IRON MAIDEN
Powerslave (1984)

1. Aces High
2. 2 Minutes To Midnight
3. Losfer Words (Big 'Orra)
4. Flash Of The Blade
5. The Duellists
6. Back In The Village
7. Powerslave
8. Rime Of The Ancient Mariner

1. 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 wheel blocks
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 out spitfires to face them
Heading straight for them I press my guns.

Rolling, turning, diving
Rolling, turning, diving, goin' again
Run, live to fly, fly to live, do or die
Run, live to fly, fly to live, Aces high.

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2. 2 Minutes To Midnight

(Smith/Dickinson)

Kill for gain or shoot to maim
But we don't need a reason
To 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 treaten doom.
2 minutes to midnight,
To kill the unborn in the womb.

The blind men shout "Let the creatures out
We'll show the unbeliverers."
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 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 treaten doom.
2 minutes to midnight,
To kill the unborn in the womb.

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.

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 treaten doom.
2 minutes to midnight,
To kill the unborn in the womb.

Midnight
Midnight
Midnight
It's all night

Midnight
Midnight
Midnight
It's all night

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3. Losfer Words (Big 'Orra)

(Harris)

(Instrumental)

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4. 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

[Chorus:]
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 ever knew
To fear no mortal man
And now you'll wreak your vengeance in the
Screams of evil man.

[Chorus:]
[Repeat chorus]

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5. 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 figthing with swords
The choise of weapons is gone
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
Swordsman 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 for the Honour
Fought for the Splendour
Fought for the Pleasure
OH...OH... Fought for the Honour
Fought for the Splendour
Fought to the Death

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6. Back In The Village

(Smith/Dickinson)

Turn the spotlights on the people
Sitch 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 in 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.

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

[Chorus:]
Back in the village again
In the village,
I'm back in the village again.

No breaks on the inside,
Paper cats and burning barns,
There's 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:]
Back in the village again
In the village,
I'm back in the village again.

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!

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

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

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7. 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.

[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 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 -
Marbled in stone
A Shell of a man God preserved -
From thousand ages,
But open the gates of my hell -
I'll strike from the grave

[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 waste,
And in my last hour,
I'm a Slave to the Power of Death.
Slave to the Power of Death...
Slave to the Power of Death...

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8. 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 'till 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
Onwards she nears, out of the sun
See... she has no crew
She has no life, wait but there'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.

[NARRATIVE]
"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."

[SAMUEL TAYLOR COLERIDGE (1798-1834)]

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

And by the light of 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 od the long dead seamen
See them stir and they start to rise
Bodies lifted by good spirits
None of them speak
and they're lifeless 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 it 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 his 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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