The X Factor

Základní údaje

Datum vydání: 2. 10. 1995
Producent a mix: Steve Harris a Nigel Green at Barnyard Studios, Essex
Inženýr: Nigel Green
Mastering: Ronal Whelan, Chop ‘Em Out
Vědečtí poradci: Mick McKenna, Les Lambert
Zvláštní poděkování: Michael Kenney – Klávesy, Gregoriánský zpěv v Sign Of The Cross – The Expresion Choir, Caterring a G. R. – Steve Lazarus
Umělecký režisér, design a digitální ilustrace: Hugh Syme
Fotograf skupiny: Ross Halfin a Simon Fowler UK
Fotograf: Tony Frederick US
Manažeři: Rod Smallwood, Merck Mercuriadis, Andy Taylor a Aky Najeeb for Sanctuary Music Management Ltd.
Booklet: John Jackson, ICM/Fairwarning, N. America: Bill Elson, ICM, NY
The Killer Crew: Dick Bell, Bill Barclay, Robbie Price, Dough Hall, Michael Kenney, Kevin (Batty) Walsh, Steve Gadd, Wally Grove

Come On You Irons!

Sestava

Steve Harris – basykata
Blaze Bayley – zpěv
Dave Murray – kytara
Janick Gers – kytara
Nicko McBrain- bicí

Seznam skladeb

1. Sign Of The Cross (Harris)
2. Lord Of The Flies (Harris, Gers)
3. Man On The Edge (Bayley, Gers)
4. Fortunes Of War (Harris)
5. Look For The Truth (Bayley, Gers, Harris)
6. The Aftermath (Harris, Bayley, Gers)
7. Judgement Of Heaven (Harris)
8. Blood On The World’s Hands (Harris)
9. The Edge Of Darkness (Harris, Bayley, Gers)
10. 2 A.M. (Bayley, Gers, Harris)
11. The Unbeliever (Harris, Gers)

Texty

Sign Of The Cross [11:16] (Harris)

Eleven saintly shrouded men, silhouettes stand against the sky
One in front with a cross held high, come to wash my sins away

Standing alone in the wind and rain
Feeling the fear that is growing
Sensing the change in the tide again
Brought by the storm that is brewing
Feel the anxiety hold off the fear
Some of the doubt in the things you believe
Now that your faith will be put to the test
Nothing to do but await what is coming

Why then is God still protecting me
Even when I don’t deserve it
Though I am blessed with an inner strength
Some they would call it a penance
Why am I meant to face this alone
Asking the question time and again
Praying to God won’t keep me alive
Inside my head feel the fear start to rise

They’ll be saying their prayers when the moment comes
There’ll be penance to pay when it’s judgement day
And the guilty’ll bleed when that moment comes
They’ll be coming to claim take your soul away

The sign of the cross, the name of the rose
A fire in the sky, the sign of the cross

They’ll be coming to bring the eternal flame
They’ll be bringing us all immortality
Holding communion so the world be blessed
My creator, my God’ll lay my soul to rest

The sign of the cross, the name of the rose
A fire in the sky, the sign of the cross

(8:14 – Solo: Dave Murray)
(8:34 – Solo: Janick Gers)

The sign of the cross, the name of the rose
A fire in the sky, the sign of the cross
The name of the rose, the sign of the cross

Lost the love of heaven above, chose the lust of the earth below
Eleven saintly shrouded men came to wash my sins away

Lord Of The Flies [5:03] (Harris, Gers)

I don’t care for this world anymore
I just want to live my own fantasy
Fate has brought us to these shores
What was meant to be is now happening

I’ve found that I like this living in danger
Living on the edge it feels, it makes feel as one
Who cares now what’s right or wrong, it’s reality
Killing so we survive wherever we may roam
Wherever we may hide we’ve got to get away

I don’t want existence to end
We must prepare ourselves for the elements
I just want to feel like we’re strong
We don’t need a code of morality

