Album: Secret Treaties (1974)

License This Song 

• Goering's on the phone to Freiburg
  Says "Willie's done quite a job"
  Hitler's on the phone from Berlin
  Says "I'm gonna make you a star"
  
  My Captain Von Ondine, here's your next patrol
  A flight of English bombers across the canal
  After twelve, they'll all be here
  I think you know the job
  
  They hung there dependent from the sky
  Like some heavy metal fruit
  These bombers, ripened, ready to tilt
  Must these Englishmen live that I might die
  Must they live that I might die
  
  In a G-load disaster from the rate of climb
  Sometimes I'd faint and be lost to our side
  But there's no reward for failure, but death
  So watch me in the mirrors, keep me on the glide path
  
  Get me through these radars, no I cannot fail
  When my great silver slugs are eager to feed
  I can't fail, no not now
  When twenty five bombers wait ripe
  
  They hung there dependent from the sky
  Like some heavy metal fruit
  These bombers, ripened, ready to tilt
  Must these Englishmen live that I might die
  Must they live that I might die
  
  Me-262 prince of turbojet, Junker's Jumo 004
  Blasts from clustered R4M quartets in my snout
  And see these English planes go burn
  Now will you be my witness how red were the skies
  When the fortresses flew, for the very last time
  It was dark over Westphalia, in April of '45
  
  They hung there dependent from the sky
  Like some heavy metal fruit
  These bombers, ripened, ready to tilt
  Must these Englishmen live that I might die
  Must they live that I might die
  
  Must these Englishmen live that I might die
  Junkers Jumo 004 (repeat many times)
  Bombers at 12 o'clock high Writer/s: DONALD ROESER, E BLOOM, SAMUEL PEARLMAN
  Publisher: Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC
  Lyrics licensed and provided by LyricFind

Comments: 7

• Charles W from AtlantaBOC's 2nd album, Tyranny and Mutations, was even more of a hard rock album than Treaties (3rd album). They were super hard rock at that point and always had crazy lyrics. Consider Career of Evil..."I'd like to do it to your daughter on a dirt road". Geez
• Karl from AustrliaNO! Jay from NY, Ny. Eric Bloom was the only Jew in the BOC. Buck Dharma (Donal Roeser) is NOT Jewish!!
• Dan Weiss from Osprey, FlRegarding Jay from NY, Donald Roeser is not Jewish.
• Greg from Corpus ChristiIf I was allowed only one BOC album for all time, 'Secret Treaties' would be it. Giving up 'Reaper', 'Godzilla', and 'Burnin' For You' would be a sacrifice, but this album captures the BOC mystique best. BOC was a known quantity for me back in 76', but they weren't on my radar screen at the time. So glad my friend Mark showed me this gem. Our band practiced 'Dominance and Submission' after that, which is why Mark showed it to me. We only played it up to the beginning of Roser's breakout lead, which was way beyond my capabilities at the time. ME-262 was out of the question, as badly as we wanted to do it. No keyboard player and all that rapid fire strumming for five minutes. And nobody could sing it.
  
  They hung there dependent
  From the sky
  Like some heavy metal fruit
• Philip from San AntonioGood song (but I am an aviation buff, and loved books like "The first and the last" and "A higher call" which cover the ME262.
  
  However the lyrics have always bugged me.
  
  "Must these Englishmen live that I might die"
  
  Shouldn't it be the other way around? "Must those Englishmen die that I might live?"
  
  Well, OK, swap it around to make the words rhyme, but doesn't that sentiment make more sense?
• Gabriel Sica from Saint Louis, MoSecret Treaties is a truly great rock album.
• Jay from New York, NyEric Bloom and Buck Dharma (Donald Roser) are also Jews.
  Similarly, the last 2 letters of the Kiss logo match the Holocaust's "SS",
  while exactly half of Kiss, Paul Stanley (Stanley Eisen) and Gene Simmons (Chaim Witz)
  are Jews, the latter of whom's mother's entire family perished in 1944.

More Songfacts:

The Rubberband ManThe Spinners

"The Rubberband Man" is a "short, fat guy" with rhythm and grace. Spinners producer Thom Bell wrote it to boost the self-esteem of his rotund son.

I Ran (So Far Away)A Flock of Seagulls

"I Ran (So Far Away)" by A Flock Of Seagulls ends with an alien abduction.

I Write The SongsBarry Manilow

Barry Manilow didn't write his #1 hit "I Write The Songs." Bruce Johnston of The Beach Boys wrote it.

WaterlooABBA

In Belgium, where the Battle of Waterloo took place, "Waterloo" by ABBA was a huge hit, #1 for five weeks.

StayShakespears Sister

"Stay" by Shakespears Sister is based on a 1953 B-movie called Cat-Women Of The Moon.

AbracadabraSteve Miller Band

The Steve Miller song "Abracadabra" was inspired by Diana Ross and The Supremes. Miller first met the girl group when they performed together on NBC's Hullabaloo in 1966, and he wrote the lyrics after spotting Diana Ross skiing years later.

Editor's Picks

Glen BallardSongwriter Interviews

Glen Ballard talks about co-writing and producing Alanis Morissette's Jagged Little Pill album, and his work with Dave Matthews, Aerosmith and Annie Lennox.

Song Titles That Inspired MoviesSong Writing

Famous songs that lent their titles - and in some cases storylines - to movies.

Trucking Songs That Were #1 HitsSong Writing

The stories behind the biggest hit songs about trucking.

Yacht Rock QuizFact or Fiction

Christopher Cross with Deep Purple? Kenny Loggins in Caddyshack? A Fact or Fiction all about yacht rock and those who made it.

Harry ShearerSongwriter Interviews

Harry is Derek Smalls in Spinal Tap, Mark Shubb in The Folksmen, and Mr. Burns on The Simpsons.

Joe JacksonSongwriter Interviews

Joe talks about the challenges of of making a Duke Ellington tribute album, and tells the stories behind some of his hits.