Iron Maiden - Rime of the Ancient Mariner lyrics

Hear the rime of the ancient Mariner
See his eye as he stops one of three
Mesmerises one of the wedding guests
Stay here and listen to the
Nightmares of the sea

And the music plays on
As the bride passes by
Caught by a spell and the
Mariner tells his tale

Driven south to the land of the snow and ice
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
And the ship sails on, back to the north
Through the fog and ice and
The Albatross follows on

The Mariner kills the bird of good omen
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 across the sea
Sailing on and on and north 'til all is calm

The Albatross begins with it's vengeance
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 curse goes on and on and on at sea
And the thirst goes on and on for them and me

"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"

"There, " calls the Mariner
"There comes a ship o’er the line
But how can she sail with no wind
In her sails and no tide?"
See, onward she comes
Onward she nears, out of the sun
See, she has no crew
She has no life, wait but there's two

Death and she Life-in-Death
They throw their dice for the crew
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

"One after one by the star dogged Moon
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 curse, it lives on in their eyes
The Mariner he wished he'd die
Along with the sea creatures
But they lived on, so did he

And by the light of the Moon
He prays for their beauty, not doom
With heart he blesses them
God's creatures all of them too

Then the spell starts to break
The Albatross falls from his neck
Sinks down like lead into the sea
Then down in falls comes the
Rain! Ha ha haha!

Hear the groans of the long-dead seamen
See them stir and they start to rise
Bodies lifted by good spirit's
None of them speak and they're
Lifeless in their eyes

And revenge still is sought
Penance starts again cast into a trance and
The nightmare carries on

Now the curse is finally lifted
And the Mariner sights his home
Spirit's go from the long-dead bodies
Form their own light and
The Mariner's left alone

And then a boat came sailing towards him
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 ship, it sinks like lead into the sea
And the Hermit shrieves the
Mariner of his sins

The Mariner's bound to tell of his story
To tell this tale wherever he goes
To teach God's word by his own example
That we must love all things that God made

And the Wedding guest's a sad and wiser man
And the tale goes on and on and on and on