I like all the mixed emotion and anger
It brings out the animal, the power you can feel
And feeling so high with this much adrenaline
Excited but scary to believe what we’ve become

Saints and sinners, something within us
We are lord of the flies
Saints and sinners, something willing us
To be lord of the flies

(3:17 – Solo: Janick Gers)

Saints and sinners, something within us
We are lord of the flies
Saints and sinners, something willing us
To be lord of the flies

Saints and sinners, something within us
We are lord of the flies
Saints and sinners, something willing us
To be lord of the flies

Man On The Edge [4:11] (Bayley, Gers)

The freeway is jammed and it’s backed up for miles
The car is an oven and baking is wild
Nothing is ever the way it should be
What we deserve we just don’t get you see

A briefcase, a lunch and a man on the edge
Each step gets closer to losing his head
Is someone in heaven are they looking down
‘Cause nothing is fair just you look around

Falling down, falling down, falling down
Falling down, falling down, falling down

He’s sick of waiting of lying like this
There’s a hole in the sky for the angels to kiss
Branded a leper because you don’t fit
In the land of the free you just live by your wits

Once he built missiles a nation’s defence
Now he can’t even give birthday presents
Across the city he leaves in his wake
A glimpse of the future a cannibal state

Falling down, falling down, falling down
Falling down, falling down, falling down

(2:24 – Solo: Janick Gers)
(2:37 – Solo: Dave Murray)

The freeway is jammed and it’s backed up for miles
The car is an oven and baking is wild
Nothing is ever the way it should be
What we deserve we just don’t get you see

A briefcase, a lunch and a man on the edge
Each step gets closer to losing his head
Is someone in heaven are they looking down
‘Cause nothing is fair just you look around

Falling down, falling down, falling down
Falling down, falling down, falling down
Falling down, falling down, falling down
Falling down, falling down, falling down

Fortunes Of War [7:23] (Harris)

After the war and now that they’ve sent us homeward
I can’t help but feel that I’m on my own
No one can see just what this conflict has done to
The minds of the men who are on their way home

I’m scarred for life but it’s not my flesh that’s wounded
So how can I face the torment alone
The vivid scenes and all the recurring nightmares
I lay there and sweat until it gets light

People say don’t worry, say that time’s a perfect healer
That the nightmares they will come to pass
Can’t hear what they’re saying, I am living in my own world
And I’m feeling trance-like all the time

I hear voices in my head, could I really be going crazy
In the night the visions seem so real
Do you care if you live or die, when you laugh are you really crying
You’re not sure what’s real anymore

Fortunes of war, fortunes of war
Fortunes of war, no pain anymore
Fortunes of war, fortunes of war
Fortunes of war, no pain anymore
Fortunes of war

(5:01 – Solo: Janick Gers)
(5:23 – Solo: Dave Murray)

Fortunes of war, fortunes of war
Fortunes of war, no pain anymore
Fortunes of war

Fortunes of war, fortunes of war
Fortunes of war, no pain anymore
Fortunes of war, fortunes of war
Fortunes of war, no pain anymore
Fortunes of war

Sometimes I wake, I feel that my spirit’s broken
I wonder if I’ve the strength … to carry on

Carry on

Look For The Truth [5:08] (Bayley, Gers, Harris)

All my dark dreams drift like smoke in the breeze
The fear grips me as I fall toward my sleep
Here comes the nightmare that never ends
Here is the dream that makes monsters of men

In the house of my soul, in rooms of ugliness and cold
Memories locked away, all the doubts and fears I never faced
Now they come again, I am falling down to meet with them
Fears within us all, mine awake and they stand up tall

Look for the truth – Deepest cut of all from you
Knife of the truth – Blade of hatred slicing through

I pray my sleep will break maybe this time I won’t wake
Weakness I hide so well, this dagger in my mind will tell
It’s my final stand I make a fist out of each hand
To shadows of the past take a breath and I scream attack

