Iron Maiden lyrics tournament final: Empire of the Clouds rises above all

Pick the song with the best lyrics from each pair


  • Total voters
    17
  • Poll closed .
What do people see in Moonchild? It's alright in the context of the album, but on its own it doesn't really have much to offer lyrically..
 
Longest Day and Sign of the Cross are eliminated. We are down to the sweet 16

STARBLIND

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Take my eyes the things I've seen in this world coming to an end
My reflection fades I'm weary of these earthly bones and skin
You may pass through me and leave no trace, I have no mortal face
Solar winds are whispering, you may hear me call

We can shed our skins and swim into the darkened void beyond
We will dance among the worlds that orbit stars that aren't our sun
All the oxygen that trapped us in a carbon spider's web
Solar winds are whispering, you may hear the sirens of the dead

Let the elders do their parley meant to satisfy our lust
Leaving Damocles still hanging over all their promised trust
Walk away from freedoms offered by the jailers in their cage
Step into the light startripping over mortals in their rage

Starblind with sun The stars are one
We are the light that brings the end of night



Starblind with sun The stars are one
We are with the Goddess of the Sun tonight


The preacher loses face with Christ
Religion's cruel device is gone
Empty flesh and hollow bones make pacts of love but die alone

The crucible of pain will forge
The blanks of sin begin again
You are free to choose a life to live or one that's left to lose



Virgins in the teeth of God are meat and drink to feed the damned
You may pass through me and I will feel the life that you live less
Step into my light startripping
We will rage against the night
Walk away from comfort offered by your citizens of death

Starblind with sun The stars are one
We are the light that brings the end of night

Starblind with sun The stars are one
We are with the Goddess of the Sun tonight


Take my eyes for what I've seen, I will give my sight to you
You are free to choose whatever life to live or life to lose
Whatever god you know he knows you better than you believe
In your once and future grave you'll fall endlessly deceived


Look into our face reflected in the moonglow in your eyes
Remember you can choose to look but not to see and waste your hours
You believe you have the time, but I tell you your time is short
See your past and future all the same and it cannot be bought

Starblind with sun The stars are one
We are the light that brings the end of night

Starblind with sun The stars are one
We are with the Goddess of the Sun tonight


Take my eyes for what I've seen, I will give my sight to you
You are free to choose whatever life to live or life to lose
Whatever god you know he knows you better than you believe
In your once and future grave you'll fall endlessly deceived
The preacher loses face with Christ
Religion's cruel device is gone
Empty flesh and hollow bones make pacts of love but die alone

The crucible of pain will forge
The blanks of sin begin again
You are free to choose a life to live or one that's left to lose

versus

FOR THE GREATER GOOD OF GOD

View attachment 5274

Are you a man of peace or man of holy war
Too many sides to you, don't know which any more
So many full of life, but also filled with pain
Don't know just how many will live to breathe again

A life that's made to breath destruction or defense
A mind that's vain corruption, bad or good intent
A wolf in a sheep's clothing, or saintly or sinner
Or someone that would believe, a holy war winner

They fire off many shots and many parting blows
Their actions beyond a reasoning only god would know
And as he lies in heaven or it could be in hell
I feel he's somewhere here or looking from below
But I don't know, I don't know

Please tell me now what life is
Please tell me now what love is
Well tell me now what war is
Again tell me what life is


More pain and misery in the history of mankind
Sometimes it seems more like the blind leading the blind
It brings upon us more of famine death and war
You know religion has a lot to answer for

Please tell me now what life is
Please tell me now what love is
Well tell me now what war is
Again tell me what life is


And as they search to find the bodies in the sand
They find its ashes that are scattered across the land
And as their spirits seem to whistle on the wind
A shot is fired somewhere another war begins

And all because of it you'd think that we would learn
But still the body count the city fires burn
Somewhere there's someone dying in a foreign land
Meanwhile the world is crying stupidity of man
Tell me why, tell me why

Please tell me now what life is
Please tell me now what love is
Well tell me now what war is
Again tell me what life is


