Every Moment Has A Song

Al Stewart: “Merlin’s Time” (1980)

Glasgow, Scotland’s Alastair Ian Stewart (if all that’s not redundant) has been around as long as the Rolling Stones, whom he actually opened for in 1963, and has quietly built a career as one of the more singular singer-songwriters out there. Truly one artist whose influences are almost impossible to pin down, Stewart’s style forsook convention in many ways: songs with lengthy running times, using the f-word in a ballad, historical and seafaring themes, and a lyrical style rich with detailed imagery. His songs were almost word-paintings, often not built around a hook, but written as narratives that required a little patience of a listener.

“Merlin’s Time” which dates from the tail-end of Stewart’s run of U.S. chart success, finds him in atmospheric reverie of ancient England’s “kingdom lost to time”.