Roads to Moscow

Actually, there is no change in perspective. It seems as if there might be because all of a sudden Al Stewart speaks of a push towards Berlin, but this is still the voice of a Soviet soldier. "The flames of the tiger..." conjures the turnaround in the favor of Russian army as they pushed back the Germans at Stalingrad and kept pushing, all the way to Berlin. Another line that takes on a new meaning if you assume no perspective change is, "The old men and children they send out to face us, they can't slow us down..." These are not the Russian villagers fighting for Stalingrad - these are the German and Austrian people fighting off the Soviet troops. The mention of capture and being sent to Siberia was not, actually, from a German's perspective. A Soviet soldier that had been captured by Germans and managed to escape was seen as a potential traitor, and treated as such - including a sort of forced exile. The unfortunate soul who says "I'm coming home, I'm coming home..." is quite mistaken - as he admits later, he will likely never see his home again. This is a very vivid and beautiful song, as so many of Stewart's songs are. It is truly able to capture the spirit of the years of fighting in WWII in the Russian winter.

The line "Two broken tigers on fire in the night" reminds me of William Blake's famous poem "Tiger, tiger, burning bright; In the forests of the night..." The second to last verse is intriguing but I doubt it means anything. The Soviet soldier is caught behind German lines and taken prisoner, then stands in a line with other Soviet prisoners, then the Germans take him alone from the lines and put on a train to Russia. Then apparently he comes back to Germany, the war ends (in April), and in October he and other Soviet soldiers are on a train back to the Soviet Union. It's true that when Soviet soldiers became lost from their units and snuck back across the front line, sometimes other Soviet soldiers shot them suspecting they were spies or traitors. But that scenario doesn't fit the song. I'll bet that if you asked Stewart what the second to last verse means, he'd say "I don't know, it just came to me." Indeed "I'll never know, I'll never know" is in the lyrics. Sometimes songwriters are just inspired. That a line says "holy Russia" suggests a religious or mystical experience. The Nazis had some strange religious fascinations, in my imagination a German general wanted to go to a religious shrine in Russia before it was lost to the Soviet army, and chose a single Soviet prisoner with him, for reasons known only to the general.

This song is about the german campaign "Barbarossa" during WWII, told through the eyes of a soviet soldier. Stewart tells it with such passion and imagery. I love the the lyric "Two broken Tigers on fire in the night, flicker their souls to the wind", because you can just picture it so vividly. great song.

Is it my imagination or does the pospective change from a russian to a german soldier half way through the song?

Amazing. People don't realize Stalin felt any soldier of his who had been captured by the a western army had also been "contaminated" by that contact and had to be separated from others so they would not contaminate others.......

It's pretty obvious that the soldier gets sent to a prison at the end due to Stalin's paranoia. The soldier said it was a lucky break, which the interrogators possibly interpreted (or simply chose to twist it) as a confession that he enjoyed his time with the Germans, and he is therefore a traitor. Read up on Soviet Russia. Whether you choose to look at it this way or not is your choice, but it's obvious that this was Al Stewart's meaning.

Thanks to hellodru for best explaining the song, especially for setting it straight to a few of the commenters that the entire story is from the perspective of the doomed Soviet soldier. First half of the song, Nazi's push East through the Soviet Union almost to Moscow. Second half, turning point at Stalingrad, Soviets push the Nazis West all the way back to Berlin. Sad ironic ending is the heartwrenching fate of the narrator, sent to a delolate transit camp "deep into the heart of holy Russia" by the paranoid Soviet regime he fought for simply because he was once captured by the Germans Didn't notice it mentioned in the comments I read but I thought I might add that the lines that allude to "tigers" that everyone seems to love (I get chills) refer to the Tiger Tank, the German army's huge and fearsome armored war machine from WWII. As a history buff and a music lover, I would just like to express my great love and admiration for this magnificent song with it's poetic beauty, imagery, and the dead-on accuracy of it's many historical references. Bravo Al. c.

I think it was inspired as a tribute to Russian partisans (back in WW I this meant Russians loyal to Czar and opposed to communism). Partisan Russians often refer to Russia as "holy Russia" and as "Mother Russia". At the time this song was written, the world had been reading Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn's "The Gulag Archipelago". Solzhenitsyn had fought for the Soviets in WW II, been decorated, and was arrested near the end of the war and sent to a labour camp "deep into the heart of holy Russia" for 8 years. Al Stewart obviously knew his military history and imagined himself a young homesick Soviet soldier. Solzhenitsyn himself was free in the US for years and a bit of a celebrity - still, homesick, he returned to holy Russia near the end of his days, calling for a return to the Russian monarchy and lamenting the soullessness of post-wall Russia. The song describes that deep attachment to the Russian empire despite its problems.

I here a few lyrics differently. Here is my transliteration: They crossed over the border the hour before dawn Moving in lines through the day Most of our planes were destroyed on the ground t'were 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 mist 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 come Riding the wind like a bell General Guderian stands at the crest of the hill Winter brought with it the rains, oceans of mud filled the roads Gluing the tracks of their tanks to the ground, while the skies 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 outpost, 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 road 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 with 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...

theoriginalmodelguy has it mostly right regarding the lyrics; his take on the state of the post-war Soviet economy is probably the stupidest I've ever seen. Read a few books yourself, modelguy.