History Music / AlStewart

Alastair Ian "Al" Stewart (born September 5, 1945) is a British SingerSongwriter and guitarist known particularly for exemplifying the 'confessional' school of songwriting in his early years, for [[IdiosyncraticAlbumTheming writing a large number of songs about history and historical events,]] and for the hit title tracks from his albums ''Year of the Cat'' (1976) and ''Time Passages'' (1978).

** The latter half of TheTwentiethCentury: "Post World War Two Blues," "Shah of Shahs," "Running Man," "Night Meeting," "A Child's View of the [[UsefulNotes/DwightEisenhower Eisenhower]] Years," "Class of '58," "In Red Square", "Gina in the King's Road", "[[UsefulNotes/{{Haiti}} Ton Ton Macoutte]]".

** UsefulNotes/TheFrenchRevolution: "The Palace of Versailles," "Charlotte Corday"

** The latter half of TheTwentiethCentury: "Post World War Two Blues," "Shah of Shahs," "Running Man," "Night Meeting," "A Child's View of the [[UsefulNotes/DwightEisenhower Eisenhower]] Years," "Class of '58," "In Red Square", "Gina in the King's Road"

* WhamLine: The song Swiss Cottage Manoeuvres, in which the narrator meets a girl in a bookshop, invites her back to his flat, makes her dinner, talks to her about her life story and eventually invites her to live with him to which she replies [[spoiler: "But I've not finished school yet"]]

** "Terminal Eyes," on the album ''Past Present & Future,'' is a deliberate imitation of "[[Music/TheBeatles I Am the Walrus]]." The liner notes dedicate the song to "egg-men everywhere."
*** "Soho (Needless to Say)", from the same album, is written InTheStyleOf "[[Creator/BobDylan Subterranean Homesick Blues]],"

** AncientGreece: "Helen and Cassandra," "Hanno the Navigator"

'''Alastair Ian "Al" Stewart''' (born September 5, 1945) is a British SingerSongwriter and guitarist known particularly for exemplifying the 'confessional' school of songwriting in his early years, for [[IdiosyncraticAlbumTheming writing a large number of songs about history and historical events,]] and for the hit title tracks from his albums ''Year of the Cat'' (1976) and ''Time Passages'' (1978).

* WhatMightHaveBeen: Stewart often writes the music and records all of the instrumental tracks for a song--or even a ''whole album''--before writing lyrics. What eventually became "Year of the Cat" originally told the story of [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tony_Hancock Tony Hancock]], a British [[RecordedAndStandUpComedy stand-up comic]] who [[DrivenToSuicide killed himself;]] the chorus was "Your tears fall down like rain/At [[TitleDrop the foot of the stage]]." The record company objected to those lyrics because American listeners would have no idea who Tony Hancock was. Stewart then saw the phrase "Year of the Cat" in his girlfriend's book on [[UsefulNotes/{{Vietnam}} Vietnamese] astrology and decided that would be the song's title. Suffering from writer's block after an abortive attempt at composing lyrics about cats, he saw ''Film/{{Casablanca}}'' on television and decided to "grab Creator/HumphreyBogart and Creator/PeterLorre and see where it goes."

** The latter half of TheTwentiethCentury: "Post World War Two Blues," "Shah of Shahs," "Running Man," "Night Meeting," "A Child's View of the Eisenhower Years," "Class of '58," "In Red Square", "Gina in the King's Road"
* BaitAndSwitch: "A Long Way Down From Stephanie" is a [[GriefSong heartbroken lament]] about a lost lover written in Shakesperian style. The last line reveals that Stephanie was [[spoiler: his first-grade crush: "And though lost at six, if I should live to be seven, I might forget Stephanie."]]

* EpicRocking: to give just a few examples, "Apple Cider Re-Constitution" (5:19), "Year of the Cat" (5:20), "Song on the Radio" (6:19), "Time Passages" (6:43), "Murmansk Run[=/=]Ellis Island" (7:41), "Roads to Moscow" (8:00), "Trains (8:17), "Nostradamus" (9:43)--yet, all of these pale in comparison to "Love Chronicles", which runs for 18:04.

* GranolaGirl: Heroines like these turn up in a few of his songs, including "Carol," "Year of the Cat," and "In Brooklyn".

** "Post World War II Blues". The tune is bouncy, the lyrics are a catalouge of almost every major tragedy of the post 1945 years.
** "Last Train To Munich". The music is catchy Django Rheinhard style jazz. The lyrics are about how the narrator is sending his best friend on an espionage mission which will almost certainly lead to his death.

* SanitySlippageSong: "Terminal Eyes"

*** "Soho (Needless to Say)", from the same album, is written InTheStyleOf "[[Creator/BobDylan Subterranian Homesick Blues]],"

* WhatMightHaveBeen: Stewart often writes the music and records all of the instrumental tracks for a song--or even a ''whole album''--before writing lyrics. What eventually became "Year of the Cat" originally told the story of [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tony_Hancock Tony Hancock]], a British [[RecordedAndStandUpComedy stand-up comic]] who [[DownerEnding killed himself;]] the chorus was "Your tears fall down like rain/At [[TitleDrop the foot of the stage]]." The record company objected to those lyrics because American listeners would have no idea who Tony Hancock was. Stewart then saw the phrase "Year of the Cat" in his girlfriend's book on Vietnamese astrology and decided that would be the song's title. Suffering from writer's block after an abortive attempt at composing lyrics about cats, he saw ''Film/{{Casablanca}}'' on television and decided to "grab Creator/HumphreyBogart and Creator/PeterLorre and see where it goes."

* WhatMightHaveBeen: Stewart often writes the music and records all of the instrumental tracks for a song--or even a ''whole album''--before writing lyrics. What eventually became "Year of the Cat" originally told the story of Tony Hancock, a British [[RecordedAndStandUpComedy stand-up comic]] who [[DownerEnding killed himself;]] the chorus was "Your tears fall down like rain/At [[TitleDrop the foot of the stage]]." The record company objected to those lyrics because American listeners would have no idea who Tony Hancock was. Stewart then saw the phrase "Year of the Cat" in his girlfriend's book on Vietnamese astrology and decided that would be the song's title. Suffering from writer's block after an abortive attempt at composing lyrics about cats, he saw ''Film/{{Casablanca}}'' on television and decided to "grab Creator/HumphreyBogart and Creator/PeterLorre and see where it goes."

** The latter half of TheTwentiethCentury: "Post World War Two Blues," "Shah of Shahs," "Running Man," "Night Meeting," "A Child's View of the Eisenhower Years," "Class of '58," "In Red Square"