Powerslave

Aces High
(Harris)

There goes the siren that warns of the air raid
Then comes the sound of the guns sending flak
Out for the scramble we've got to get airborne
Got to get up for the coming attack
Jump in the cockpit and start up the engines
Remove all the wheelblocks there's no time to waste
Gathering speed as we head down the runway
Gotta get airborne before it's too late

Running, scrambling, flying
Rolling, turning, diving, going in again
Run, live to fly, fly to live, do or die
Run, live to fly, fly to live.
Aces high

Move in to fire at the mainstream of bombers
Let off a sharp burst and then turn away
Roll over, spin round and come in behind them
Move to their blindsides and firing again
Bandits at 8 O'clock move in behind us
Ten ME-109's out of the sun
Ascending and turning our Spitfires to face them
Heading straight for them I press down my guns

2 Minutes To Midnight
(Smith, Dickinson)

Kill for gain or shoot to maim
But we don't need a reason
The Golden Goose is on the loose
And never out of season
Some blackened pride still burns inside
This shell of bloody treason
Here's my gun for a barrel of fun
For the love of living death

The killer's breed or the demon's seed
The glamour, the fortune, the pain
Go to war again, blood is freedom's stain
But don't you pray for my soul anymore

2 minutes to midnight
The hands that threaten doom
2 minutes to midnight
To kill the unborn in the womb

The blind men shout let the creatures out
We'll show the unbelievers
The napalm screams of human flames
Of a prime time Belsen feast...Yeah!
As the reasons for the carnage cut their meat
and lick the gravy,
We oil the jaws of the war machine
and feed it with our babies.

The body bags and little rags of children torn in two
And the jellied brains of those who remain
to put the finger right on you.
As the madmen play on words
and make us all dance to their song
To the tune of starving millions
to make a better kind of gun

Midnight... all night...

Flash Of The Blade
(Dickinson)

As a young boy chasing dragons
with your wooden sword so mighty,
You're St. George or you're David
and you always killed the beast.
Times change very quickly,
and you had to grow up early
A house in smoking ruins
and the bodies at your feet

You'll die as you lived
In a flash of the blade,
In a corner forgotten by no one.
You lived for the touch
For the feel of the steel
One man, and his honour.

The smell of resined leather
The steely iron mask
As you cut and thrust and parried
at the fencing master's call
He taught you all he knew
To fear no mortal man
And now you'll wreak your vengeance
in the screams of evil men

The Duellists
(Harris)

He threw down a glove you made the mistake
Of picking it up now you're gone
The choosing of guns or fighting with swords
The choice of weapons is done
He'll tear you apart as soon as you start
You know you don't have a chance.

Oh...Oh...Fight for the honour
Fight for the splendour
Fight for the pleasure
Oh...Oh...Fight for the honour
Fight for the splendour
Fight for your life!

Ready to start the duel begins
the best man wins in the end.
A lunge and a feint, a parry too late
A cut to the chest and you're down
Seeing the stain then feeling the pain
Feeling the sweat on your brow.

The fighting resumes, a silence looms
the swordsmen move 'gainst each other
A cut and a thrust, a parry, a blow,
a stab to the heart and you're down
The Angel of Death hears your last breath
Meanwhile the Reaper looks on

Fought to the death

Back In The Village
(Smith, Dickinson)

Turn the spotlights on the people
Switch the dial and eat the worm
Take your chances, kill the engine
Drop your bombs and let it burn

White flags shot to ribbons
The truce is black and burned
Shellshock in the kitchen
Tables overturned

Back in the village again
In the village
I'm back in the village again

Throwing dice now, rolling loaded
I see sixes all the way
In a black hole, and I'm spinning
As my wings get shot away

No breaks on the inside
Paper cats and burning barns
There's a fox among the chickens
And a killer in the hounds

Questions are a burden
And answers are a prison for oneself
Shellshock in the kitchen
Tables start to burn

But still we walk into the valley
And others try to kill the inner flame
We're burning brighter than before
I don't have a number, I'm a name!

Powerslave
(Dickinson)

Into the abyss I'll fall - the eye of Horus
Into the eyes of the night - watching me go
Green is the cat's eye that glows - in this temple
Enter the risen Osiris - risen again

Tell me why I had to be a powerslave
I don't wanna die, I'm a god,
why can't I live on?
When the Life Giver dies,
all around is laid to waste
And in my last hour,
I'm a slave to the power of death

When I was living this lie - fear was my game
People would worship and fall-drop to their knees
So bring me the blood and red wine
for the one to succeed me
For he is a man and a god
and he will die too.

Now I am cold but a ghost lives in my veins
Silent the terror that reigned - maarbled in stone
Shell of a man God preserved - a thousand ages
But open the gates of my hell
I will strike from the grave

Rime Of The Ancient Mariner
(Harris)

Hear the rime of the ancient mariner
See his eye as he stops one of three
Mesmerises one of the wedding guests
Stay here and listen to the nightmares of the sea
And the music plays on, as the bride passes by
Caught by his spell and the mariner tells his tale

Driven south to the land of the snow and ice
To a place where nobody's been
Through the snow fog flies on the albatross
Hailed in God's name, hoping good luck it brings

And the ship sails on, back to the North
Through the fog and ice and the albatross follows on

The mariner kills the bird of good omen
His shipmates cry against what he's done
But when the fog clears, they justify him
And make themselves a part of the crime

Sailing on and on and north across the sea
Sailing on and on and north  'til all is calm

The albatross begins with its vengeance
A terrible curse a thirst has begun
His shipmates blame bad luck on the mariner
About his neck, the dead bird is hung
And the curse goes on and on at sea
And the curse goes on and on for them and me

Day after day, day after day,
we stuck nor breath nor motion
As idle as a painted ship upon a painted ocean

Water, water everywhere and all the boards did shrink
Water, water everywhere nor any drop to drink.

There calls the mariner
There comes a ship over the line
But how can she sail
with no wind in her sails and no tide

See... onward she comes
Onward she nears out of the sun
See, she has no crew
She has no life, wait but here's two

Death and she Life in Death,
They throw their dice for the crew
She wins the mariner and he belongs to her now
The crew one by one they drop down dead,
two hundred men
She, she, Life in Death
She lets him live, her chosen one

One after one by the star dogged moon
Too quick for groan or sigh
Each turned his face with a ghastly pang
and cursed me with his eye
Four times fifty living men
(and I heard nor sigh nor groan)
With heavy thump, a lifeless lump,
they dropped down one by one

The curse it lives on in their eyes
The mariner wished he'd die
Along with the sea creatures
But they lived on, so did he

And by the light of the moon
He prays for their beauty not doom
With heart he blesses them
God's creatures all of them too

Then the spell starts to break
The albatross falls from his neck
Sinks down like lead into the sea
Then down in falls comes the rain

Hear the groans of the long dead seamen
See them stir and they start to rise
Bodies lifted by good spirits
None of them speak and they're lifelesss in their eyes

And revenge is still sought, penance starts again
Cast into a trance and the nightmare carries on

Now the curse is finally lifted
And the mariner sights his home
Spirits go from the long dead bodies
Form their own light and the mariner's left alone

And then a boat came sailing towards him
It was a joy he could not believe
The pilot's boat, his son and the hermit
Penance of life will fall onto him

And the ship sinks like lead into the sea
And the hermit shrieves the mariner of his sins

The mariner's bound to tell of his story
To tell this tale wherever he goes
To teach God's word by his own example
That we must love all things that God made

And the wedding guest's a sad and wiser man
And the tale goes on and on and on