This song was originally written by a guy called Peter Gutteridge. He was one of the founders of the "Dunedin Sound" a musical scene in the south of New Zealand in the early 80s. From there it was covered by "The Clean" one of the early bands of that scene (he had originally been a member of in it's early days, writing a couple of their best early songs). The Dunedin sound, and the Clean became popular on american college radio in the mid to late 80s. I guess Yo La Tengo heard that version.
Great version of a great song,
The beast behind our eyes is loose,
The day has come, the day has come,
We march to Armageddon, hungry for the war
I see the hated enemy, I see what I was taught to see
And one of us will bend the knee
We understand the law
The blood lust jerks our legs to march,
Fife and drum, fife and drum
Our eyes are fixed and fearless
Searching for the war
Our statesmen deal in blood and lies
A hundred million stifled cries, a hundred million wasted lives
Already gone before
So march or die, march or die
The stench of death is in the sky
We never fail to satisfy
We rend with tooth and claw
Sword and shield and jackboot heel
We love to kill, we love to kill
We love to taste our own blood
Squirm in our own gore
Children weep and widows wail,
Our education systems fail,
To hide our guilt we build more jails,
And we shall build still more
Our forests die, the stranglehold
That we put on the earth for gold
Will yet increase ten thousand fold
And no one knows what for
March and die, march and die
Defecate, despoil and lie
Cheat, dissemble, preach & spy
Build your house of straw
Laugh and cry, laugh and cry
Bloody sunset drowns the sky
For earth the heal then we must die
No-one deserves it more
I tell you we are doomed my friends
Our time is come, our time is come
We live within a charnel house
Rotten to the core
We glorify lust, greed & pain
We drown our hope in poison rain
We point the finger, shift the blame
Ambition makes us whores
March or croak, march or croak
All your lives a cosmic joke
Fill your days with piss and smoke
The wolf waits at your door
Burn and dance, burn and dance
Sex, death, torture, false romance
Whoop and howl, you have no chance
Burn and rise no more
The day has come, the day has come,
We march to Armageddon, hungry for the war
I see the hated enemy, I see what I was taught to see
And one of us will bend the knee
We understand the law
The blood lust jerks our legs to march,
Fife and drum, fife and drum
Our eyes are fixed and fearless
Searching for the war
Our statesmen deal in blood and lies
A hundred million stifled cries, a hundred million wasted lives
Already gone before
So march or die, march or die
The stench of death is in the sky
We never fail to satisfy
We rend with tooth and claw
Sword and shield and jackboot heel
We love to kill, we love to kill
We love to taste our own blood
Squirm in our own gore
Children weep and widows wail,
Our education systems fail,
To hide our guilt we build more jails,
And we shall build still more
Our forests die, the stranglehold
That we put on the earth for gold
Will yet increase ten thousand fold
And no one knows what for
March and die, march and die
Defecate, despoil and lie
Cheat, dissemble, preach & spy
Build your house of straw
Laugh and cry, laugh and cry
Bloody sunset drowns the sky
For earth the heal then we must die
No-one deserves it more
I tell you we are doomed my friends
Our time is come, our time is come
We live within a charnel house
Rotten to the core
We glorify lust, greed & pain
We drown our hope in poison rain
We point the finger, shift the blame
Ambition makes us whores
March or croak, march or croak
All your lives a cosmic joke
Fill your days with piss and smoke
The wolf waits at your door
Burn and dance, burn and dance
Sex, death, torture, false romance
Whoop and howl, you have no chance
Burn and rise no more
Lyrics submitted by a scar in the sky
March Ör Die Lyrics as written by Ian Fraser Kilmister
Lyrics © Warner Chappell Music, Inc.
Lyrics powered by LyricFind
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This is the most bada$$ song I've ever heard. Whenever I am feeling down or angry at someone, I listen to this a few times and am ready to take on the world. It is by far one Motorhead's most underrated songs.
And by the way, these lyrics are incomplete. At the end you should repeat "Burn & rise no more" then chant "Die! Die! Die!" about fifty times.