Old and Wise

When you immerse yourself in Old and Wise, you encounter a ballad that invites reflection. The lead vocals, performed by Colin Blunstone, former vocalist of The Zombies, lend it a particular warmth. While Blunstone collaborated on several works by The Alan Parsons Project, this was the only song where his voice led a single release and received positive radio airplay. The lyrics, written by Alan Parsons and Eric Woolfson, address the end of life, looking back with positive memories, leaving no room for negativity.

This track was included on the album Eye in the Sky, released in 1982 by Arista Records. The recording took place in late 1981, and Alan Parsons applied an audio processor called a de-esser during mastering. His intention was to soften the "s" sounds in the vocals, but in early vinyl editions, this affected the higher frequencies of some instruments, such as the snare drum. For the 35th anniversary edition of Eye in the Sky, Parsons revised the mix to ensure the de-esser only affected the vocals. Interestingly, a preliminary version of the song, with Eric Woolfson singing a guide vocal and lacking orchestration and the saxophone solo, was added as a bonus track in the 2007 reissue of the album. The song began airing in the United Kingdom in November 1982, reaching position 79 on the Record Business airplay chart.