"Nostradamus" as written by and Alistair Ian Stewart....
In the east the wind is blowing the boats across the sea
And their sails will fill the morning and their cries ring out to me
Oh, the more it changes, the more it stays the same
And the hand just re-arranges the players in the game
Oh, I had a dream
It seemed I stood alone
And the veil of all the years
Goes sinking from my eyes like a stone
A king shall fall and put to death by the English parliament shall be
Fire and plague to London come in the year of six and twenties three
An emperor of France shall rise who will be born near Italy
His rule cost his empire dear, Napoleon his name shall be
From Castile does Franco come and the Government driven out shall be
An English king seeks divorce, and from his throne cast down is he
One named Hister shall become a captain of Greater Germanie
No law does this man observe and bloody his rise and fall shall be
Man, man, your time is sand, your ways are leaves upon the sea
I am the eyes of Nostradamus, all your ways are known to me
Man, man, your time is sand, your ways are leaves upon the sea
I am the eyes of Nostradamus, all your ways are known to me
In the new lands of America three brothers now shall come to power
Two alone are born to rule but all must die before their hour
Two great men yet brothers not make the north united stand
Its power be seen to grow, and fear possess the eastern lands
Three leagues from the gates of Rome a Pope named Pol is doomed to die
A great wall that divides a city at this time is cast aside
These are the signs I bring to you
to show you when the time is nigh
Man, man, your time is sand, your ways are leaves upon the sea
I am the eyes of Nostradamus, all your ways are known to me
Man, man, your time is sand, your ways are leaves upon the sea
I am the eyes of Nostradamus, all your ways are known to me
And their sails will fill the morning and their cries ring out to me
Oh, the more it changes, the more it stays the same
And the hand just re-arranges the players in the game
Oh, I had a dream
It seemed I stood alone
And the veil of all the years
Goes sinking from my eyes like a stone
A king shall fall and put to death by the English parliament shall be
Fire and plague to London come in the year of six and twenties three
An emperor of France shall rise who will be born near Italy
His rule cost his empire dear, Napoleon his name shall be
From Castile does Franco come and the Government driven out shall be
An English king seeks divorce, and from his throne cast down is he
One named Hister shall become a captain of Greater Germanie
No law does this man observe and bloody his rise and fall shall be
Man, man, your time is sand, your ways are leaves upon the sea
I am the eyes of Nostradamus, all your ways are known to me
Man, man, your time is sand, your ways are leaves upon the sea
I am the eyes of Nostradamus, all your ways are known to me
In the new lands of America three brothers now shall come to power
Two alone are born to rule but all must die before their hour
Two great men yet brothers not make the north united stand
Its power be seen to grow, and fear possess the eastern lands
Three leagues from the gates of Rome a Pope named Pol is doomed to die
A great wall that divides a city at this time is cast aside
These are the signs I bring to you
to show you when the time is nigh
Man, man, your time is sand, your ways are leaves upon the sea
I am the eyes of Nostradamus, all your ways are known to me
Man, man, your time is sand, your ways are leaves upon the sea
I am the eyes of Nostradamus, all your ways are known to me
Lyrics submitted by webmasterdee
"Nostradamus" as written by Alistair Ian Stewart
Lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group
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Really the only thing worth saying about this song is that it is ironic that the song is so great when Nostradamus was a clown when it came to being a visionary and a prophet. Virtually no experts seem to be particularly impressed by Nostradamus' predictive abilities anymore.
He wrote in the liner notes of the album that it was based on a book about Nostradamus by Erika Cheetham.
I am not defending Nostradamus specifically; but I know from personal experience as a child that it is possible to perceive the future. The "two great men" reference could be gibberish, or a mis-translation of his writings - but the way Al Stewart wrote it, it makes for a very interesting coincidence.
It's just a shame that Nostradamus was incorrect about all three Kennedy brothers dying before their hour. Maybe in the stream of time he saw, Ted did not escape from the car in Chappaquiddick; but remained behind, like a gentleman, to help MJK. If only we could have lost Ted, but kept John & Bobby.
Grant and Lincoln, holding the North together, and keeping the United States whole?
Grant and Lincoln, holding the North together, and keeping the United States whole?
"A king shall fall and put to death by the English parliament shall be"
- King Charles I was executed by Oliver Cromwell's parliament in 1649
"Fire and plague to London come in the year of six and twenties three"
- The great fire of London in 1666
"An emperor of France shall rise who will be born near Italy
His rule cost his empire dear, Napoloron his name shall be"
- Napoleon's take over of France and his defeat in 1815.
"From Castile does Franco come and the Government driven out shall be"
- Francisco Franco's overthrow of the Spanish government in 1939
"An English king seeks divorce, and from his throne cast down is he"
- King Edward VIII loses his throne after marrying a divorcee in 1936
"One named Hister shall become a captain of Greater Germanie
No law does this man observe and bloody his rise and fall shall be"
- Hitler's rise to power and his fall at the end of WWII in 1945
"In the new lands of America three brothers now shall come to power
Two alone are born to rule but all must die before their hour"
-The Kennedy brothers: John, Robert and Joe. All died young. Joe died in WWII but John and Robert were assassinated in the 60s. Both were "born to rule" in that John was president when he was assassinated and Robert was a senator running for president when he was a assassinated.
The rest of the prophecies are future predictions as they hadn't yet come to pass when the song was originally released in 1973 so it's not as obvious why Al Stewart included them. But here are my thoughts:
"Two great men yet brothers not make the north united stand
Its power be seen to grow, and fear possess the eastern lands"
-This has been interpreted as the twin towers coming down and the subsequent wars in the middle East. But it could also be Trump and Putin's alliance against China. Who knows what was going through Al's head when he included this verse. It could be a reference to Lincoln and Grant during the Civil War as someone earlier mentioned, but I get the sense that the song was moving forward chronologically and Al intended on including prophecies that hadn't yet come to pass. The album is, after all, titled "Past, Present and Future".
"Three leagues from the gates of Rome a Pope named Pol is doomed to die
A great wall that divides a city at this time is cast aside"
-This is the eeriest prediction in the song as Pope John Paul had not yet become Pope in 1973 when this song was first published nor had the Berlin Wall come down. Al correctly assumed that the Berlin Wall would come down around the same time there was a Pope named Pol (Paul). John Paul II became Pope in 1979, but he didn't die until 2005 ... 15 years after The Berlin Wall came down. Not exactly "at this time, but still that's pretty close. I'd love to ask Al why he included this verse.
Also, I want to add that the first lyric:
"In the east the wind is blowing the boats across the sea
And their sails will fill the morning and their cries ring out to me"
For a long time I wasn't sure if this was prophecy, or it simply described the Age of Exploration that was taking place during Nostradamus's lifetime. The wind coming from the East and blowing Columbus's boats across the Atlantic Ocean had already happened in 1492 when Nostradamus was writing his quatrains. But the age of exploration and colonization of new lands was still going on well into the 1500s, 1600s, 1700s and 1800s.
"And their cries ring out to me" could describe consequence of this colonization and empire building ie The wars, genocides and deaths from disease of the native population.