Look for the truth – Deepest cut of all from you
Knife of the truth – Blade of hatred slicing through
Here is the truth – Deepest cut of all from you
Knife of the truth – Blade of hatred slicing through

(3:56 – Solo: Janick Gers)
(4:05 – Solo: Dave Murray)

 

The Aftermath [6:19] (Harris, Bayley, Gers)

Silently to silence fall in the fields of futile war
Toys of death are spitting lead where boys that were our soldiers bled
War horse and war machine curse the name of liberty
Marching on as if they should mix in the dirt our brothers’ blood

In the mud and rain, what are we fighting for?
Is it worth the pain, it is worth dying for?
Who will take the blame, why did they make a war?
Questions that come again, should we be fighting at all?

Once a ploughman hitched his team here he sowed his little dream
Now bodies arms and legs are strewn where mustard gas and barb wire bloom
Each moment’s like a year I’ve nothing left inside for tears
Comrades dead or dying lie I’m left alone asking why

In the mud and rain, what are we fighting for?
Is it worth the pain, it is worth dying for?
Who will take the blame, why did they make a war?
Questions that come again, should we be fighting at all?

After the war, left feeling no one has won
After the war, what does a soldier become?
After the war, left feeling no one has won
After the war, what does a soldier become?

What is at home when the battles are done?
After the war and when no one has won
I’m just a soldier

(4:23 – Solo: Janick Gers)

After the war, left feeling no one has won
After the war, what does a soldier become?
After the war, left feeling no one has won
After the war, what does a soldier become?

 

Judgement Of Heaven [5:10] (Harris)

A lonely cry for help reaching out for help to anyone
A silent prayer to God to help you on your way
I’ve been depressed so long it’s hard to remember when I was happy
I’ve felt like suicide a dozen times or more
But that’s the easy way that’s the selfish way
The hardest part is to get on with your life

You’re searching in the dark clutching at straws to find a way
You take the Tarot cards and throw them to the wind
You question your beliefs, your inner thoughts, your whole existence
And if there is a God then answer if you will
And tell me of my fate, tell me of my place
Tell me if I’ll ever rest in peace

If you could live your life again, would you change a thing or leave it all the same?
If you had the chance again, would you change a thing at all?
When you look back at your past, can you say that you are proud of what you’ve done?
Are there times when you believe that the right you thought was wrong?

All of my life I have believed judgement of heaven is waiting for me
All of my life I have believed judgement of heaven is waiting for me
Waiting for me, waiting for me, waiting for me…

(2:34 – Solo: Dave Murray)

All of my life now I have believed judgement of heaven awaits for me
All of my life now I have believed judgement of heaven awaits for me

All of my life I have believed judgement of heaven is waiting for me
All of my life I have believed judgement of heaven is waiting for me
Waiting for me, waiting for me, waiting for me…

 

Blood On The World’s Hands [5:55] (Harris)

Sometimes it makes me wonder, sometimes it makes me question
Sometimes it makes me saddened, always it makes me angry
But when you can see it happening, the madness that’s all around you
Nobody seems to worry, the world seems so powerless to act

It’s out of control, blood on the world’s hands
Each day a new toll

Another assassination, the same day a new creation
What are they coming into, security of a world that brings
One day another killing, somewhere there’s someone starving
Another a savage raping, meanwhile there’s someone laughing at us

It’s out of control, blood on the world’s hands
Each day it goes on

(3:05 – Solo: Dave Murray)
(3:30 – Solo: Janick Gers)

Blood on the world’s hands, blood on the world’s hands
Blood on the world’s hands, blood on the world’s hands

Blood on the world’s hands, blood on the world’s hands
Blood on the world’s hands, blood on the world’s hands

Brutality and aggression, tomorrow another lesson
Expecting another air raid, praying for a cease fire
They say things are getting better, no need to be complacent
There’s chaos across the border and one day it could be happening to us

It’s out of control, blood on the world’s hands
It’s our epitaph
It’s out of control, someone should know
Blood on the world’s hands
Someone should