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
It wasn't meant for us to feel the pain again
Tell me why, tell me why

and

PASCHENDALE

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In a foreign field you lay
Lonely soldier unknown grave
On his dying words he prays
Tell the world of Paschendale


Relive all that he's been through
Last communion of his soul
Rust your bullets with his tears
Let me tell you about his years


Laying low in a blood-filled trench
Killing time 'til my very own death
On my face I can feel the falling rain
Never see my friends again
In the smoke, in the mud and lead
Smell the fear and the feeling of dread
Soon be time to go over the wall
Rapid fire and the end of us all

Whistles, shouts, and more gun fire
Lifeless bodies hang on barbed wire
Battlefield nothing but a bloody tomb
Be reunited with my dead friends soon
Many soldiers eighteen years
Drown in mud, no more tears
Surely a war no-one can win,
Killing time about to begin

Home, far away from the war, a chance to live again
Home, far away but the war, no chance to live again


The bodies of ours and our foes
The sea of death it overflows
In no man's land God only knows
Into jaws of death we go


Crucified as if on a cross,
Allied troops they mourn their loss
German war propaganda machine
Such before has never been seen
Swear I heard the angels cry
Pray to God no more may die
So that people know the truth
Tell the tale of Paschendale

Cruelty has a human heart
Every man does play his part
Terror of the men we kill
The human heart is hungry still
I stand my ground for the very last time
Gun is ready as I stand in line
Nervous wait for the whistle to blow
Rush of blood and over we go

Blood is falling like the rain
Its crimson cloak unveils again
The sound of guns can't hide their shame
And so we die in Paschendale


Dodging shrapnel and barbed wire
Running straight at cannon fire
Running blind as I hold my breath
Say a prayer, symphony of death
As we charge the enemy lines
A burst of fire and we go down
I choke a cry but no-one hears
Feel the blood go down my throat

Home, far away from the war, a chance to live again
Home, far away from the war, a chance to live again


See my spirit on the wind
Across the lines, beyond the hill
Friend and foe will meet again
Those who died at Paschendale

versus

WASTED YEARS

View attachment 5272

From the coast of gold, across the seven seas
I'm travellin' on, far and wide
But now it seems, I'm just a stranger to myself
And all the things I sometimes do, it isn't me
but someone else

I close my eyes, and think of home
Another city goes by in the night
Ain't it funny how it is, you never miss it 'til it's gone away
And my heart is lying there and will be 'til
my dying day

So understand
Don't waste your time always searching for
those wasted years
Face up... make your stand
And realize you're living in the golden years


Too much time on my hands, I got you on my mind
Can't ease this pain, so easily
When you can't find the words to say it's hard to
make it through another day
And it makes me wanna cry and throw my
hands up to the sky
 
Starblind & Paschendale, easily.

Ridiculous that The Longest Day lost to Moonchild. These two verses alone take a dump on Moonchild's lyrics.

"All summers long the drills to build the machine
To turn men from flesh and blood to steel
From paper soldiers to bodies on the beach
From summer sands to armageddon's reach

Overlord, your master not your god
The enemy coast dawning grey with scud
These wretched souls puking, shaking fear
To take a bullet for those who sent them here"
 
Starblind and Paschendale go through

Next up:

BOOK OF SOULS

View attachment 5279

Sacrifices buried with kings
Accompany them on a journey with no end
To an afterlife that’s rich with fruit of all the gods
And to face the demons of their underworld haunts

The sentient is sent to seek out all the truth
A flight to earth that is a given from his birth
To rise from ashes of the dead
Out of the fire is sent to fulfill man’s desire

By power day and night and death he ruled them
The sky and earth and the fires too
Two headed reptile symbol of his reign
Universes of the underworld
A life that’s full of all the wealth and riches
Can never last for an eternity
After living in a golden paradise
The ultimate sacrifice


Prophecy of sky gods, the sun and moon
Passing of old ways will come true soon
Falling of ages, forest of kings
The search for the truth, the book of souls


