Time Passages (song)

"Time Passages"
Single by Al Stewart
from the album Time Passages
B-side "Almost Lucy"
Released September 1978 (US)
November 1978 (UK)
Genre Soft rock, pop rock
Length 6:39 (album version)
4:39 (single edit)
Label Arista
Writer(s) Al Stewart, Peter White
Producer(s) Alan Parsons
Al Stewart singles chronology
"On the Border"
(1977)		 "Time Passages"
(1978)		 "Song on the Radio"
(1979)

"Time Passages" is the title of a 1978 US Top Ten hit by singer-songwriter Al Stewart which was produced by Alan Parsons and was the title track for Stewart's 1978 album release. The single reached No. 7 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart in December 1978,[1] "Time Passages" also spent ten weeks at No. 1 on the U.S. Billboard Easy Listening chart, the longest stay at number one on this chart in the 1970s.[2] The song is also of note of having the highest note ever hit on an alto saxophone by Phil Kenzie on a studio recording as a lead into the sax solo as Peter White's acoustic guitar solo was ending.

A radio edit of the song was often played instead of the album version, which is over six minutes long; however, both versions were heard over the airwaves during the late 1970s. The familiar final line to the chorus is, "Buy me a ticket on the last train home tonight". Less lyrically complex than a typical Al Stewart composition - the singer's previous Top Ten hit "Year of the Cat" exemplifying his usual style - "Time Passages" was one of two songs on the Time Passages album written by Stewart with the intent of the tracks’ having hit single potential, the other being "Song on the Radio" which was the follow-up single and reached No. 29 Billboard and No. 27 Cash Box.

Chart performance

Weekly singles charts

Chart (1978-79) Peak
position
Canada RPM Top Singles [3] 10
Canada RPM Adult Contemporary [4] 1
U.S. Billboard Hot 100 7
U.S. Billboard Adult Contemporary 1
U.S. Cash Box Top 100 9

Year-end charts

Chart (1978) Rank
U.S. Cash Box [5] 89
Chart (1979) Rank
Canada [6] 198
U.S. Billboard Hot 100 [7] 79

See also

References

  1. ↑ Whitburn, Joel (2004). The Billboard Book of Top 40 Hits, 8th Edition (Billboard Publications), page 603.
  2. ↑ Hyatt, Wesley (1999). The Billboard Book of No. 1 Adult Contemporary Hits (Billboard Publications), page 417.
  3. ↑ "Image : RPM Weekly - Library and Archives Canada". Bac-lac.gc.ca. Retrieved 2016-10-14.
  4. ↑ "Image : RPM Weekly - Library and Archives Canada". Bac-lac.gc.ca. Retrieved 2016-10-14.
  5. ↑
  6. ↑ "Item: 110 - Library and Archives Canada". Bac-lac.gc.ca. Retrieved 2016-10-14.
  7. ↑ "Top 100 Hits of 1979/Top 100 Songs of 1979". Musicoutfitters.com. Retrieved 2016-10-14.
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