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Nosferatu (The Vampire’s Waltz) Lyrics
[Verse 1]
The mighty ship lies on the rocks
The crew lay dead, their bodies rot
A wooden coffin washed up on the shore
They drag it to the abbey steps
Buried there and laid to rest
But soon the evil curse will rise again
[Pre-Chorus]
Bring the cross and holy water
Pray to God to end the slaughter
[Chorus]
Nosferatu, creature of the night
Nosferatu, darkness kills the light
[Verse 2]
Underneath a blood-red moon
Darkness calls, the night comes soon
He rises from the grave to kill again
Bar the gates and windows shut
Turn away, don't even look
The Devil's seed is hunting for the prey
[Pre-Chorus]
Take the vow before the altar
Trust in God, he'll stop the slaughter
[Chorus]
Nosferatu, creature of the night
Nosferatu, darkness kills the light
[Bridge]
Beneath the abbey vaults, we dance the vampire's waltz
[Guitar Solo]
[Verse 3]
Lonely streets, the village sleeps
In the darkness, evil creeps
The smell of death lies heavy on the air
A lonely soul just walking home
She has the sense she's not alone
With a deadly stare, she falls beneath his will
[Pre-Chorus]
Bring the cross and holy water
Pray to God to end the slaughter
[Chorus]
Nosferatu, creature of the night
Nosferatu, darkness kills the light
Nosferatu, creature of the night
Nosferatu, darkness kills the light
The mighty ship lies on the rocks
The crew lay dead, their bodies rot
A wooden coffin washed up on the shore
They drag it to the abbey steps
Buried there and laid to rest
But soon the evil curse will rise again
Bring the cross and holy water
Pray to God to end the slaughter
Nosferatu, creature of the night
Nosferatu, darkness kills the light
Underneath a blood-red moon
Darkness calls, the night comes soon
He rises from the grave to kill again
Bar the gates and windows shut
Turn away, don't even look
The Devil's seed is hunting for the prey
Take the vow before the altar
Trust in God, he'll stop the slaughter
Nosferatu, creature of the night
Nosferatu, darkness kills the light
Beneath the abbey vaults, we dance the vampire's waltz
Lonely streets, the village sleeps
In the darkness, evil creeps
The smell of death lies heavy on the air
A lonely soul just walking home
She has the sense she's not alone
With a deadly stare, she falls beneath his will
Bring the cross and holy water
Pray to God to end the slaughter
Nosferatu, creature of the night
Nosferatu, darkness kills the light
Nosferatu, creature of the night
Nosferatu, darkness kills the light
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With a foreboding organ and ominous strings, this is a gothic telling of the vampire tale of Nosferatu. "If you're going to sing about Dracula, it has to have that gothic, velvet-top-hats, women-in-huge-ballgowns feel. I think that image and that atmosphere comes across well with the song," Biff Byford said in an interview. "The song begins in waltz time (3/4), which is why it's subtitled 'The Vampires Waltz'. In a lot of the Dracula films down the years, there have been scenes where people are waltzing, usually in Victorian times or Georgian times, dancing in a ballroom, and you can't see the vampire in the mirrors. And, in the middle of the song, it goes into a sort of spacey feel, and I sing: 'Beneath the abbey vaults, We danced the vampire's waltz'. I wanted to call it something other than just 'Nosferatu,' so people get an idea of where I'm coming from with the song."
The word "Nosferatu" is a synonym for "vampire" first mentioned by Emily Gerard a 19th-century author best known for the influence of her collections of Transylvanian folklore. It was later popularized by Bram Stoker in his novel Dracula. Biff Byford told Overdrive about "Nosferatu": "It's a great story, isn't it? It was written in Yorkshire in a place called Whitby. It was a small fishing village on the East Coast. It was very popular - still is very popular with the Victorians, and Bram Stoker wrote the novel there, 'Dracula', 'Nosferatu', yeah? It sort of inspired me. I used to live there. Twice a year they have a gothic fair there, a gothic festival, and it's all around the Bram Stoker thing. And also a friend of mine, a film director asked me to write a song about vampires, basically, and that's the song that we wrote, Nosferatu."