The rulers of planets and stars
The power of the kings of traders and the wars
Planetary cycles and the phases of the moon
Is in the document a kingdom they will learn

They were praying to the gods of nature
And were living in the cities of stone
Towers reaching upward to the heavens
Sacred wonders for the world unknown
Make their lives be a mystery no more
Records kept and the passing of laws
Sacred gods to the book of lies
When a civilization dies


Prophecy of sky gods, the sun and moon
Passing of old ways will come true soon
Falling of ages, forest of kings
The lost book of souls, destruction begins


Ascending the throne wearing feathers and shells
He brought back their lives from the void
Alien invasion brings nothing but death
Mass exodus and plant life destroyed

Domain of the Earth to the journey of truth
The underworld caves, Mayan slaves
Defeat of the dark Lords
The ultimate proof
In the place where the ancestors rule


The book of souls

versus

EMPIRE OF THE CLOUDS

View attachment 5156

To ride the storm, to an empire of the clouds
To ride the storm, they climbed aboard their silver ghost
To ride the storm, to a kingdom that will come
To ride the storm, and damn the rest, oblivion


Royalty and dignitaries, brandy and cigars
Grey lady giant of the skies, you hold them in your arms
The millionth chance they laughed, to take down his majesty's craft
"To India," they say, "magic carpet float away," an October fateful day


Mist is in the trees, stone sweats with the dew
The morning sunrise, red before the blue
Hanging at the mast, waiting for command
His majesty's airship, the R101

She's the biggest vessel built by man, a giant of the skies
For all you unbelievers, the titanic fits inside
Drum roll tight, her canvas skin, silvered in the sun
Never tested with the fury, with the beating yet to come

The fury yet to come…

In the gathering gloom, the storm rising in the west
The coxswain stared into the plunging weather glass
We must go now, we must take our chance with fate
We must go now, for a politician he can't be late

The airship crew awake for thirty hours at full stretch,
But the ship is in their backbone, every sinew, every inch
She never flew at full speed, a trial never done
Her fragile outer cover, her Achilles would become

An Achilles yet to come...


Sailors of the sky, a hardened breed
Loyal to the king, and an airship creed
The engines drum, the telegraph sounds
Release the cords that bind us to the ground

Said the coxswain, "Sir, she's heavy, she'll never make this flight."
Said the captain, "Damn the cargo! We'll be on our way tonight."
Groundlings cheered in wonder, as she backed off from the mast
Baptizing them her water, from the ballast fore and aft

Now she slips into our past…


Fighting the wind as it rolls you
Feeling the diesels that push you along
Watching The Channel below you
Lower and lower, into the night

Lights are passing below you
Northern France, asleep in their beds
Storm is raging around you
A million to one, that's what he said

Reaper standing beside her
With his scythe cuts to the bone
Panic to make a decision
Experienced men, asleep in their graves

Her cover is ripped and she's drowning
Rain is flooding into the hull
Bleeding to death and she's falling
Lifting gas is draining away

"We're down, lads!" came a cry, bow plunging from the sky
Three thousand horses silent as the ship began to die
The flares to guide her path ignited at the last
The empire of the clouds, just ashes in our past

Just ashes at the last…


Here lie their dreams as I stand in the sun
On the ground where they built, and the engines did run
To the moon and the stars, now what have we done?
Oh the dreamers may die, but the dreams live on

Dreams live on
Dreams live on


Now a shadow on a hill, the angel of the east
The empire of the clouds may rest in peace
And in a country churchyard, laid head to the mast
Eight and forty souls, who came to die in France…

and

BRIGHTER THAN A THOUSAND SUNS

View attachment 5074

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


Shadow fingers rise above
Iron fingers stab the desert sky
Oh behold the power of man
On its tower, ready for the fall

Knocking heads together well
Raze a city, build a living hell
Join the race to suicide
Listen for the tolling of the bell

Out of the universe, a strange love is born
Unholy union, trinity reformed


Yellow sun its evil twin
In the black the wings deliver him
We will split our souls within
Atom seed to nuclear dust is riven

