"The Writing On The Wall" lyrics

"The Writing On The Wall"

Across a painted desert lies a train of vagabonds
All that's left of what we were it's what we have become
Once our empires glorious but now the empire's gone
The dead gave us the time to live and now our time is done

Now we are victorious, we've become our slaves
A land of hope and glory building graveyards for the brave

Have you seen the writing on the wall?
Have you seen that writing?
Can you see the riders on the storm?
Can you see them riding?
Can you see them riding?

Holding on to fury is that all we ever know
Ignorance our judge and jury all we've got to show
From Hollywood to Babylon ~ holy war to kingdom come
On a trail of dust and ashes ~ when the burning sky is done
A tide of change is coming and that is what you fear
The earthquake is a coming but you don't want to hear
You're just too blind to see

Have you seen the writing on the wall?
Have you seen that writing?
Can you see the riders on the storm?
Can you see them riding?
Can you see them riding, riding next to you?

Have you seen the writing on the wall?
Have you seen that writing?
Can you see the riders on the storm?
Can you see them riding?

Have you seen the writing on the wall?
Have you seen that writing?
Can you see the riders on the storm?
Can you see them riding?
Can you see them riding, riding next to you?


Writer(s): Paul Bruce Dickinson, Adrian Frederick Smith
Bruce Dickinson teased "The Writing On The Wall" a week prior to its release, on the 9th of July, 2021: the band shared a video message on Twitter with him saying, "July the 15th. Rain or shine. Heaven or hell, man or beast, you're invited to Belshazzar's Feast." The story of Belshazzar's Feast in the Book of Daniel in the Bible originated the phrase "writing on the wall". A flyer for Belshazzar's Feast is also featured in the song's video.
To create the animated video for this song, Iron Maiden collaborated with Mark Andrews and Andrew Gordon, formerly from Pixar Studio. Bruce Dickinson explained, "I had a pretty clear idea of the concept to accompany the song and when I met Mark and Andrew, on Zoom, it quickly became clear we were all very much on the same wavelength, and this was reinforced with the addition of Nicos [Livesey] and his young BlinkInk team. [...] I'm very proud of the way the video turned out, it's more like a mini-film really."
Nicos Livesey, lifelong Iron Maiden fan and the director of this track's video said of its meaning, "...all wrapped up in a lot of messages about greed and the destruction of the planet, with the top one-percenters sitting in their shiny castles, leaving everyone else outside to rot on a dying planet. It's meant to be pretty on the nose about the current planetary situation."
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