Any uninitiated metal fan listening to this uptempo track might conjecture that it is a bizarre tribute to a groupie who is well past her sell-by date. In fact, it was inspired by a train. Biff Byford and guitarist Paul Quinn explained:
"It is a song about a steam train that ends up in the scrap yard. Some time ago we used to park our van at Barry Island in Glamorgan... There's a huge compound there where they keep all the old steam trains that they don't use anymore. They're just left to rot and I suppose that upset us because they really were magnificent machines. Well you can't beat the days of steam can you? Anyway, late at night if I couldn't sleep I would lookat those ghostly engines and imagine them painted up and back in their glory. It's my romantic side coming out again."
Biff Byford had the lyrics written for this song about a year before the band put music to it. When that music came, it came quickly Byford explained :
"Paul Quinn (Saxon guitarist) came up with a riff and it sort of fit my lyrics. So that song was written very quickly, very quickly indeed. I already had the lyrics and the riff went together so simply, really smooth."
Lyrics
She used to be an ironhorse
Twenty years ago
Used to bring the mail to me
Through the ice and snow
I've sat alone and watched her
Steaming through the night
Ninety tons of thunder
Lighting up the sky
She was a princess of the night
I saw the writing on the wall
She was a princess of the night
I take a ride across the sky
Speeding, sparks like lightning
Engine working hard
Furnace on the foot plate
Shining in the night
Iron striking metal
The sound of racing steel
It's all I ever wanna hear
It's music to my ears
She was a princess of the night
I saw the writing on the wall
She was a princess of the night
I take a ride across the sky
She was a princess of the night
I saw the writing on the wall
She was a princess of the night
I take a ride across the sky
Ninety tons of thunder
Lighting up the sky
Steaming red hot pistons
See the wheels flash by
Hear the whistle blowing
Streaking down the track
If I ever had my way
I'd bring the princess back one day
She was a princess of the night
I saw the writing on the wall
She was a princess of the night
I take a ride across the sky
(sky, sky, sky)
Commenti