Out of the universe, a strange love is born
Unholy union, trinity reformed


Out of the darkness, brighter than a thousand suns
Out of the darkness, brighter than a thousand suns


Bury your morals and bury your dead
Bury your head in the sand
E=mc2 you can relate
How we made God with our hands

Whatever would Robert have said to his God
About how he made war with the sun
E=mc2 you can relate
How we made God with our hands


All nations are rising through acid veils of love and hate
Chain letters of Satan, uncertainty leads us all to this
All nations are rising through acid veils of love and hate
Cold fusion and fury


Divide and conquer while ye may
Others preach and others fall and pray
In the bunkers where we'll die
There the executioners they lie

Bombers launch with no recall
Minute-warning of the missile fall
Take a look at your last sky
Guessing you won't have the time to cry

Out of the universe, a strange love is born
Unholy union, trinity reformed


Out of the darkness, brighter than a thousand suns
Out of the darkness, brighter than a thousand suns

Holy Father we have sinned

versus

HALLOWED BE THY NAME


View attachment 5244

I'm waiting in my cold cell when the bell begins to chime
Reflecting on my past life and it doesn't have much time
'Cause at five o'clock they'll take me to the gallows pole
The sands of time for me are running low...
Running low...


When the priest comes to read me the last rites
I take a look through the bars at the last sights
Of a world that has gone very wrong for me
Can it be there's been some kind of error
Hard to stop the surmounting terror
Is it really the end not some crazy dream?

Somebody please tell me that I'm dreaming
It's not easy to stop from screaming
But words escape me when I try to speak
Tears they flow but why am I crying?
After all I'm not afraid of dying
Don't I believe that there never is an end?

As the guards march me out to the courtyard
Someone calls from a cell "God be with you!"
If there's a god then why has he let me go?
As I walk all my life drifts before me
And though the end is near I'm not sorry
Catch my soul it's willing to fly away

Mark my words please believe my soul lives on
Please don't worry now that I have gone
I've gone beyond to see the truth
When you know that your time is close at hand
Maybe then you'll begin to understand
Life down here is just a strange illusion

Yeah, hallowed be thy name
Yeah, hallowed be thy name
 
All good lyrics, but I'm going with both of the story songs. They manage to do as much as the other two while simultaneously taking you on a journey.
 
Empire wins 7-4 over the other epic of the latest.
Suns edges Hallowed by a single vote.

Next up:

EL DORADO

View attachment 5296

Gotta tell you a story
On a cold winter's night
You'll been sailing for glory
Before you know what is right

So come over here now
I've got a vision for you
It's my personal snake oil
It's just something I do

I'm the Jester with no tears
And I'm playing on your fears
I'm a trickster smiling underneath this mask of love and death
The eternal lie I've told
About the pyramids of gold
I've got you hooked at every turn, your money's left to burn


You'll be wanting a contract,
You'll be waiting a while
I'd like to give you my contact
But that isn't my style
Well, you'll only get one chance
And it's too good to miss
If I didn't lie to you
Then I wouldn't exist

Greed, lust, and envy, pride
It's the same old same old way
The smoke and mirrors
Visions that you see are just like me
I'm a clever banker's face
With just a letter out of place
I know someone just like you know someone just like me


El Dorado come and play
El Dorado step this way
Take a ticket for the ride
El Dorado streets of gold
See the ship its oversold
You've got one last chance to try


So gone is the glory
And gone is the gold
Well if you need a story
I'll come, it has to be told

Well you may say I'm a devil
And I wouldn't say no
But out here on the dark side
Hey! On with the show!

So now my tale is told
Big and bad and twice as bold
The ship of fools is sinking as the cracks begin to grow
There is no easy way
For an honest man today
Which is something you should think of as my lifeboat sails away


El Dorado come and play
El Dorado step this way
Take a ticket for the ride

El Dorado streets of gold
See the ship its oversold
You've got one last chance to try

versus

THE TROOPER

View attachment 5028

You'll take my life but I'll take yours too
You'll fire your musket but I'll run you through
So when you're waiting for the next attack
You'd better stand there's no turning back

The bugle sounds and the charge begins
But on this battlefield no one wins
The smell of acrid smoke and horses breath
As I plunge on into certain death

Ooooooooh! Ooooooooh!

