Jeff Wayne, Richard Burton - Horsell Common and the Heat Ray lyrics

Next morning, a crowd gathered on the Common
Hypnotised by the unscrewing
Of the cylinder two feet of
Shining screw projected when suddenly
The lid fell off two luminous
Disk-like eyes appeared above the rim a huge
Rounded bulk, larger than a bear
Rose up slowly, glistening like wet leather
It's lipless mouth quivered and slathered
And snakelike tentacles writhed as the
Clumsy body heaved and pulsated

A few young men crept closer to
The pit a tall funnel rose
And an invisible ray of heat
Leapt from man to man, and there was
A bright glare as each was instantly
Turned to fire every tree and
Bush became a mass of flames at
The touch of this savage, unearthly Heat Ray

People clawed their way off the Common
And I ran too i felt I was
Being toyed with, that when I was
On the very verge of safety
This mysterious death would leap after
Me and strike me down at
Last I reached Maybury Hill
And in the dim coolness of
My home, I wrote an account for my
Newspaper before I sank into a restless
Haunted sleep

I awoke to alien sounds of
Hammering from the pit
And hurried to the railway station
To buy the paper around me, the daily
Routine of life working, eating, sleeping
Was continuing serenely as it had for
Countless years on Horsell Common
The Martians
Continued hammering and stirring
Sleepless, indefatigable
At work on the machines they
Were making now and again a light like the
Beam of a warship's searchlight
Swept the Common
And the Heat Ray was ready to follow

In the afternoon
A company of soldiers came through and
Deployed along the edge of
The Common, to form a cordon that
Evening, there was a violent crash, and
I realised with horror that my home was
Now within range of the Martian's
Heat Ray at dawn, a falling star
With a trail of green mist
Landed with a flash like summer lightning
This was the second cylinder