It seems to me as though I've been upon this stage before And juggled away the night for the same old crowd These harlequins you see with me, they too have held the floor As here once again they strut and they fret their hour
I see those half-familiar faces in the second row Ghost-like with the footlights in their eyes But where or when we met like this last time, I just don't know It's like a chord that rings and never dies for infinity
And now these figures in the wings with all their restless tunes Are waiting around for someone to call their names They walk the backstage corridors and prowl the dressing rooms And vanish to specks of light in the picture-frames
But did they move upon the stage a thousand years ago In some play in Paris or Madrid And was I there among them then, in some travelling show And is it all still locked inside my head for infinity
And some of you are harmonies to all the notes I play Although we may not meet still you know me well While others talk in secret keys and transpose all I say And nothing I do or try can get me through the spell
So one more time we'll dim the lights and ring the curtain up And play again like all the times before But far behind the music you can almost hear the sounds Of laughter like the waves upon the shores of infinity
Read more: Al Stewart - One Stage Before Lyrics | MetroLyrics