IRON MAIDEN - 2 MINUTES TO MIDNIGHT

2 MINUTES TO MIDNIGHT

IRON MAIDEN

SONGWRITERS: Adrian Smith & Bruce Dickinson

COUNTRY: U. K.

ALBUM: 2 MINUTES TO MIDNIGHT

LABEL: EMI RECORDS

GENRE: HEAVY MATEL

YEAR: 1984

"2 Minutes to Midnight" is a song by the British heavy metal band Iron Maiden, featured on their fifth studio album, Powerslave (1984). It was released as the band's tenth single, and first from the album on 6 August 1984 and rose to number 11 in the UK Singles Chart and number 25 on Billboard Top Album Tracks. It was the band's first single to exceed five minutes in length, remaining the band's longest single until the release of "Infinite Dreams" five years later.

Kill for gain or shoot to maim

But we don't need a reason

The Golden Goose is on the loose

And never out of season.

Blackened pride still burns inside

This shell of bloody treason

Here's my gun for a barrel of fun

For the love of living death.

The killer's breed or the Demon's seed,

The glamour, the fortune, the pain,

Go to war again, blood is freedom's stain,

Don't you pray for my soul anymore.

2 minutes to midnight,

The hands that threaten doom.

2 minutes to midnight,

To kill the unborn in the womb.

The blind men shout let the creatures out

We'll show the unbelievers,

The Napalm screams of human flames

Of a prime time Belsen feast...YEAH!

As the reasons for the carnage cut their meat

and lick the gravy,

We oil the jaws of the war machine

and feed it with our babies.

The killer's breed or the Demon's seed,

The glamour, the fortune, the pain,

Go to war again, blood is freedom's stain,

Don't you pray for my soul anymore.

2 minutes to midnight,

The hands that threaten doom.

2 minutes to midnight,

To kill the unborn in the womb.

The body bags and little rags of children

torn in two,

And the jellied brains of those who remain

to put the finger right on you

As the madmen play on words and make us all

dance to their song,

To the tune of starving millions

to make a better kind of gun.

The killer's breed or the Demon's seed,

The glamour, the fortune, the pain,

Go to war again, blood is freedom's stain,

Don't you pray for my soul anymore.

2 minutes to midnight,

The hands that threaten doom.

2 minutes to midnight,

To kill the unborn in the womb.

Midnight...Midnight...Midnight...is all night

Midnight...Midnight...Midnight...is all night.