B-side "Almost Lucy" Label Arista | Genre Soft rock, pop rock | |
Released September 1978 (US)
November 1978 (UK) Length 6:39 (album version)
4:39 (single edit) Writer(s) Al Stewart, Peter White | ||
"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, "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. 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.