歌词
[Verse 1]
To ride the storm
To an empire of the clouds
To ride the storm
They climbed aboard their silver ghost
[Verse 2]
To ride the storm
To a kingdom that will come
To ride the storm
And damn the rest... oblivion
[Verse 3]
Royalty and dignitaries
Brandy and cigars
Grey Lady, giant of the skies
You hold them in your arms
[Verse 4]
The millionth chance they laughed
To take down His Majesty's craft
To India they say magic carpet float away
An October fateful day...
[Verse 5]
Mist is in the trees
Stone sweats with the dew
The morning sunrise
Red before the blue
[Verse 6]
Hanging at the mast
Waiting for command
His Majesty's airship
The R101
[Verse 7]
She's the biggest vessel built by man
A giant of the skies
For all you unbelievers
The Titanic fits inside
[Verse 8]
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
[Verse 9]
In the gathering gloom
The storm rising in the west
The coxswain stared
Into the plunging weather glass
[Verse 10]
We must go now
We must take our chance with fate
We must go now
For a politician, he can't be late
[Verse 11]
The airship crew awake
For thirty hours at full stretch
But the ship is in their backbone
Every sinew, every inch
[Verse 12]
She never flew at full speed
A trial never done
Her fragile outer cover
Her Achilles would become
An Achilles yet to come
[Verse 13]
Sailors of the sky
A hardened breed
Loyal to the king
And an airship creed
[Verse 14]
The engines drum
The telegraph sounds
Release the cords
That bind us to the ground
[Verse 15]
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"
[Verse 16]
Groundlings cheered in wonder
As she backed off from the mast
Baptising them her water
From the ballast, fore and aft
Now she slips into our past
[Verse 17]
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
[Verse 18]
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
[Verse 19]
Reaper standing beside her
With his scythe cuts to the bone
Panic to make a decision
Experienced men asleep in their graves
[Verse 20]
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
[Verse 21]
"We're down, lads" came a cry
Bow plunging from the sky
Three thousand horses silent
As the ship began to die
[Verse 22]
The flares to guide her past
Ignited at the last
The empire of the clouds
Just ashes in our past
Just ashes at the last
[Verse 23]
Here lie their dreams
As I stand in the sun
On the ground where they built
And the engines did run
[Verse 24]
To the moon and the stars
Now what have we done?
Oh, the dreamers may die
But the dreams live on
[Verse 25]
Dreams live on
Dreams live on
[Verse 26]
Now a shadow on a hill
The angel of the east
The empire of the clouds
May rest in peace
[Verse 27]
And in a country churchyard
Laid head to the mast
Eight and forty souls
Who came to die in France
Written by: Bruce Dickinson
