Man And Machine

Album: Lionheart (2004)
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Songfacts®:

  • This is a song about the ill-fated Donald Campbell. "We watched him die on TV" said Biff Byford in his memoir Never Surrender....

    The Saxon frontman was 11 days short of his 16th birthday when on January 4, 1967 - 19 years to the day before the death of Thin Lizzy frontman Phil Lynott - Campbell set out to break the water speed record in Bluebird K7 on Coniston Water. His father Sir Malcolm Campbell had set the world record on the same lake on August 19, 1939 when he achieved the somewhat modest speed of 141.74mph. His son sought to more than double that, indeed between them the two men held a staggering 21 world speed records, the last being Donald's 403.1mph on land in July 1964. As might be expected, his final attempt - on water - was monitored by the media, including filming the actual crash; the vehicle broke up. His body was not recovered until May 2001.
  • Running to 3 minutes 28 seconds, group composition "Man And Machine" is Track 2 on the 2004 Lionheart album. >>
    Suggestion credit:
    Alexander Baron - London, England, for above 2

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