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Iron Maiden - A Matter Of Life And Death lyrics



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01. Different World

Music by Harris/Smith
Lyrics by Harris
You lead me on the path
Keep showing me the way
I feel a little lost
A little strange today.

I think I'll take ahold
Of whatever comes my way
Then we'll see what happens
Take it day by day

I thought I had it all
I had it all worked out
Just what the future held
That there would be no doubt

But then the card came up
And I took another turn
But I don't know if it's forever that I run

Tell me what you can hear
And then tell me what you see
Everybody has a different way to view the world
I would like you to know when you see the simple things
To appreciate this life it's not too late to learn

Don't wanna be here
Somewhere I'd rather be
But when I get there
I'm afraid it's not for me

Tell me what you can hear
And then tell me what you see
Everybody has a different way to view the world
I would like you to know, when you see the simple things
To appreciate this life, it's not too late to learn

Tell me what you can hear
And then tell me what you see
Everybody has a different way to view the world
I would like you to know, when you see the simple things
To appreciate this life, it's not too late to learn

Don't wanna be here
Somewhere I'd rather be
But when I get there
I'm afraid it's not for me

Don't know what I want
Or where I want to be
Feeling more confused
The more the days go by

02. These Colours Don't Run

Music by Smith/Harris
Lyrics by Dickinson
It's the same in every country
When you say you're leaving
Left behind the loved ones
Waiting silent in the hall
Where you're going lies adventure
others only dream of
Red and green light this is real
and so you go to war

For the passion, for the glory
For the memories, for the money
You're a soldier, for your country
What's the difference, all the same

Far away from the land of our birth
We fly a flag in some foreign earth
We sailed away like our fathers before
These colors don't run, from a cold bloody war

There is no one that will save you
Going down in flames
No surrender certain death you
Look it in the eye
On the shores of tyranny you
Lonely unmarked graves

For the passion, for the glory
For the memories, for the money
You're a soldier, for your country
What's the difference, all the same

Far away from the land of our birth
We fly a flag in some foreign earth
We sailed away like our fathers before
These colors don't run, from a cold bloody war

03. Brighter Than A Thousand Suns

Music by Smith/Harris
Lyrics by Dickinson/Harris
We are not the son's 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 finger rise above
Higher thing's stab the desert sky
Oh they hold the power of hell
Bodies here are ready for the fall

Clapping hand's together well
Raiser cities built on living hell
Trying to raise the suicide
Listen for the tolling of the bell

Out of the universe
A strange life is born
Unholy union
Liberty reformed

Yellow sun, its evil twin
In the black the winds delivered him
We will sleep to soul's within
At a siege a nuclear gust is riven

Out of the universe
A strange life is born
Unholy union
Trinity reformed

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

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

(solo)

Bury your moral's
And bury your dead
Bury your hand that has sinned
E=mc^2 you can relate
How we make god with our hand's

Whatever would Albert have said to his god
about how he made war with the sun
E=Mc^2 you can relate
how we make god with our hand's

All nations are rising
Threw acid bell's of love and hate
Chain medals of Satan
Uncertainty brought us all to this

All nations are rising
Threw acid bell's of love and hate
Confusion and Fury

(solo)

Your body can't go on this way
I was preachen of a small pray
In the bunker where we'll die
We are the executioner's that lie

Bombers launched with no recall
Minute warning of the missiles of old
Take a look at your last day
Guessing you won't have the time to cry

Out of the universe
A strange life is born
Unholy union
Trinity reformed

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

04. The Pilgrim

Music by Gers/Harris
Lyrics by Harris
The Pilgrim
The keys to death and hell
The ailing kingdom doomed to fall
The bonds of sin and heart will break
The pilgrims course will take

Quelling the devils might
And ready for eternal fight
Aching limbs and fainting soul
Holy battles take their toll

Liberty and hope divine
Changing water into wine
So to you we bid farewell
Kingdom of heaven to hell

