04. Forever Autumn lyrics

[Narrator: Richard Burton ("The Journalist")]

For three days I fought my way along roads packed with refugees, the homeless, burdened with boxes and bundles containing their valuables. All that was of value to me was in London. By the time I reached their little red brick house, Carrie and her father were gone...

[Verse 1: Justin Hayward (Sung Thoughts of The Journalist)]

The summer sun is fading as the year grows old

And darker days are drawing near

The winter winds will be much colder

Now you're not here

[Verse 2: Justin Hayward (Sung Thoughts of The Journalist)]

I watch the birds fly south across the autumn sky

And one by one they disappear

I wish that I was flying with them

Now you're not here

[Chorus: Justin Hayward (Sung Thoughts of The Journalist)]

Like the sun through the trees you came to love me

Like a leaf on a breeze you blew away

[Verse 3: Justin Hayward (Sung Thoughts of The Journalist)]

Through autumn's golden gown we used to kick our way

You always loved this time of year

Those fallen leaves lie undisturbed now

[Refrain: Justin Hayward (Sung Thoughts of The Journalist)]

Cause you're not here

Cause you're not here

Cause you're not here

[Narrator: Richard Burton ("The Journalist")]

Fire suddenly leapt from house to house, the population panicked and ran and I was swept along with them, aimless and lost without Carrie. Finally I headed eastward for the ocean, and my only hope of survival: A boat out of England...

[Chorus: Justin Hayward (Sung Thoughts of The Journalist)]

Like the sun through the trees you came to love me

Like a leaf on a breeze you blew away

[Verse 4: Justin Hayward (Sung Thoughts of The Journalist)]

A gentle rain falls softly on my weary eyes

As if to hide a lonely tear

My life will be forever autumn

[Refrain: Justin Hayward (Sung Thoughts of The Journalist)]

Cause you're not here

Cause you're not here

Cause you're not here

[Narrator: Richard Burton ("The Journalist")]

As I hastened through Covent Garden, Blackfriars and Billingsgate, more and more people joined the painful exodus. Sad, weary women, their children stumbling and streaked with tears, their men bitter and angry, the rich rubbing shoulder with beggars and outcasts. Dogs snarled and whined, the horses' bits were covered with foam…... and here and there were wounded soldiers, as helpless as the rest. We saw tripods wading up the Thames, cutting through bridges as though they were paper - Waterloo Bridge, Westminster Bridge…... One appeared above Big Ben

[Martians]

Ulla!

[Narrator: Richard Burton ("The Journalist")]

Never before in the history of the world had such a mass of human beings moved and suffered together. This was no disciplined march, it was a stampede, without order and without a goal, six million people, unarmed and unprovisioned, driving headlong. It was the beginning of the rout of civilization, of the massacre of mankind...

A vast crowd buffeted me toward the already packed steamer. I looked up enviously at those safely on board - straight into the eyes of my beloved Carrie! At sight of me she began to fight her way along the packed deck to the gangplank. At that very moment it was raised, and I caught a last glimpse of her despairing face as the crowd swept me away from her...

[Chorus: Justin Hayward (Sung Thoughts of The Journalist)]

Like the sun through the trees you came to love me

Like a leaf on a breeze you blew away

[Verse 5: Justin Hayward (Sung Thoughts of The Journalist)]

Through autumn's golden gown we used to kick our way

You always loved this time of year

Those fallen leaves lie undisturbed now

[Refrain: Justin Hayward (Sung Thoughts of The Journalist)]

Cause you're not here

Cause you're not here

Cause you're not here

• Artist:Jeff Wayne
• Album:Jeff Wayne's Musical Version of The War of the Worlds (1978)