Aces High

(Steve 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

Rolling, turning, diving

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.

2 Minutes to Midnight

(Adrian Smith/Bruce 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.

CHORUS

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.

CHORUS

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.

CHORUS

Midnight...all night...

Flash of the Blade

(Bruce 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.

CHORUS

You'll die as you lived

In a flash of the blade,

In a corner forgotten by no one.

YOu llived 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.

CHORUS

The Duellists

(Steve 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.

CHORUS

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.

CHORUS

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.

CHORUS

OH...OH...Fought the honour

Fought for the splendour

Fought for the pleasure

OH...OH...Fought for the honour

fought for the splendour

Fought to the death

Back in the Village

(Adrian Smith/Bruce 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.

CHORUS

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.

CHORUS

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!

CHORUS

Powerslave

(Bruce 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.

CHORUS

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.

CHORUS

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.

CHORUS

Rime of the Ancient Mariner

(Steve 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.

Then...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 facce 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 fromhe 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 thaat God made.

And the wedding guest's a sad and wiser man

And the tale goes on and on and on.