Songfacts®:

• The title track to Saxon's sixth album, "Crusader" is about the Christian soldiers who invaded Islamic lands in the 12th Century.
  
  "It's what we used to learn at school," Saxon lead singer Biff Byford told Songfacts. "We used to read about the Crusades back in the day, Richard the Lionheart, and all these figures that obviously weren't as fantastic as people make out they are.
  
  It's a song written from a young boy's point of view, watching the knights and soldiers leave for crusade, basically. And that's what it's about. It's a third-person song, and he wants to go with the knights and his father or his uncles who are going off to the crusade, and he can't because he's too young. That's the idea behind the song."
• The Saracen mentioned in the lyrics are the Muslims the Crusaders fought.
• Biff Byford wasn't trying to make a religious statement in this song. "It's not anti-anybody or pro-anybody. It's just a boy watching the crusaders go off to war," he said.
• Growing up in England and learning its history, Byford learned of the violent struggle of its past. "England's history is full of wars and invasions," he told Songfacts. You know, the Romans, the Vikings. Our whole history revolves around combat, and I suppose as a boy, when you read about war and the Crusades and the Vikings, it all seems to be good boy scout stuff. I suppose in reality, it was absolutely brutal and bloody, and billions of people died, but when you're a boy and you're listening and reading and watching these films, it's all a bit glorified and it's all a bit marching off to war."