All This Time (Broadway Version)

[GIDEON FLETCHER]

I looked out across the river today—

Saw a city in the fog and an old church tower

Where the seagulls play

Saw the sad shire horses walking home in the sodium light

And a pale sun shrinks from the empty streets

And the day falls into night

All this time the river flowed endlessly to the sea

[CAPTAIN, spoken]

Wallsend

[GIDEON FLETCHER, spoken]

Yeah, Wallsend, more like the world’s end

(sung)

Our teachers told us, the Romans built this place

They built a wall and a temple

At an edge of the empire garrison town

They lived and they died, and they prayed to their gods

But the stone gods did not make a sound

And their empire crumbled, ‘til all that was left

Were these stones the workmen found

All this time the river flowed endlessly to the sea

If I had my way, I’d take a boat from the river

And I’d bury the old man, bury him at sea

Nothing’s ever changed 'round here

Not in ten thousand years, I fear

Same bend in the river where the tide slows down

And the seagulls circle this dirty old town

So I ask myself why the hell would I stay?

Just churches and pubs where ye drink or ye pray

And the sky’s still the same old battleship grey

If only the pubs stayed open all day

All this time the river flowed

In the falling light of a northern sun

Well I had my way, I took a boat from the river

'Cause men go crazy in congregations

They only get better one by one

[GIDEON FLETCHER & ENSEMBLE]

One by one (all this time, yeah ee-yeah)

All this time, yeah ee-yeah

One by one by one (all this time, yeah ee-yeah)

All this time, yeah ee-yeah

One by one (all this time, yeah ee-yeah)

I looked out across the river today...