The Edge Of Darkness [6:37] (Harris, Bayley, Gers)

I’ve looked into the heart of darkness where the blood-red journey ends
When you’ve faced the heart of darkness even your soul begins to bend
For a week I have been waiting still I am only in Saigon
The walls move in a little closer I feel the jungle call me on

Every minute I get weaker while in the jungle they grow strong
What I wanted was a mission and for my sins they gave me one
They brought it up just like room service ’cause everyone gets what they want
And when that mission was all over I’d never want another one

I know captain that you’ve done this work before
We’ve got a problem you can help us all I’m sure
The colonel’s gone rogue and his methods are unsound
You’ll take a PBR up river, track him down

There’s a conflict in every human heart
And the temptation is to take it all too far
In this war things get so confused
But there are some things which cannot be excused

He’s acting like a God – an insane lunatic
Your mission – exterminate with extreme prejudice
The route is dangerous and your progress may be slow
Here is the file and it’s all you need to know

(4:18 – Solo: Janick Gers)
(4:38 – Solo: Dave Murray)

Here I am the knife in my hand
And now I understand why the genius must die

Now I stand alone in the darkness with his blood upon my hands
Where sat the warrior the poet, now lie the fragments of a man

I’ve looked into the heart of darkness where the blood-red journey ends
When you’ve faced the heart of darkness even your soul begins to bend
I’ve looked into the heart of darkness…

 

2 A.M. [5:35] (Bayley, Gers, Harris)

I get in from work at 2 a.m. and sit down with a beer
Turn on late night TV and then I wonder why I’m here
It’s meaningless and trivial and it washes over me
And once again I wonder is this all there is for me

Here I am again, look at me again
Here I am again, on my own
Trying hard to see what there is for me
Here I am again, on my own

Life seems so pathetic I wish I could leave it all behind
This canvas chair, this bed, these walls that fall in on my mind
Hold on for something better that just drags you through the dirt
Do you just let go or carry on and try to take the hurt

Here I am again, look at me again
Here I am again, on my own
Trying hard to see what there is for me
Here I am again, on my own

(3:24 – Solo: Janick Gers)

Here I am again, look at me again
Here I am again, on my own
Trying hard to see what there is for me
Here I am again, on my own

Here I am again, look at me again
Here I am again, on my own
Trying hard to see what there is for me
Here I am again, on my own

Alone again, alone again, I’m here on my own

 

The Unbeliever [8:09] (Harris, Gers)

When you start to take a look within
Do you feel at ease with what you see
Do you think you can have peace of mind
And have self-belief or be satisfied
Do you think you even like yourself
Or really think you could be someone else
Is there something that you’d rather be
Never thought you’d be, had the chance to see

All my life I’ve run away
All my life I’ve tried to hide away

Feel the paranoia creeping in
Like a cancer eating at the skin
Do you think you’ve lost your self esteem
And your self respect, what can you expect

All my life I’ve run away
All my life I’ve tried to hide away
All my life I’ve run away
All my life I’ve tried to hide away

All my life… I’ve run astray, let my faith… slip away
All my life… I’ve run astray, allowed my faith… to drift away

All my life… I’ve run astray, let my faith… slip away
All my life… I’ve run astray, allowed my faith… to drift away

(4:08 – Solo: Janick Gers)
(4:31 – Solo: Dave Murray)

Are you scared to look inside your mind
Are you worried just at what you’ll find
Do you really want to face the truth
Does it matter now, what have you got to lose
Try release the anger from within
Forgive yourself a few immortal sins
Do you really care what people think
Are you strong enough to release the guilt

All my life I’ve run away
All my life I’ve tried to hide away

All my life… I’ve run astray, let my faith… slip away
All my life… I’ve run astray, allowed my faith… to drift away
All my life… I’ve run astray, let my faith… slip away
All my life… I’ve run astray, allowed my faith… to drift away