THE NUMBER OF THE BEAST (1982)
LineUp :
Chant : Bruce Dickinson
Basse : Steve Harris
Guitare : Dave Murray
Guitare : Adrian Smith
Batterie : Clive Burr
Commentaire
On se souvient toujours du premier album qu'on a acheté.
Et celui-ci a fait connaître Maiden au monde entier.
Chansons
1. Invaders (Harris)
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 camp fires,
alert the other men from inland.
Warning must be given,
there’s not enough men 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 (Harris)
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 have crucified us all.
Now he’s standing on the last step.
He thought oblivion, well it beckons us all.
Children of The Damned
Now it’s burning his hands, he’s turning to laugh,
Smiles as the flames sear his flesh.
Melting his face, screaming in pain.
Watch him die according to plan,
He’s dust on the ground, what did we learn.
You’re Children of The Damned,
Your back’s against the wall.
You turn into the light.
You’re Children of The Damned,
Like candles watch them burn.
Burning in the light,
You’ll burn again tonight.
You’re Children of The Damned.
3. The Prisonner (Smith-Harris)
I’m on the run, I’ll kill to eat,
Starving now, feeling dead on my feet.
Going all the way, I’m nature’s beast.
Do what I want, I do as I please.
Run, you’ve gotta fight, to breathe, it’s tough.
Now you see me, now you don’t.
Break the walls, I’m coming out.
I’m 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 defence.
If I kill you, then I call it vengeance.
Spit in your eye, I will defy.
You’ll be afraid when I call out your name.
Run, you’ve gotta fight, to breathe, it’s tough.
Now you see me, now you don’t.
Break the walls, I’m coming out.
I’m not a number, I’m a free man,
I’ll live my life how I want to.
You’d better scratch me
from your black book,
‘Cause I’ll run rings around you.
4. 22, Acacia Avenue (Harris-Smith)
If you’re feeling down depressed and lonely,
I know a place where we can go.
22 Acacia Avenue, meet a lady we all 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 isn’t it time you stopped all this mad life.
Don’t you ever think about the bad times.
Why do you have to live this way.
Do you enjoy the 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 (Harris)
Le single ci-dessous contient aussi Remember Tomorrow.
"...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.
His 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 last 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.
‘Cause in my dreams, 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,
‘Cause I just had to see, was someone
watching me.
In the mist, dark figures move and twist,
Was all this 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 some crazy dream.
But I feel drawn towards the chanting hordes,
They seem to mesmerize....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 (Harris)
Le single ci-dessous contient aussi Total Eclipse.
White man came across the sea,
Brought us pain and misery.
Killed our tribes, killed our creed,
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 dustclouds and barren wastes,
Galloping hard on the plains.
Chasing the redskins back to their holes,
Fighting them at their own game.
Murder for freedom, a stab in the back.
Women and children and 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 for game.
Raping the women and wasting the men,
The only good Indians are tame.
Selling them whisky and taking their gold,
Enslaving the young and destroying the old.
Run to the hills, run for your lives.
7. Gangland (Smith-Burr)
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 - murder’s up for sale.
Dead men - tell no tales,
In Gangland - where the jailbirds 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 ëtil 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?
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 - murder’s up for sale.
Dead men - tell no tales,
In Gangland - where jailbirds die.
In Gangland you tell no tales.
8. Hallowed Be Thy Name (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.
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 so 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,
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 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
