I remember when the long ships sailed across the eastern sound
Toward the western skyline where the greenest hills are found.
And I remember when they stormed the cliffs along our jagged coasts
And the sentries in the villages who huddled at their posts
And didn't seem to know which way to go
Because today began a thousand years ago,
Today began a thousand years ago.
And I remember when King Richard rode out on the great crusade.
I saw his armour shining and I watched his glory fade.
And I saluted good King John, whose greatest ever deed
Was signing Magna Carta for us all at Runnymede,
A light of freedom shining from below.
Today began a thousand years ago,
Today began a thousand years ago.
I remember how the lights went down when someone lit the fuse;
The salad days; the slow malaise of the 20th Century blues.
The nightingales still sang and there was music in the air,
The clouds were gathering once again high over Berkeley Square,
And once again our young men had to go –
Today began a thousand years ago,
Today began a thousand years ago.
Now the stones will tell their stories when the moss is peeled away.
The sun will shine as brightly when tomorrow is today.
And history will delight them with its mix of truth and lies –
The world will never let the future in on its disguise –
But the flowers on the heath will always grow
Because today began a thousand years ago,
Today began a thousand years ago.