Time Passages Lyrics

Lyric discussion by Mojo09 

Cover art for Time Passages lyrics by Al Stewart

It's about how the past doesn't really ever go anywhere, but remains part of the present. And then sometimes we realize "there's something back there that you left behind." What's been left behind is our Original Self, Who we were before our mother and father were born. You realize you are not BECOMING anything -- not any better, wiser, etc. because the "you" you thought you were is an illusion (the ego). Your True Self (that you left behind) is always already Are Whole and Complete. That's why he says, "Don't know why you should feel that there's something to learn" -- because that's not what life's about, it's about recovering connection with Soul, that part of us that already is Whole, Complete, and Happy. So this is really a very mystical song about returning to the innocence of childhood and coming Home (to God, or our True Nature as they say in Zen).

My Interpretation

WoW! This is how I have always felt and still Do. This was a time of innocents, you haven't experienced Life as you were. It way a different time, dreamy or not experienced. We always wondered what will become of us in the future, but I have never let go of the past...I wish I could still be there. I would change one one thing, just One. Thanks