POWERSLAVE

   * Aces High

     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

     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.

     Coro:
     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.

     Coro

     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.

     Coro

     Midnight...all night...

   * Flash Of The Blade

     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 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.

   * The Duelists

     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.

     Coro:
     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.

     Coro

     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.

     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

     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.

     Coro:
     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.

     Coro

     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

     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.

     Coro:
     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.

     Coro

     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.

     Coro

   * Rime Of The Ancient Mariner

     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."
            -SAMUEL TAYLOR COLERIDGE (1798-1834)

     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."
            -SAMUEL TAYLOR COLERIDGE (1798-1834)

     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 that God made.

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