Spirit holy life eternal
Raise me up take me home
Pilgrim sunrise pagan sunset
Onward journey begun

To courage find and gracious will
Deliver good from ill
Clean the water clean our guilt
With us do what you will

Then will my judge appear
Bear no false angel that I hear
For only then I will confess
To my eternal hell

Now give us our holy sign
Changing water into wine
So to you we bid farewell
Kingdom of heaven to hell

Spirit holy life eternal
Raise me up take me home
Pilgrim sunrise pagan sunset
Onward journey begun

05. The Longest Day

Music by Smith/Harris
Lyrics by Dickinson
In the gloom the gathering storm abates
In the ships gimlet eyes await
The call to arms to hammer at the gates
To blow them wide throw evil to its fate

All summers long the drills to build the machine
To turn man from flesh and blood to steel
From paper solders to bodies on the beach
From summer sends to Armageddon's reach

Overload 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 send them here

The world's alright the cliffs erupt in flame
No escape remorseless shrapnel rains
Drawing men no chance for a warrior's fate
A choking death enter hell's gates

Sliding we go only fear on our side
To the edge of the wire
And we rush with the tide
Oh the water is red
With the blood of the dead
But I'm still alive pray to God I survive

How long on this longest day
'Till we finally make it through
How long on this longest day
'Till we finally make it through

The rising dead faces bloated torn
They are relieved the living wait their turn
Your number's up the bullet's got your name
You still go on to hell and back again

Valhalla waits valkyries rise and fall
The warrior tombs lie open for us all
A ghostly hand reaches through the wall
Blood and sand we will prevail

Sliding we go only fear on our side
To the edge of the wire
And we rush with the tide
Oh the water is red
With the blood of the dead
But I'm still alive pray to God I survive

How long on this longest day
'Till we finally make it through
How long on this longest day
'Till we finally make it through

How long on this longest day
'Till we finally make it through
How long on this longest day
'Till we finally make it through

06. Out Of The Shadows

Music by Dickinson/Harris
Lyrics by Dickinson
Out of the Shadows
Hold a halo round the world
Golden is the day
Princes of the Universe
Your burden is the way
So there is no better time
Who will be born today
A gypsy child at day break
A king for a day

Out of the Shadows and into the sun
Dreams of the past as the old ways are done
Oh there is beauty and surely there is pain
But we must endure it to live again

Dusty dreams in fading daylight
Flicker on the walls
Nothing new your life's adrift
What purpose to it all?
Eyes are closed and death is calling
Reaching out its hand
Call upon the starlight to surround you

Out of the Shadows and into the sun
Dreams of the past as the old ways are done
Oh there is beauty and surely there is pain
But we must endure it to live again

Out of the Shadows and into the sun
Dreams of the past as the old ways are done
Oh there is beauty and surely there is pain
But we must endure it to live again

Out of the Shadows and into the sun
Dreams of the past as the old ways are done
Oh there is beauty and surely there is pain
But we must endure it to live again

Out of the Shadows and into the sun
Dreams of the past as the old ways are done
Oh there is beauty and surely there is pain
But we must endure it to live again

A man who casts no shadow has no soul

07. The Reincarnation Of Benjamin Breeg

Music by Murray/Harris
Lyrics by Harris
Let me tell you about my life
Let me tell you about my dreams
Let me tell you about the things that happen
Always real to me

Let me tell you of my hope
Of my need to reach the sky
Let me take you on an awkward journey
Let me tell you why
Let me tell you why

Why should these curses be laid upon me
I won't be forgiven 'till I can brake free
What did I do to deserve all this guilt
Pay for my sins with the sale of my soul
Demons are trapped all inside of my head
My hopes are gone reach for heaven from hell

My sins are many my guilt is too heavy
The pressure of knowing of hiding what I know
I'm able to see things
Things I don't want to see
The lives of a thousand souls
Weigh heavy down on me

I know they're crying for help reaching out
The burden of them will take me down as well
The sin of a thousand souls not died in vain
Reincarnate still in me live again

