Iron Maiden - The Number Of The Beast (1982)

  

1. Invaders
2. Children Of The Damned
3. The Prisoner
4. 22 Acacia Avenue
5. The Number Of The Beast
6. Run To The Hills
7. Gangland
8. Total Eclipse
9. Hallowed Be Thy Name

1. Invaders

Longboats have been sighted the evidence of war has begun
Many Nordic fighting men their swords and shields all gleam in the sun
Call to arms defend yourselves get ready to stand and fight for your lives
Judgement day has come around so be prepared don't run stand your ground

They're coming in from the sea
they've come the enemy
beneath the blazing sun
the battle has to be won
Invaders ... Pillaging
Invaders ... Looting

Set ablaze the campfires alert the other men from inland
Warning must be given there's not enough men here for a stand
The Vikings are too many too powerful to take on our own
We must have reinforcements we cannot fight this battle alone

They're coming over the hill
they've come to attack
they're coming in for the kill
there's no turning back
Invaders ... Fighting
Invaders ... Marauding

Axes grind and maces clash as wounded fighters fall to the ground
Severed limbs and fatal woundings bloody corpses lay all around
The smell of death and burning flesh the battle weary fight to the end
The Saxons have been overpowered victims of the mighty Norsemen

You'd better scatter and run
the battle's lost and not won
you'd better get away
to fight another day
Invaders ... Raping
Invaders ... Plundering


2. Children Of The Damned

He's walking like a small child
But watch his eyes burn you away
Black holes in his golden stare
God knows he wants to go home
Children of The Damned

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
Children of The Damned [x3]

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

You're Children of The Damned
Your back's against the wall
You turn into the light
You're burning in the night
You're Children of The Damned
Like candles watch them burn
Burning in the light
You'll burn again tonight
Children of The Damned


3. The Prisoner

I'm on the run, I kill to eat
I'm starving now, feeling dead on my feet
Going all the way, I'm natures beast
Do what I want and do as I please

Run - Fight - To breathe - It's tough
Now you see me now you don't
Break the walls I'm coming out

Not a prisoner I'm a free man
And my blood is my own now
Don't care where the past was
I know where I'm going ...out!

If you kill me it's self defense
And if I kill ya' then I call it vengeance
Spit in your eye I will defy
You'll be afraid when I call out your name

Run - Fight - To breathe - It's gonna be tough
Now you see me now you don't
Break the walls I'm coming out

Not a prisoner I'm a free man
And my blood is my own now
Don't care where the past was
I know where I'm going

I'm not a number I'm a free man
Live my life where I want to
You'd better scratch me from your black book
Cause' I'll run rings around you


4. 22 Acacia Avenue

If you're feeling down depressed and lonely
I know a place where we can go
22 Acacia Avenue meet a lady that I know
So if you're looking for a good time
And you're prepared to pay the price
Fifteen quid is all she asks for
Everybody's got their vice

If you're waiting for a long time for the rest to do their piece
You can tell her that you know me and you might even get it free
So any time you're down the East End don't you hesitate to go
You can take my honest word for it she'll teach you more than you can know

Charlotte can't you get out from all of this madness
Can't you see it only brings you sadness
When you entertain your men don't you know the risk of getting disease

Some day when you're reaching the age of forty
I bet you'll regret the days when you were laying
Nobody then will want to know
You won't have any beautiful wares to show any more

22 the avenue that's the place where we all go
You will find it's warm inside the red light's burning bright tonight

Charlotte isn't it time you stopped this mad life
Don't you ever think about the bad times
Why do you have to live this way
Do you enjoy your lay or is it the pay

Sometimes when you're strolling down the avenue
The way you walk it makes men think of having you
When you're walking down the street
Everybody stops and turns to stare at you

22 the avenue that's the place where we all go
You will find it's warm inside the red light's burning bright tonight

Beat her mistreat her do anything that you please
Bite her excite her make her get down on her knees
Abuse her misuse her she can take all that you've got
Caress her molest her she always does what you want

You're running away don't you know what you're doing
Can't you see it'll lead you to ruin
Charlotte you've taken your life and you've thrown it away
You believe that because what you're earning
Your life's good don't you know that you're hurting
All the people that love you don't cast them aside
All the men that are constantly drooling
It's no life for you stop all that screwing
You're packing your bags and you're coming with me


5. The Number Of The Beast

"Woe to you, Oh Earth and Sea, for the Devil sends the
beast with wrath, because he knows the time is short...
Let him who hath understanding reckon the number of the
beast for it is a human number, its number is Six hundred and
sixty six."

