Accident of birth (1997)
The freak
(B. Dickinson/ Roy Z)He rides the wave, a spiral slave The prince of darkness plays his games You're hypnotised under velvet skies He breathes the red wind cross your eyes Who leads you to the dark secret? (x2) Your life is lost, your soul is damned But it feels too good to make a stand Bad is bad, but this is worse Let judgement come, you love this curse When you look at dman you're like a god Swimming in the tide of life Somersault into the flood washes you away Who leads you to the dark secret? (x2) Who is your mistress who leads you to the dark secret? (x2) SOLO [spoken] Who is your mistress who leads you to the dark secret? (x2) Who leads you to the dark secret? (x4)
Toltec 7 arrival
(B. Dickinson/ Roy Z)I mean you no harm Come closer, learn the truth Come closer, learn the truth Come... Bless me, mother, for I have sinned
Starchildren
(B. Dickinson/ Roy Z)I came from nothing before nothing began broke the window of existence and became a man No sympathy for fools, my star is black and burned I tilt towards the light, I suck your souls into my might CHORUS: We're star children Coming out of nowhere and to nowhere return Star children A hundred million souls sucked out in one breath I shiver at the threshold of your waking hour The knowledge that you seek is my source of power I live apart from you but I know the things you do No angel can save you, how, you don't need a god cause I'm here now REPEAT CHORUS Do I fulfill your deepest need for prophecy? I am the ruler that you seek, so come to me Come to me SOLO REPEAT CHORUS Star children I'm the ruler of existence in your space and time Star children To penetrate your future is my only crime Star
Taking the queen
(B. Dickinson/ Roy Z)Who stole your heartbeat in the night? The acolyte's fearful in the flickering light They hold a mirror to catch the breath from your mouth Your breath was stolen by the wind from the south Another winter's tale is done Your immortal lover, he's gone A chalice stolen from her hand, eternal life at her command Now all that she rules must sleep The howling shriek of death in your eyes The hawklord and the beast enter your room where gold will turn to rust Your empire follows you into your tomb, the wraiths of night caress and whisper softly now "we are the dead", they bear your life away they tear your heart in two They've taken the queen to some better place so they think as the flame burns low SOLO Now the flame burns higher and it purifies the love that died And scared rats closed in alive back to the earth, sealing the tomb Our skeleton rise through the veil of blood who summons us now from our graves We are the dead, the shriek of death in your eyes The hawklord and the beast enter your room, the wraiths of night caress and whisper softly now "we are the dead", they bear your life away they've torn your heart in two They've taken the queen
Darkside of Aquarius
(B. Dickinson/ Roy Z)The first hellrider came on wings of plenty in the dark Poured out his poison and he blew away his mark The fascist from the east is coming, mothers, hide your sons The second hellrider came from flaming seas and molten sands Piper's playing Hell's commands Poured out his poison with his promises of promised lands Blackened tongues of lying leaders Here comes the riders as the wheel of dharma's running out of time (x2) The third hellrider came teaching brothers to kill brother man And the fourth hellrider waits on an acid trip for an acid world Walls of old religious fools and superstitious men Throw some scary tarot cards and... Here comes the riders as the wheel of dharma's running out of time Here comes the riders as the revolution's stepping out to light The darkside of Aquarius has robbed us of our souls and minds Here comes the riders as the wheel of dharma's running out of time SOLO From the starlit sky on the silver sea a lonely silver surfer comes to push the wheel for me (x2) Gotta move, gotta move, gotta move that wheel right 'round (x3) Gotta push the wheel dharma round push the wheel of dharma around push the wheel of dharma around push the wheel right 'round and round, yeah I've gotta move the wheel of dharma (x3) Move that wheel around Gotta move the wheel of dharma Gotta move the wheel of dharma now
Road to hell
(B. Dickinson/ A. Smith)Slowly bleeding watch the vortex feeding like a swirling vulture on your face Every hour the unseen rays devour your screaming eyes cry out but they are blind Father forgive me my sins give me the nails, I'll hammer them in CHORUS: The road to hell is full of good intentions Say farewell, we may never meet again The road to hell is full of good intentions Down the left-hand highway with no sinister regrets Brave new world of secret fantasy that hovers just beyond your bloody grasp Close enough to thrill the danger of the kill price for failure of your will Father forgive us my sins cause we're all the junkies who never can win REPEAT CHORUS SOLO Father forgive me my sins give me the nails, I'll hammer them in The road to hell is full of good intentions Parody of hope is the one that I must kill We all have to live with our family inventions Down left-hand highway with no sinister regrets REPEAT CHORUS
Man of sorrows
(B. Dickinson)Here in a church a small boy in kneeling He prays to a god he does not know, he cannot feel All of his sins of childhood he will remember He will not cry, tears he will not cry CHORUS: Man of sorrows, I won't see your face Man of sorrows, you left without a trace His small boy wonders what was it all about Is your journey over? Has it just begun? A vision of a new world from the ashes of the old "Do what thou wilt" he screams from his cursed soul A tortured seer, a prophet of our emptiness Wondering why, wondering why REPEAT CHORUS SOLO A man of sorrows wrecked with thoughts that dare not speak their name Trapped inside a body made to feel only guilt and shame His anger all his life, "I hate myself", he cried "Do what thou wilt, do what thou wilt", he cried REPEAT CHORUS (x2) Has it just begun?
