This is the sixth track on Al Stewart’s 1978 album “Time Passages.”
The historical facts come from a document made by Al Stewart to explain the historical context. It can be found here.
[Verse 1]
The wands of smoke are rising
From the walls of the Bastille
And through the streets of Paris
Runs a sense of the unreal
[Verse 2]
The Kings have all departed
There servants are nowhere
We burned out their mansions
In the name of Robespierre
[Chorus]
And still we wait
To see the day begin
Our time is wasting in the wind
Wondering why
Wondering why, it echoes
Through the lonely palace of Versailles
[Verse 3]
Inside the midnight councils
The lamps are burning low
Oh you sit and talk all through the night
But there's just no place to go
[Verse 4]
And Bonaparte is coming
With his army from the south
Marat your days are numbered
And we live hand to mouth
[Chorus]
While we wait
To see the day begin
Our time is wasting in the wind
Wondering why
Wondering why, it echoes
Through the lonely palace of Versailles
[Verse 5]
The ghost of revolution
Still prowls the Paris streets
Down all the restless centuries
It wanders incomplete
[Verse 6]
It speaks inside the cheap red wine
Of cafe summer nights
Its red and amber voices
Call the cars at traffic lights
[Chorus]
Why do you wait
To see the day begin
Your time is wasting in the wind
Wondering why
Wondering why, it echoes
Through the lonely palace of Versailles
[Outro]
Wondering why, it echoes
Through the lonely palace of Versailles
The Palace of Versailles was written by Al Stewart.
The Palace of Versailles was produced by Alan Parsons.
Al Stewart released The Palace of Versailles on Fri Sep 01 1978.