I left alone my mind was blank
I needed time to think to get the memories from my mind

What did I see can I believe that what I saw
that night was real and not just fantasy

Just what I saw in my old dreams were they
reflections of my warped mind staring back at me

'Cos in my dream it's always there the evil face that twists my mind
and brings me to despair

The night was black was no use holding back
'Cos I just had to see was someone watching me
In the mist dark figures move and twist
Was this all for real or some kind of hell
666 the number of the beast
Hell and fire was spawned to be released

Torches blazed and sacred chants were praised
As they start to cry hands held to the sky
In the night the fires burning bright
The ritual has begun Satan's work is done
666 the number of the beast
Sacrifice is going on tonight

This can't go on I must inform the law
Can this still be real or just some crazy dream
But I feel drawn towards the evil chanting hordes
They seem to mesmerise me ... can't avoid their eyes
666 the number of the beast
666 the one for you and me

I'm coming back I will return
And I'll possess your body and I'll make you burn
I have the fire I have the force
I have the power to make my evil take it's course


6. Run To The Hills

White man came across the sea
He brought us pain and misery
He killed our tribes, he killed our creed
He took our game for his own need

We fought him hard we fought him well
Out on the plains we gave him hell
But many came too much for Cree
Oh will we ever be set free?

Riding through dust clouds and barren wastes
Galloping hard on the plains
Chasing the redskins back to their holes
Fighting them at their own game
Murder for freedom's a stab in the back
Women and children the cowards attack

Run to the hills, run for your lives
Run to the hills, run for your lives

Soldier blue in the barren wastes
Hunting and killing's a game
Raping the women and wasting the men
The only good Indians are tame
Selling them whiskey and taking their gold
Enslaving the young and destroying the old

Run to the hills,
run for your lives.
Run to the hills,
run for your lives.

[Guitar solo]

Yeah oh ah!

Run to the hills,
run for your lives.
Run to the hills,
run for your lives.

Run to the hills,
run for your lives.
Run to the hills,
run for your lives.


7. Gangland

Shadows may hide you but also may be your grave
You're running today maybe tomorrow you'll be saved
You pray for daylight to save you for a while
You wonder if your children will face the killer's smile

Dead men - tell no tales
In Gangland - murders up for sale
Dead men - tell no tales
In Gangland - where jail birds die

Face at the window leers into your own
But it's only your reflection still you tremble in your bones
How long can you hide? How long 'till they come?
A rat in a trap but you've got to survive

Once you were glad to be free for a while
The air tasted good and the world was your friend
Then came the day when the hard times began
Now you're alone but alive for how long?

Dead men - tell no tales
In Gangland - murders up for sale
Dead men - tell no tales
In Gangland - where jail birds die

A knife at your throat another body on the pile
A contract to keep and it's service with a smile
Murder for vengeance or murder for gain
Death on the streets or a blacked out jail

Dead men - tell no tales
In Gangland - murders up for sale
Dead men - tell no tales
In Gangland - where jail birds die

In Gangland you tell no tales


8. Total Eclipse

Cold as steel the darkness waits its hour will come.
A cry of fear from our children worshipping the sun.
Mother natures' black revenge on those who wasted her life.
War babies in the garden of Eden,
Shall turn our ashes to ice.

Sunrise has gone, freezing up the fires.
Sunrise has gone, numbing our desires.

Around the world the people stop,
With terror stricken eyes.
A shadow cast upon them all,
To crush them like a fly.
In the icy rain and whiplashed seas,
There's nowhere left to run.
The hammer blows of winter fall like a hurricane.

Sunrise has gone, freezing up the fires.
Sunrise has gone, numbing our desires.

Around the world the nations wait,
For some wise word from their leading light.
You know it's not only madmen who listen to fools.
Is this the end, the millions cried,
Clutching their riches as they died.
Those who survive must weather the storm.

Gone are the days when man looked down.
They've taken away his sacred crown.
To be set free, it took so long.
It's not journey's end, it's just begun.


9. Hallowed Be Thy Name

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 5 o'clock they take me to the Gallows Pole
The sands of time for me are 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 that there's some sort of an 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 am 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, 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 'cause it's willing to fly away

Mark my words believe my soul lives on
Don't worry now that I have gone
I've gone beyond to seek the truth

When you know that your time is close at hand
Maybe then you'll begin to understand
Life down there is just a strange illusion

Yeah, yeah, yeah,
Hallowed be Thy name
Yeah, yeah, yeah,
Hallowed be Thy name