I got the vibe that Steve and the gang put all their creative effort into the second half of the album and needed a typical war filler for the first. I'll have to listen to it again.
And I'd agree that TFF was superior to AMOLAD just in general. Lyrically it was much more interesting and stronger, and the music (which is the most important for me) felt more inspired, as well as less repetitive and predictable.
I think Mother of Mercy is well on its way of becoming one of the most underrated Maiden songs in general. I rate it in the mid 30s and it was the first song that truly got me going when I first listened to the album.
The lyrics to Infinite Dreams just hit the button for me. The part on Maiden England 88 after the intro when Bruce sings "Someone chasing, I cannot move" just give me Goosebumps every time.
Hallowed and Paschendale are the other 2 that have this effect!!!
Ooooh boy, time to bring this thing back from the grave!
Some of my favorite lyrics:
He's walking like a dead man
If he had lived he would crucified us all
Now he's standing on his last step
He thought "Oblivion? Well, it beckons us all."
Now it's burning his hands, he's turning to laugh
Smiles as the flame sears his flesh
Melting his face, screaming in pain
Peeling the skin from his eyes
Watch him die according to plan
He's dust on ground, what did we learn? ~Children of the Damned, because the vividness and descriptiveness is just so very real you can see it as he sings.
All of Still Life, because it's so beautifully obsessive.
Take a look in the pool and what do you see
In the dark depths there faces beckoning me
Can't you see them it's plain for all to see
They were there oh I know you don't believe me
Oh, I've never felt so strange
But, I'm not going insane
I've no doubt that you think I'm off my head
You don't say but it's in your eyes instead
Hours I spend out just gazing into that pool
Something draws me there I don't know what to do
Oh, they drain my strength away
Oh, they're asking me to stay
Nightmares, spirits calling me
Nightmares, they won't leave me be
All my life's blood is slowly draining away
And I feel that I'm weaker every day
Somehow I know I haven't long to go
Joining them at the bottom of the pool
Now, I feel they are so near
I, begin to see them clear
Nightmares, coming all the time
Nightmares, Will give me peace of mind
Now it's clear and I know what I have to do
I must take you down there to look at them too
Hand in hand then we'll jump right into the pool
Can't you see not just me they want you too
Oh, we'll drown together
It, will be forever
Nightmares, forever calling me
Nightmares, now we rest in peace
A Phrygian king had bound a chariot yoke
And Alexander cut the 'Gordian knot'
And the legend said that who untied the knot
He would become the master of Asia
Hedonism he spread far and wide
The Macedonian learned mind
Their culture was a western way of life
He paved the way for Christianity ~Alexander the Great, because I truly do love the textbook lyrics of the song.
I am he the born-less one
The fallen angel watching you
Babylon, the scarlet whore
I'll infiltrate your gratitude
Don't you dare to save your son
Kill him now and save the young ones
Be the mother of a birth strangled babe
Be the devils own, Lucifer's my name ~Moonchild, because it's such a goose-bump fest.
All of Infinite Dreams, because they just resonate so well with me.
Infinite dreams I can't deny them
Infinity is hard to comprehend
I couldn't hear those screams
Even in my wildest dreams
Suffocation waking in a sweat
Scared to fall asleep again
Incase the dream begins again
Someone chasing I cannot move
Standing rigid nightmare's statue
What a dream when will it end
And will I transcend?
Restless sleep the minds in turmoil
One nightmare ends another fertile
Getting to me so scared to sleep
But scared to wake now, in too deep
Even though its reached new heights
I rather like the restless nights
It makes me wonder it makes me think
There's more to this I'm on the brink
It's not the fear of what's beyond
It's just that I might not respond
I have an interest almost craving
But would I like to get too far in?
It can't be all coincidence
Too many things are evident
You tell me you're an unbeliever
Spiritualist? well me I'm neither
But wouldn't you like to know the truth
Of what's out there to have the proof
And find out just which side you're on
Where would you end in Heaven or in Hell?
Help me, help me to find my true
Self without seeing the future
Save me, save me from torturing
Myself even within my dreams
There's got to be
More to it than this
Or tell me why do we exist
I'd like to think that when I die
I'd get a chance another time
And to return and live again
Reincarnate, play the game
Again and again and again and again
Nothing is sacred
Back then or now
Everything's wasted
Is that all there is?
Can I go now? ~Judas Be My Guide, because it's so true.
All of The Aftermath, because it's such a thought-provoking song.
Silently to silence fall
In the fields of futile war
Toys of death are spitting lead
Where boys that were our soldiers bled
War horse and war machine
Curse the name of liberty
Marching on as if they should
Mix in the dirt our brothers' blood
In the mud and rain
What are we fighting for?
Is it worth the pain?
Is it worth dying for?
Who will take the blame?
Why did they make a war?
Questions that come again
Should we be fighting at all?
Once a ploughman hitched his team
Here he sowed his little dream
Bodies, arms and legs are strewn
Where mustard gas and barbwire bloom
Each moment's like a year
I've nothing left inside for tears
Comrades dead or dying lie
I'm left alone asking, why?