The horse he sweats with fear we break to run
The mighty roar of the Russian guns
And as we race toward the human wall
The screams of pain as my comrades fall

We hurdle bodies that lay on the ground
And the Russians fire another round
We get so near yet so far away
We won't live to fight another day

Ooooooooh! Ooooooooh!

We get so close near enough to fight
When a Russian gets me in his sights
He pulls the trigger and I feel the blow
A burst of rounds take my horse below

And as I lay there gazing at the sky
My body's numb and my throat is dry
And as I lay forgotten and alone
Without a tear I draw my parting groan

Ooooooooh! Ooooooooh!
and

MAN OF SORROWS

View attachment 5065

Like a man without a home
Watching people come and go
Carry on their daily lives
Without a thought for the ones alone

Cast the dream aside like throwing
A pebble into the ocean tide
And I’m feeling so alone again

Free the angry from their pain
Free the captives from the chains
Cast aside the doubt that
Nothing good can come their way again

Living in a world of lies
No matter how or hard we try
Living life without a dream today

Looking through a mist of truth
That we believe an elusive cloud
The things we find are hard to say now
That we live through day to day
Find it hard to force the reasons
Why we find it hard to die


Now we need to know the truth now
Open our eyes that we can see
So we live and breathe again
Better days for you and me
Can we even hope to deliver this
We are so far away

As one turns against the other
With a brother against brother
Situation like no other
it’s a picture of despair


As we look to see the man of sorrows
Passing knowledge to those who don’t know
As we watch all our friends passing over
As they pass through the edges of time
And we see what’s ahead that awaits us
That no longer do we feel afraid
So we look to see the man of sorrows
And the light is the darkness no more

versus

REVELATIONS

View attachment 5077

"O God of Earth and Altar, bow down and hear our cry
Our earthly rulers falter, our people drift and die
The walls of gold entomb us, the swords of scorn divide
Take not thy thunder from us, but take away our pride"


Just a babe in a black abyss, no reason for a place like this
The walls are cold and souls cry out in pain
An easy way for the blind to go, a clever path for the fools who know
The Secret of the Hanged Man – the smile on his lips

The light of the Blind – you'll see
The venom that tears my spine
The Eyes of the Nile are opening – you'll see


She came to me with a serpent's kiss as the Eye of the Sun rose on her lips
Moonlight catches silver tears I cry
So we lay in a black embrace and the Seed is sown in a holy place
And I watched her and I waited for the Dawn

The light of the Blind – you'll see
The venom that tears my spine
The Eyes of the Nile are opening – you'll see


Bind all of us together ablaze with Hope and Free
No storm or heavy weather will rock the boat you'll see
The time has come to close your eyes and still the wind and rain
For the one who will be King, the Watcher in the Ring

It is You, oh oh
It is You...
 
Had some good discussion about Man of Sorrows, but next to nothing on the other three.
I expect the Play Classics pair to win. Love to hear your whys.
 
El Dorado is a really great lyric. It's sharp and easy-to-digest while still being poetic and rather dark. I love the different layers at play throughout as we hear the song from the viewpoint of the snake oil man. Honestly, the lyrics here are better than the song. By comparison, The Trooper is the all around packaged: fast, rollicking, dire, violent, but it's made by the music and the melodies more so than the lyrics. When just considering the lyrics alone, El Dorado is stronger.

I do like the calm, detached and poetic nature of Man of Sorrows. However, it suffers from Steve's broad statements and some words thrown in just to fit his obsessive need to write melodies "just so" down to every syllable (*cough* "Now we need to know the truth NOW" *cough*). Revelations is pure Bruce poetry getting into his obscure, mind-of-darkness mortality thing that he does so well. It's far more interpretative and very bizarre, but I think it's a very important part of Maiden's early catalogue as it allowed Bruce to get so deep and weird with the lyrics.
 
