BATTLE HYMNS - MANOWAR


"Death Tone"



Ridin' on two wheels

Chains hooked on my heels

Sittin' on leather

Ridin' on steel



Put my shades on

Hair blows in the wind

I give some square the finger

Now he won't look again, no he won't



Now, you were sittin' home

And I got sent to Nam

I went to the big house

You just worked at job



Hear me calling can't you hear my death tone

Hear me calling can't you hear my death tone

Hear me ride on into the night pull along side

If you're looking for a fight



My social worker's got me on a chain

Keeps me out of jail so the paper prints his name 

Yes it does, and he likes it



Unemployment checks run out next week

It won't be very long 'til I'm back on the streets again



"Metal Daze"



I hear the sound in a metal way

I feel the power rolling on the stage

'Cause only one thing really sets me free

Heavy metal, loud as it can be



Baby I was born to play music

I am a man with a screaming guitar

There's a light in a middle of the stage

And in a minute I'll be wearing it all

I don't know another way of living

Man I couldn't really care

Give me a pair of jeans and a riff that's mean

And girls that love to share



Heavy metal, metal daze

Heavy metal, heavy metal daze

Heavy metal, heavy metal daze



Living like there's no tomorrow

Yeah Currie says we're on the edge

He said man you're really graffic

This bands a social wedge

Yeah we all got hearts made of metal

And our blood is hot molten rock

And If I don't hear the sound of metal

I go into shock



So mister D. J. play just one for me

You know the one with the crashin' and the screams

'Cause only one thing really sets me free

Heavy metal loud as it can be



"Fast Taker"



Mama is having problems

always comes to me

Your daddy's been a drinker since 1943

They tell you I'm a loser

'Cause I like bein free

But truth is in the mirror

It's what they never see



I sing Yeah

Long time ago

You tried to tell me, son

keep our daughter home

I said no no, no no



Now, I don't mind them saying 

That you should be praying

For me, fast taker

Right here's where I'm staying 

Life's a game I play

For keeps, fast taker, bed breaker, love maker

Take it away



Only sixteen 

a woman not a girl

Old enough 

For a trip around the world

Pick you up on Friday 

When daddy goes to sleep

Bring you back on Sunday 

When he's watching "Billy Graham" on T.V.



Oh yeah, he won't see me



Now do it right with music

Then you learn how to use it

All night, fast taker

Right here's where I'm staying

Life's a game I play

For keeps, fast taker, bed breaker, love maker

Take it away



"Shell Shock"



I don't know

Well there's no charge for the haircut

And the bullets come free

My Uncle Sam sent a letter, said:

He's got a mission for me



Now I'm a ranger, not a stranger

And I live in Saigon

We've got a team of special forces

And we deliver napalm



But if they tell you that I've lost my mind

Maybe it's not gone just a little hard to find

About the time this letter gets home

I'll be gone, gone, yeah gone



And if they tell you that I'm M.I.A.

Think a little less about me each day

'Cause if I ever get back

I'll be shell shocked



Feels funny riding in my car

Used to drive a tank and shoot a B.A.R.

I know I'm home

But I feel gone,gone, yeah gone



Now it's over and the homeland's safe

Got a purple heart to show the world I'm brave

The businessmen sat home

Well I got shell shocked



"Manowar"



We met on English ground 

in a backstage room

We heard the sound

And we all knew what we had to do



We called the high command

Requested leave to make a stand

And in the field we grew

And we all knew



Soon the time would come

For us to fight,

Destination 

now in sight



Oooh, Manowar

Born to live forever more

The right to conquer every shore

Hold your ground and give no more



Our fight will never end

So we called on partisans

To raise your hands

And take our stand



Look sharp 

when duty calls

Where we march 

cities fall

And the strong survive

And take our side



"Dark Avenger"



He broke the laws of the elders

So they plucked out his eye,

Took his land and fortune,

Left him to die



Bound on the shoreline,

Left for the tide,

See's his life blood leaving...

Circling lower the vultures fly



These bones may be broken

But the spirit can't die

And the Gods see his anguish

And give him a sign



From the floor of the ocean

The ship of the lost souls rise

And they take him where no one sleeps

while the undead cry

Where no one sleeps while the undead cry



And in the world above

The elders sing,

On his land they live

Let death's bell ring



He was met at the gate of Hades

By the Guardian of the Lost Souls,

The Keeper of the Unavenged

And He did say to him:

"Let you not pass abandon return to the world from once you came

And seek payment not only for thy known anguish

But vindicate the souls of the Unavenged"



And they placed in his hands a sword made for him called Vengeance

Forged in brimstone and tempered by the woeful tears of the Unavenged



And to carry him up on his journey back to the upper world

They brought forth their Demon horse called Black Death

A grim steed so fiercely might and black in colour

That he could stand as one with the darkness

Save from his burning eyes of crimson fire



And on that night they rode up from Hell

The pounding of his hooves did clap like thunder



Burning, death, destruction raping the daughters and wives

In blood I take my payment in full with their lives



No one can escape me on Black Death I ride

When kissed by the sword of Vengeance

Your head lays there by your side

I take the lives of all that I once knew

The torn flesh of a slow death waits for you



Burning, death, destruction raping the daughters and wives

In blood I take my payment in full with their lives



I spare not land or servants my wake is slow dead there

I take their wives and daughters

They stand there watching, watching

Hoping to get my life but when I'm through they know they must pay





"Battle Hymns"



By moonlight we ride ten thousands side by side

With swords drawn held high our whips and armour shine

Hail to thee our infantry still brave beyond the grave

All sworn the eternal vow the time to strike is now



Gone are the days when freedom shone now blood and steel meet bone

In the light of the battle's way the sands of time will shake

How proud our soldiers stand with mace and chain in hand

Sound of charge into glory ride over the top of their vanguished pride



To the battle we ride we crossed a starlit sky

No space no time we'll catch the wind

Strange losses, men died we crossed a starlit sky

And still no space and time we'll catch the wind

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