All This Time (song)

"All This Time"
ad in Sky - February 1991
Recorded by Sting
Released:	1991-01-22
Recorded:	April - November 1990
Length:	SONG LENGTH
Album(s):	The Soul Cages
Label(s):	A&M
Writer(s):	Sting
Producer(s):	Hugh Padgham & Sting
Studio(s):	RECORDING STUDIO(S)
Released as single?	YES

"All This Time" is a song written by Sting and recorded by Sting in 1990.

About the song

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Personnel

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Release History

Albums

All This Time appears on the following album releases:

Cover art	Album title	Release date	Release country
	The Soul Cages	1991-01-22	Country
	Fields Of Gold: The Best Of Sting 1984-1994	1994-11-08	Country

Singles

CD Singles

Cover art	Catalog no.	Songs	Release date	Release country
40px	AMCD 713	" All This Time"/"I Miss You Kate"/"King Of Pain" (live)	1991-MM-DD	UK
40px	AMCDR 713	" All This Time"/"I Miss You Kate"/"King Of Pain" (live)	1991-MM-DD	UK
40px	390 614-2	" All This Time"/"I Miss You Kate"/"King Of Pain" (live)	1991-MM-DD	Germany
	AM PCDY-10023	" All This Time"/"I Miss You Kate"	1991-MM-DD	Japan
40px	75021 7486 2	" All This Time"/"I Miss You Kate"/"King Of Pain" (live)	1991-MM-DD	USA

7" Singles

Cover art	Catalog no.	A-side song/B-side song	Release date	Release country
	AM 390 614-7	" All This Time"/"I Miss You Kate"	1991-MM-DD	Germany
	AM 75021 1541 7	" All This Time"/"I Miss You Kate"	1991-MM-DD	USA

12" Singles

Cover art	Catalog no.	A-side song(s)/B-side song(s)	Release date	Release country
	AM 2801 479 (promo)	" All This Time" (edit)/" All This Time" (album version)	1991-MM-DD	England
	AMY 713	" All This Time"/"I Miss You Kate"/"King Of Pain" (live)	1991-MM-DD	England

Video

"SONG TITLE" appears on the following video and dvd releases:

Cover art	Video title	Release date	Release country
	Video or dvd title	YYYY-MM-DD	Country

Awards, nominations, and certifications

Awards

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Year	Winner	Award	Category
YYYY	WINNER (album, song, producer, etc.)	AWARD (Grammy, People's Choice, etc.)	CATEGORY

Nominations

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Year	Nominee	Award	Category
YYYY	NOMINEE (album, song, producer, etc.)	AWARD (Grammy, People's Choice, etc.)	CATEGORY

Certifications

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Country	Certifier	Classification	Certification
COUNTRY	CERTIFIER (RIAA, IFPI...)	CLASSIFICATION (Album, singles, foreign artist...)	CERTIFICATION (Gold, Platinum, Diamond...)

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 teacher 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...

Quotations and trivia

Sting wrote the lyrics to this song in a hotel in Normandy. When he started to record the album he went to Normandy for a weekend and stayed in a hotel where Proust used to stay, too. Inspired by "Remembrance of Things Past" and the Normandy setting he worked on the lyrics.

UK ad:

Alternative and cover versions

This section needs more information.

See also

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External links

This section needs more information.

References

sources: album credits, internet, newspaper clipping