Accident of birth
(B. Dickinson/ Roy Z)Journey back to the darkside, back into the womb Back to where the spirits move like vapour from the tomb The centre of the cyclone blowing out the sun break the shackles of your union to the light I might've had a brother, as I was born they dragged him under to the other side of twilight, he's waiting for me now Nativity was lost on me, I didn't ask, I couldn't see What created me, what and where and how CHORUS: Welcome home, it's been too long, we've missed you Welcome home, we've opened up the gates Welcome home, to your brothers and sisters Welcome home, to an accident of birth Feel our bodies breathing as you try to stop believing There's nothing you can do about your shadows You can't fight us, you are like us and your body will betray you Lay down and die like all the others Where are the angels and their wings of freedom? Jesus had his day off when they pulled you through REPEAT CHORUS To an accident of birth SOLO Visions growing dim as the daylight fades away A spinning, twisting, black hole, it's your dying day REPEAT CHORUS (x2)
The magician
(B. Dickinson/ Roy Z)I am the teacher, come to reach you Take the old words back to you You were lost but I found you and it's your choice what to do I've learned a few things as I've travelled through the years Through the door of evermore I came through fire, came through water Through the oily serpents kiss Climbed a mountain, chased the dragon thrown myself in the abyss Do I make myself familiar to you now? Cause I've been around you and I'm glad I've found you CHORUS: I am the living flame and I teach the holy games Teach the secret of the dance, throw the future in the runes Kicked the sand in Satan's face, I put Jesus in his place Shaman and priest, it's all the same, the magician is my name Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, the magician is my name (x3) And magic is my game SOLO Now I know you and you know me We have secrets we can share We can build a new tomorrow from the trash of yesterday It won't be the last time and I'm glad I found you REPEAT CHORUS Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, the magician is my name (x4)
Welcome to the pit
(B. Dickinson/ A. Smith)You come on down to the pit Come on down to where the vipers spit I've been waiting for you down here Cover your eyes with the velvet hands of darkness (x2) CHORUS: I don't even know your name You won't even see my face But you choose to play my games Welcome to the hard place I bring you back from the brink Are you surprised in every way that you like it? Are you surprised that you want it? Cover your lips with the wicked tongue of silence (x2) REPEAT CHORUS SOLO Back to back, you ride the snake You feel it strike, you feel it bite you Cover your eyes with the velvet hands of darkness Cover your lips with the wicked tongue of silence REPEAT CHORUS I don't even know your name You won't even see my face But you choose to play my games Now you can feel the hard, the hard place
Omega
(B. Dickinson/ Roy Z)The ashes drift away the smoke of our confusion We turn our frightened faces to each other, say goodbye Waited for the sign, waited for the moment Waited for the miracle to arrive I guess they lied Look at your future, take a look at your burning sky Look at your future, look at your burning sky The others they have gone, who wants to live forever with nothing left to hold on to the past that we once knew? We believed in heaven, we believed in angels With arms of purest white to hold us, catch us, when we fall Look at your future, take a look at your burning sky Look at your future, now look at your burning sky CHORUS: Now it's omega-zero day The red star shines it's last rays The sun that gave us life yesterday is now the sun that takes our lives away SOLO Take a look at your future, look at your burning sky Look at your future, look at your burning sky REPEAT CHORUS (x2)
Arc of space
(B. Dickinson/ Roy Z)There on a lonely desert hill-top the pilgrims huddle closer Waiting for a sign, the coming silver shrine the arc of space and time VERSE II: Truth, oh, the truth is never clear Perhaps again next year the hope lives on beneath the blazing sun one day you'll come CHORUS: In my heart I reach you In my heart I reach out to you In my heart I touched the face of God In my dream, somehow SOLO REPEAT CHORUS It's all a dream REPEAT CHORUS It's all a dream, somehow REPEAT VERSE II