In the mud and rain
What are we fighting for?
Is it worth the pain?
Is it worth dying for?
Who will take the blame?
Why did they make a war?
Questions that come again
Should we be fighting at all?
After the war
Left feeling no one has won
After the war
What does a soldier become?
After the war
Left feeling no one has won
After the war
What does a soldier become?
What is it all when the battles are done?
After the war
I mean no one has won
I'm just a soldier
After the war
Left feeling no one has won
After the war
What does a soldier become?
After the war
Left feeling no one has won
After the war
What does a soldier become?
Don't you think I'm a savior?
Don't you think I could save you?
Don't you think I could save your life? ~The Angel and the Gambler, because be honest, you love it too.
Home, far away
From the war, a chance to live again
Home, far away
But the war, no chance to live again
Cruelty has a human heart
Everyman does play his part
Terror of the men we kill
The human heart is hungry still ~Paschendale - these two lines are great in different ways, the latter because it's a very thought-provoking lyric about where war comes from, and the chorus because it's such a great use of a switched word making a line mean something completely different.
We are not the sons of God
We are not his chosen people now
We have crossed the path he trod
We will feel the pain of his beginning ~Brighter Than A Thousand Suns, because it's a great beginning to such a great song.
All of Empire of the Clouds. This one is a given. I'm not even going to post the lyrics because you should have them memorized.
And finally, if I had to choose just one standout lyric, it would have to be: Walking on water - are miracles all you can trust?
Measure your coffin - does it measure up to your lust? ~Only The Good Die Young, because it's just truly great.
Infinite Dreams lyrically and musically is just brilliant! The build up is phenomenal vocally.
Even though it's reached new heights,
I rather like the restless nights
It makes me wonder, makes me think,
there's more to this, I'm on the brink
It's not the fear of what's beyond,
it's just that I might not respond
I have an interest, almost craving
but would I have to get to far in
Can't be all coincidence,
too many things are evident
You tell me, you're a non believer
spiritualist,
well my I'm neither
Wouldn't you like to know the truth,
of what's out there, to have the proof
and find out just which side you're on,
where would you end? In Heaven or in
HELL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
"Walking on water - are miracles all you can trust?
Measure your coffin - does it measure up to your lust?" Only The Good Die Young (Bruce)
"When you think that we've used all our chances
And the chance to make everything right
Keep on making the same old mistakes
Makes untipping the balance so easy
When we're living our lives on the edge
Say a prayer on the book of the dead" Blood Brothers (Blaze or Steve)
"Covered in sinners and dripping
With guilt
Making you money from slime
And from filth
Parading your bellies in ivory towers
Investing our lives in your schemes
And your powers" Be Quick or Be Dead (Bruce)
"I've lived in sin, I've lived in filfth
But I still smell cleaner than the shit you're in" Holy Smoke (Bruce)
"But the memory still remains
All the past years not so strange
Our winter times are like a silent shroud
And the heartbeat of the day
Drives the mist away
And winter's not the only dream around
In your life you may choose desolation
And the shadows you build with your hands
If you turn to the light
That is burning in the night
Then the journeyman's day has begun" Journeyman (Bruce)
All of “Powerslave,” particularly the second verse: 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.
He's walking like a dead man
If he had lived he would crucified us all
Now he's standing on his last step
He thought "Oblivion? Well, it beckons us all."
So many poignant lyrics have been penned by the boys over the years it's hard to narrow it down to just a few. Just off the top of my head, my favorites are:
Hallowed Be Thy Name
When the Wild Wind Blows (the closing verse is especially haunting)
Sign of the Cross
The Talisman (...their phantoms follow us)
Coming Home (Through the dark Atlantic over mariners' stormy graves)
Paschendale
The Clairvoyant (...but for all his power couldn't foresee his own demise.)
The Reincarnation of Benjamin Breeg
Blood Brothers
The Legacy: We seem destined to live in fear
And some that would say Armageddon is near
But where there's a life while there's hope
That man won't self destruct
Why can't we treat our fellow men
With more respect and a shake of their hands
But anger and loathing is rife
The death on all sides is becoming a way of life
We live in an uncertain world
Fear understanding and ignorance is leading to death
Only the corpses are left
For vultures that prey on their bones
But some are just not wanting peace
Their whole life is death and misery
The only thing that they know
Fight fire with fire life is cheap
But if they do stop to think
That man is teetering right on the brink
But do you think that they care
They benefit from death and pain and despair
The Talisman: Weary limbs fatigued away
I have no life left in me
No more strength and nothing
Left to give
Must find the will to live
Never thought that we could make it
Truly sight of shores divine
the sickness I am dying from
Never wanted it to end this way
For the Greater Good of God: He gave his life for us he fell upon the cross
To die for all of those who never mourn his loss
Wasted Years: Ain't it funny how it is, you never miss it 'til it's
gone away
Walking on water - are miracles all you can trust?
Measure your coffin - does it measure up to your lust? ~Only The Good Die Young, because it's just truly great.
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