Rime of the Ancient Mariner Lyrics
See his eye as he stops one of three.
Mesmerizes one of the wedding guests,
"Stay here and listen to the nightmares of the sea."
Caught by his spell and the Mariner tells his tale.
To a place where nobody's been.
Through the snow fog flies on the albatross,
Hailed in God's name, hoping good luck it brings.
Through the fog and ice and the albatross follows on.
His shipmates cry against what he's done,
But, when the fog clears, they justify him
And make themselves a part of the crime.
Sailing on and on and north 'til all is calm.
A terrible curse, a thirst, has begun.
His shipmates blame bad luck on the Mariner.
About his neck the dead bird is hung.
And the thirst goes on and on for them and me.
We stuck nor breath nor motion,
As idle as a painted ship upon a painted ocean.
Water, water everywhere and all the boards did shrink.
Water, water everywhere nor any drop to drink.
But how can she sail with no wind in her sails and no tide?"
Onward she nears, out of the sun.
See, she has no crew,
She has no life. Wait but there's two.
She wins the Mariner and he belongs to her now.
Then, crew one by one, they drop down dead, two hundred men.
She, she, Life-in-Death, she lets him live, her chosen one.
Too quick for groan or sigh,
Each turned his face with a ghastly pang
And cursed me with his eye.
Four times fifty living men
(And I heard nor sigh nor groan)
With heavy thump, a lifeless lump,
They dropped down one by one.
The Mariner, he wished he'd die
Along with the sea creatures,
But they lived on, so did he.
He prays for their beauty, not doom.
With heart he blesses them,
God's creatures, all of them too.
The albatross falls from his neck,
Sinks down like lead into the sea.
Then down in falls comes the rain.
See them stir and they start to rise,
Bodies lifted by good spirits.
None of them speak and they're lifeless in their eyes.
Cast into a trance and the nightmare carries on.
And the Mariner sights his home.
Spirits go from the long-dead bodies,
Form their own light and the Mariner's left alone.
It was a joy he could not believe,
The pilot's boat, his son, and the hermit.
Penance of life will fall onto him.
And the hermit shrieves the Mariner of his sins.
To tell his tale whever he goes,
To teach God's word by his own example,
That we must love all things that God made.
And the tale goes on and on and on and on.
"The Rime of the Ancient Mariner relates the supernatural events experienced by a mariner on a long sea voyage. The mariner stops a man who is on the way to a wedding ceremony, and begins to recite his story. The wedding guest's reaction turns from bemusement and impatience to fascination as the mariner's story progresses.
The mariner's tale begins with his ship leaving harbour. Despite initial good fortune, the ship is driven off course by a storm and, driven south, eventually reaches Antarctica. An albatross, traditionally a good omen, appears and leads them out of the threatening land of ice; even as the albatross is praised by the ship's crew, however, it is shot by the mariner with a crossbow, for reasons unknown. This crime arouses the wrath of supernatural spirits who then pursue the ship; the south wind which had initially led them from the land of ice now sends the ship into uncharted waters, where it is becalmed.
Day after day, day after day, We stuck, nor breath nor motion; As idle as a painted ship Upon a painted ocean. Water, water, everywhere, And all the boards did shrink; Water, water, everywhere, Nor any drop to drink. Tormented by thirst, the other members of the crew hang the albatross around the mariner's neck as a sign of his guilt. Eventually, in an eerie passage, the ship encounters a ghostly vessel. Onboard are DEATH (a skeleton) and the "Night-Mair" LIFE-IN-DEATH (a pale, deathly-fair woman), who are playing dice for the souls of the crew. With a roll of the dice, Death wins the lives of the crew members and Life-in-death the life of the mariner, a prize she considers more valuable. Her name is a clue as to the mariner's fate; he will endure a fate worse than death as punishment for his killing of the albatross. One by one all two hundred crew members die, but the Mariner lives on, seeing for seven days and nights the curse in the eyes of the crew's corpses, whose last expressions remain upon their faces. Eventually, the Mariner's curse is lifted when he sees sea creatures swimming in the water. Despite his cursing them as "slimy things" earlier in the poem, he suddenly sees their true beauty and blesses them; suddenly, as he manages to pray, the albatross falls from his neck and his guilt is partially expiated. The bodies of the crew, possessed by good spirits, rise again and steer the ship back home, where it sinks in a whirlpool, leaving only the Mariner behind. In penance for his deed, the Mariner is forced to wander the earth and tell his story, and teach a lesson to those he meets:
He prayeth best, who loveth best All things both great and small; For the dear God who loveth us, He made and loveth all. "
wikipedia.org
absolutly amazing
just great..i got the powerslave album a while ago and when you sit in the dark and listen to this song...to hear the boat creaking in the middle of the song..so amazing...it feels as if your actually there..anybody who hasnt heard this song is missing out!
peace
Based on the poem of the same title by Samuel Taylor Coleridge.
This song is easily one of the best Maiden songs and the live version is in the ranking for my favourite song ever. My favorite bit has to be Bruce's hideous cackling after "then down in falls comes the raiiiiiiiiiiiiiiin" which leads into the blistering guitar solos from three guitars. An absolutely legendary song.
I can usually sing Bruce, but this time, he got me choking :\
I can usually sing Bruce, but this time, he got me choking :\
Cool song, the meaning is totally literal. Its basically a metal adaptation of Samuel Taylor Coleridge's poem, which is a really cool poem.
Today's music is nowhere near like this. It's changed from musical masterpieces like Maiden, Led Zepplin and Def Lepard to the modern day sickos (that most teen girls like and love to listen to) like Kesha, Rianah and Katy Perry. I'm actually going to go Weird Al their songs, and still listen to classic 80's rock.
@topeeornot keep looking...
@topeeornot keep looking...
I would never have thought that a 13/14 min song could be so good, until I heard this fantastic song by the greatest band of all time.
The poem by Samuel Taylor Coleridge is a super awesome one. It's well worth the read especially if you really like this song. The poem is a great at sea adventure story and it has a lotta got literary devices and meanings such as punishment, justice, and redemption and the crap that the mariner go through after the albatross is killed and the gets revenge.
A great song by a dope band. Go Iron Maiden.
When I heard this song it was captivating. It IS great. I was frightend when it went past 10 minutes. It's the next longest song I've heard next to that Garden of Vida son by Iron Butterfly. But 13 minutes good God!
GREAT, GREAT!!! ¡¡¡INCREÍBLE, LA MEJOR, UNA LEYENDA!!!