Roads To Moscow (Live 1981) - Al Stewart

Al Stewart - Roads to Moscow(Live)
They crossed over the border
the hour before dawn
Moving in lines through the day
Most of our planes were
destroyed on the ground where 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 mists
in the fields on our
hands and on 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
Riding the wind like a bell
General Guderian stands at
the crest of the hill
Winter brought with her the rains
oceans of mud filled the roads
Gluing the tracks of their tanks
to the ground while the
sky 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
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
The morning roads lead 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
And I listen to the clicking of
the train-wheels as we roll across the border
And now they ask me of the time
that 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
and 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 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