The Number Of The Beast

Základní údaje

Datum vydání: 22. 3. 1982
Produkce: Martin “Farmer” Birch
Druhý inženýr: Nigel “it was working yesterday” Hewitt-Green
Nahráno a mixováno: Battery Studios, Londýn
Manažer: Rod “Bloody ‘ell Fire” Smallwood for Sanctuary Music
Návrh obalu: Rod Smallwood
Ilustrace na obalu: Derek Riggs
Fotografie na obalu : Simon Fowler

Sestava:

Steve Harris – baskytara
Dave Murray – kytara
Bruce Dickinson – zpěv
Clive Burr – bicí
Adrian Smith – kytara, vokály

Seznam skladeb:

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

Reedice z roku 1995 obsahuje navíc 2. CD na kterém jsou tyto skladby:

1. Total Eclipse (Harris, Di’Anno, Burr) [4:28]
2. Remember Tomorrow (live) (Harris, Di’Anno) [5:27]

Remasterovaná verze z roku 1998 obsahuje navíc multimediální sekci s klipy:

1. Run To The Hills
2. The Number Of The Beast

Texty skladeb:

Invaders [3:22] (Harris)

Longboats have been sighted and the evidence of war has begun
Many Nordic fighting men their swords and shields 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 and alert the other men from inland
Warning must be given and there’s not enough men here for a stand
The Vikings are too many, much too powerful to take on our own
We must bring 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!

(1:51 – Solo: Dave Murray)
(2:09 – Solo: Adrian Smith)

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!

Children Of The Damned [4:33] (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, Children of the damned
Children of the damned, 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 his last step he thought oblivion well it beckons us all

Children of the damned, Children of the damned
Children of the damned, Children of the damned

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 the ground what did we learn?

(3:21 – Solo: Adrian Smith)

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

The Prisoner [6:00] (Smith, Harris)

We want information… information… information…
Who are you? – The new number two.
Who is number one? – You are number six.
I am not a number! I am a free man!

I’m on the run I kill to eat
I’m starving now feeling dead on my feet
Going all the way I’m nature’s beast
Do what I want I’ll 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 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, 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
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

(4:19 – Solo: Adrian Smith)
(4:37 – Solo: Dave Murray)

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
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

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

22. Acacia Avenue [6:34] (Harris, Smith)

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 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

(3:50 – Solo: Dave Murray)

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

(5:31 – Solo: Adrian Smith) 

The Number Of The Beast [4:49] (Harris)

Woe to you, oh Earth and Sea,
for the Devil sends the beast with wrath,
because he knows the time is short…
– Revelations 12:12
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.
– Revelations 13:18

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
‘Cause in my dreams it’s always there
The evil face that twists my mind and brings me to despair

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 this all for real or just some kind of hell?

Six six six – 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

Six six six – the Number of the Beast
Sacrifice is going on tonight

(2:46 – Solo: Dave Murray)
(3:15 – Solo: Adrian Smith)

This can’t go on I must inform the law
Can this still be real or some crazy dream?
But I feel drawn toward the evil chanting hordes
Seem to mesmerize me, can’t avoid their eyes

Six six six – the Number of the Beast
Six six six – 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 its course

Run To The Hills [3:50] (Harris)

The 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 the 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

Soldiers blue in the barren wastes
Hunting and killing the 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
Run to the hills, run for your lives

(2:12 – Solo: Dave Murray)

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

Gangland [3:47] (Smith, Burr)

Shadows may hide you but also be your grave
You’re running today maybe tomorrow you’ll be saved
You pray for the 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 time began
Now your 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

(2:45 – Solo: Adrian Smith)

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 in 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

Dead men… gangland… murder
In Gangland you tell no tales!

Total Eclipse [4:28] (Harris, Murray, Burr)

Cold as steel the darkness waits its hour will come
A cry of fear from our children worshipping the sun
Mother nature’s black revenge on those who waste her life
War babies in the garden of Eden shall turn our ashes to ice

Sunrise is gone, freezing up the fires
Sunrise is gone, numbing our desires
Sunrise is gone, sunrise is gone

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 is gone, freezing up the fires
Sunrise is gone, numbing all desires

Around the world the nations wait for some wise words 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

(Solo: Dave Murray)
(Solo: Adrian Smith)

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

Hallowed Be Thy Name [7:10] (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 five o’clock they’ll take me to the gallows pole
The sands of time for me are running low…
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 there’s been some kind 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
But words escape me when I try to speak
Tears they 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
Someone calls 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 please believe my soul lives on
Please 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

(4:50 – Solo: Dave Murray)
(5:08 – Solo: Adrian Smith)

Yeah! Hallowed be Thy name! Hallowed be Thy name!

Remember Tomorrow (live) (Harris)

Unchain the colours before my eyes
Yesterday’s sorrows tomorrow’s white lies
Scan the horizon the clouds take me higher
I shall return from out of the fire

Tears for remembrance and tears for joy
Tears for somebody and this lonely boy
Out in the madness the all seeing eye
Flickers above us to light up the sky

Unchain the colours before my eyes
Yesterday’s sorrows tomorrow’s white lies
Scan the horizon the clouds take me higher
I shall return from out of the fire