quit that habit you've got, you're gonna lose all
your friends
If you don't
quit that habit you've got, you're gonna lose
everything
If you don't
quit that habit you've got, you'll be gone before the spring
You'll be
gone before the spring
The band
broke up in a screaming fit,
They were
trying to say it was my fault, but you know it really wasn't, no not that way
I took the
first plane out and went back to the high street apartment that I used to live
You know its funny I don't remember it that small
Call my
friends, come to the story they're the friends I used to know
And if any of them felt sorry well they did not let it show
It's just
that I'm on my own
And it's a
hard, hard, hard lesson to learn
It's a hard,
hard, hard lesson to learn
The days went
by and the cash ran dry and it seemed like time I should put together another
band {Forgets lyrics}
…I never really got the hang of this psychedelic sound
Backward
tapes and sitar sounds don't belong in rock
I look stupid in a caftan and I cannot talk the talk
Oh I cannot
talk the talk, it feels like the end.
And it's a
hard, hard, hard lesson to learn
It's a hard,
hard, hard lesson to learn
What are you gonna do when you're over 30 and you haven't got a car?
Will you be a
roadie or a driver? Will you work in
A&R?
I just don't
know, I just don't know
Feeling like
I do tonight
Ask me
tomorrow.
Ask me
tomorrow.
There's a
trunk in the attic of my parents house where I keep my
souvenirs
And its piled with books and covered in dust, I haven't been in
there in years
There are posters from 1964, yellow bordered photographs
People I
don't recognize anymore, the clothes they wore would make you laugh
But I still
get out the guitar now and then, play at the local pub
They've all
grown fat, their hair is thin, funny how they love that stuff
Sha-la-la-la-la-la-la-la, you can say that I've got stuff
Sha-la-la-la-la-la-la-la, I think I've gotta
like my life
Being born
into times like these, times like these, times like these….
Being born
into times like these