Someone to save me
Something to save me from myself
To bring the salvation
To exorcise this hell

Someone to save me
Something to save me from myself
To bring the salvation
To exorcise this hell

Someone to save me
Something to save me from my hell
A destination
Away from this nightmare

Someone to save me
Something to save me from myself
To bring the salvation
To exorcise this hell

08. For The Greater Good Of God

Music & lyrics by Harris
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 ship'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 is seems more like the blind leading the blind
It brings upon us more of famine death and war
You know religion has a lot of answers 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 it's 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

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

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

09. Lord Of Light

Music by Smith/Harris
Lyrics by Dickinson
There are secrets that you keep
There are secrets that you keep
There are secrets that you tell to me alone
I can't reach things I can't see
You don't see this strange world
quite the same as me
Don't deny me what I am
Nothing hidden still you fail to see the truth
These are things you can't reveal
These are things you can't reveal

We are part of some strange plan
Why the slaughter of the brotherhood of man
Infernal sacrifice of hell
Fire breathing lead the way
Mounds of bodies as they all burn into one
Revenge is living in the past
Time to look into a new millennium

Spiral path leads through the maze
Down into the fiery underworld below
Fire breathing lead the way
Lucifer was just an angel led astray

Free your soul and let it fly
Give your life to the Lord of Light
Keep your secrets and rain on me
All I see are mysteries

Free your soul and let it fly
Give your life to the Lord of Light
Keep your secrets and rain on me
All I see are mysteries

We are not worthy in your black
and blazing eyes
We gather demons in the mirror every day
The bridge of darkness casts a
shadow on us all
And all our sins to you we give this day

Others wait their turn
their lives were meant to last
Use yours wisely as the light is fading fast
Free your soul and let if fly
Mine was caught I couldn't try
Time returns again to punish all of us

We are cast out by our bloody fathers hand
We are strangers in this lonely promised land
We are the shadows of the one unholy ghost
In our nightmare world the only one we trust

Free your soul and let it fly
Give your life to the Lord of Light
Keep your secrets and rain on me
All I see are mysteries

Free your soul and let it fly
Give your life to the Lord of Light
Keep your secrets and rain on me
All I see are mysteries

10. The Legacy

Music by Gers/Harris
Lyrics by Harris
Tell you a thing
That you ought to know
Two minutes of your time
Then on you go

Tell tale of the man
All dressed in black
That most of them
Not coming back

Sent off to war
To play little games
And on their return
Can't name no names

Some strange yellow gas
Has played with their minds
Has reddened their eyes
Removed all the lies

And strange as it sounds
Death knows no bounds
How many get well
Only time will tell
Only time will tell

You lie in your death bad now
But what did you bring to the table
Brought us only holy sin
Utter trust is a deadly thing

To the prayer of holy peace
We didn't know what was lying underneath
So how could we be such fools
And to think that we thought you the answer

I can't being to understand in all the lies
But on your death bed I can see it in your eyes
Just as clear as all the sweat upon your brow
It really makes sense I can see it clearly now

Tangled up in a web of lies
Could have been a way to prophesies
Unaware of the consequence
Not aware of the secrets that you kept

Nothing that we could believe
To reveal the facade of faceless men
Not a thing that we could foresee
Now a sing that would tell us the outcome

You had us all strung out with promises of peace
But all along you cover plan was to deceive
Can it put to rights now only time will tell
Your prophecies will send us all to hell as well

Left to all our golden sons
All to pick up on the peace
You could have all to them
A little chance...at least

Take the world to a better place
Given them all just a little hope
Just think what a legacy
You now?will leave

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 tread our fellow men
With more respect and a shake of their hands
But anger and loathing is rifle
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 waiting 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

11. Hallowed Be Thy Name

Music & lyrics by Harris
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, yeah!

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 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
The words escape me when I try to speak
Tears 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
Somebody cries 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, 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 here is just a strange illusion
Yeah, hallowed be thy name
Yeah, hallowed by thy name
Yeah