All This Time lyrics by Sting, 1 meaning, official 2024 song lyrics | LyricsMode.com
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Sting – All This Time lyrics
I looked out across
The river today
I saw a city in the fog and an old church tower
Where the seagulls play
I saw the sad shire horses walking home
In the sodium light
I saw two priests on the ferry
October geese on a cold winter's night

And all this time, the river flowed
Endlessly to the sea

Two priests came round our house tonight
One young, one old, to offer prayers for the dying
To serve the final rite
One to learn, one to teach
Which way the cold wind blows
Fussing and flapping in priestly black
Like a murder of crows

And 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,
I'd bury him at sea

Blessed are the poor, for they shall inherit the earth
Better to be poor than a fat man in the eye of a needle
And as these words were spoken I swear I hear
The old man laughing
'What good is a used up world and how could it be
Worth having'

And all this time the river flowed
Endlessly like a silent tear
And all this time the river flowed
Father, if Jesus exists,
Then how come he never lived here

The teachers told us, the Romans built this place
They built a wall and a temple, an edge of the empire
Garrison town,
They lived and they died, they prayed to their gods
But the stone gods did not make a sound
And their empire crumbled, 'til all that was left
Were the stones the workmen found

And all this time the river flowed
In the falling light of a northern sun
If I had my way I'd take a boat from the river
Men go crazy in congregations
But they only get better
One by one
One by one...
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Lyrics taken from /lyrics/s/sting/all_this_time.html

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Songwriters: Gordon Sumner
All This Time lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group
Corrected by DonTreader

All This Time meanings

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    DonTreader
    Presumably the city is Newcastle and the river is the Tyne. After all, the Romans did build a town there, and a wall which goes through it (Hadrian's Wall, also known as the Roman Wall), which was the northern frontier (edge) of the Roman Empire (England was a Roman province called Britannia).
    It seems to me that Sting is going through a period of religious conflict, and I would say that he has abandoned Christianity at this point. What remains constant is the flowing river, whereas everything else changes, including the religion being practiced in the town (from pagan Gods of the Romans to Christianity today), and apparently he sees Christianity as being as useless as ancient pagan religions. No real difference.
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    • d
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      DonTreader
      Presumably the city is Newcastle and the river is the Tyne. After all, the Romans did build a town... Read more →

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