This is one of my favorite songs by Bruce Dickinson off Chemical Wedding. When he was writing this album, it was originally about Alchemy. But then he found some of the more recent poems by William Blake, that were about a made-up world that Dickinson was able to completely lose himself in. One of the poems was called Jerusalem. It went like so:
And did those feet in ancient time
Walk upon England's mountains green?
And was the holy Lamb of God
On England's pleasant pastures seen?
And did the Countenance Divine
Shine forth upon our clouded hills?
And was Jerusalem builded here
Among these dark satanic mills?
Bring me my bow of burning gold!
Bring me my arrows of desire!
Bring me my spear! O clouds, unfold!
Bring me my chariot of fire!
I will not cease from mental fight,
Nor shall my sword sleep in my hand,
Till we have built Jerusalem
In England's green and pleasant land.
Bruce loved the poems and so he wrote choruses to a few of them and stuck them in with the others and I think he did a fantastic job of it. He's a genius.
This is one of my favorite songs by Bruce Dickinson off Chemical Wedding. When he was writing this album, it was originally about Alchemy. But then he found some of the more recent poems by William Blake, that were about a made-up world that Dickinson was able to completely lose himself in. One of the poems was called Jerusalem. It went like so:
And did those feet in ancient time Walk upon England's mountains green? And was the holy Lamb of God On England's pleasant pastures seen?
And did the Countenance Divine Shine forth upon our clouded hills? And was Jerusalem builded here Among these dark satanic mills?
Bring me my bow of burning gold! Bring me my arrows of desire! Bring me my spear! O clouds, unfold! Bring me my chariot of fire!
I will not cease from mental fight, Nor shall my sword sleep in my hand, Till we have built Jerusalem In England's green and pleasant land.
Bruce loved the poems and so he wrote choruses to a few of them and stuck them in with the others and I think he did a fantastic job of it. He's a genius.