El Dorado and Revelations advance.

Last songs of the Sweet 16:

POWERSLAVE

View attachment 4964

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

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

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


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 for a thousand ages
But open the gates of my Hell – I will strike from the grave

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

versus

RIME OF THE ANCIENT MARINER

View attachment 5148

Hear the rime of the Ancient Mariner
See his eye as he stops one of three
Mesmerizes 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)

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 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


"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)

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 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 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 toward 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...

and

GHOST OF THE NAVIGATOR

View attachment 4975


I have sailed to many lands, now I make my final journey
On the bow I stand, west is where I go
Through the night I plough, still my heart, calculate and pray
As the compass swings, my will is strong, I will not be led astray
Mysteries of time clouds that hide the sun
But I know, but I know, but I know

I see the ghosts of navigators but they are lost
As they sail into the sunset they'll count the cost
As their skeletons accusing emerge from the sea
The sirens of the rocks, they beckon me


Take my heart and set it free, carried forward by the waves
Nowhere left to run, navigator's son,
Chasing rainbows all my days


Where I go I do not know, I only know the place I've been
Dreams they come and go, ever shall be so,
Nothing's real until you feel


I steer between the crashing rocks, the sirens call my name
Lash my hands onto the helm, blood surging with the strain
I will not fail now as sunrise comes the darkness left behind
For eternity I follow on there is no other way
Mysteries of time clouds that hide the sun
But I know, I know

I see the ghosts of navigators but they are lost
As they sail into the sunset they'll count the cost
As their skeletons accusing emerge from the sea
The sirens of the rocks, they beckon me


Take my heart and set it free, carried forward by the waves
Nowhere left to run, navigator's son,
Chasing rainbows all my days


Where I go I do not know, I only know the place I've been
Dreams they come and go, ever shall be so,
Nothing's real until you feel

versus

MOONCHILD

View attachment 5062

Seven deadly sins seven ways to win
Seven holy paths to hell and your trip begins
Seven downward slopes seven bloodied hopes
Seven are your burning fires seven your desires...


I am he the bornless 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 – hear the mandrake scream
Moonchild – open the seventh seal


I count the heads of those unborn the accursed ones I'll find them all
If you die by your own hand as a suicide you shall be damned
And if you try to save your soul I will torment you – you shall not grow old
With every second and passing breath you'll be so alone your soul will bleed to death

Moonchild – hear the mandrake scream
Moonchild – open the seventh seal
Moonchild – you'll be mine soon child
Moonchild – take my hand tonight


The twins they are exhausted, seven is this night
Gemini is rising as the red lips kiss to bite
Seven angels seven demons battle for his soul
When Gabriel lies sleeping, this child was born to die


One more dies and one more lives, one baby cries one mother grieves
For all the sins you will commit you'll beg forgiveness and none I'll give
A web of fear shall be your coat to clothe you in the night
A lucky escape for you young man but I'll see you damned in endless night

Moonchild – hear the mandrake scream
Moonchild – open the seventh seal
Moonchild – you'll be mine soon child
Moonchild – take my hand tonight
 
Mariner and Navigator. Mariner and Powerslave both do the colourful storytelling thing, but Rime gets it for managing to recapture some of the spirit of the original poem. I'm fond of Moonchild, but Navigator much more visual and poetic.
 
Sorry i have neglected this, especially since we are so close to the end.
Advancing by the narrowest of margins are Moonchild and Powerslave.

Iron Maiden's eight best lyrics are:
Revelations, Powerslave, Moonchild, Paschendale, Brighter Than A Thousand Suns, El Dorado, Starblind, Empire of the Clouds

Our first quarter finals:

STARBLIND

Starblind web.jpg

versus

MOONCHILD

Moonchild.jpg

and

PASCHENDALE

Paschendale2.jpg

versus

EL DORADO

El Dorado.jpg
 
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