The Clansman

Album: Virtual XI (1998)
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  • Wake alone in the hills
    With the wind in your face
    It feels good to be proud
    And be free and a race that is part of a clan
    To live on highlands
    With the air that you breathe
    So pure and so clean

    When alone on the hills
    With the wind in your hair
    With a longing to feel
    Just to be free

    Is it right to believe
    In the need to be free
    It's a time when you die
    And without asking why
    Can't you see what they do
    They are grinding us down
    They are taking our land
    That belongs to the clans

    Not alone with a dream
    Just a want to be free
    With a need to belong
    I am a clansman

    Freedom
    Freedom
    Freedom
    Freedom

    It's a time wrought with fear
    It's a land wrought with change
    Ancestors could hear what is happening now
    They would turn in their graves
    They would all be ashamed
    That the land of the free has written in chains

    And I know what I want
    When the timing is right
    Then I'll take what is mine
    I am the clansman

    And I swear to defend
    I will fight to the end
    And I swear that I'll never be taken alive
    And I know that we'll stand
    We'll fight for a land
    And I swear that my bairns
    Will be born free

    And I know what I want
    When the timing is right
    Then I'll take what I want
    I am the clansman

    Freedom
    Freedom
    Freedom
    Freedom

    No, no we can't let them take anymore
    No we can't let them take anymore
    We're the land of the free

    No, no we can't let them take anymore
    No we can't let them take anymore
    We're the land of the free

    No, no we can't let them take anymore
    No we can't let them take anymore
    No we can't let them take anymore
    We're the land of the free

    Oh, oh-oh-oh-oh, oh
    Oh-oh-oh-oh, oh
    Oh-oh-oh-oh
    Oh, oh-oh-oh-oh, oh
    Oh-oh-oh-oh, oh
    Oh-oh-oh-oh
    Oh, oh-oh-oh-oh, oh
    Oh-oh-oh-oh, oh
    Oh-oh-oh-oh, oh
    Oh-oh-oh-oh

    Freedom
    Freedom
    Freedom
    Freedom

    Is it right to believe
    In the need to be free
    It's a time when you die
    And without asking why
    Can't you see what they do
    They are grinding us down
    They are taking our land
    That belongs to the clans

    Not alone with a dream
    Just a want to be free
    With a need to belong
    I am a clansman

    And I know what I want
    When the timing is right
    Then I'll take what is mine
    I am the clansman

    Freedom
    Freedom
    Freedom
    Freedom

    And I know what I want
    When the timing is right
    Then I'll take what is mine
    I am the clansman Writer/s: Stephen Percy Harris
    Publisher: BMG Rights Management
    Lyrics licensed and provided by LyricFind

Comments: 5

  • Dec from Galway@Arkadin Maiden have a long history of basing songs on movies , TV shows and books, as well as historical events. Man On the Edge is based on the movie Falling Down, The Prisoner is based on the eponymous TV show, The Fugitive is based on the TV show, later made into a movie. I could go on all day. In the movie Braveheart, as William Wallace is being "quartered" to death, he yells out "FREEEEDOM!" in his last, dying breath. Given that the refrain "FREEDOM!" features prominently throughout The Clansman, I'd say it's far more likely than not that the song is directly inspired by the movie. Then there's the fact that the artwork around the song features an Eddie that bears a striking resemblance to Mel Gibson's portrayal of William Wallace.

    Take it from the mouth of Steve Harris himself....

    “The track started as two separate ideas which was put together – and it worked!” said Harris. “It’s got a Celtic flavour to the music which is why I wrote the lyrics about the Scottish clans. They were inspired also by the Braveheart and Rob Roy films.”
  • Arkadin from Bosnia@Steve from Lake Havasu City, Az Or maybe they got it from historical scottish struggle to free from oppressor, huh?
  • WodjaSome people have a difficult time realizing the difference between clansman and Klansman. Sheesh! To think this is a racist song... it's pretty much the exact opposite! Great track from a legendary band!
  • Sillyrabbit from San Antonio, TxThe song's accompanying artwork depicts the band's mascot, Eddie, dressed in a kilt and holding a Scottish Claymore sword with his face painted in the William Wallace "Braveheart" style (blue and white vertical stripes).
  • Steve from Lake Havasu City, AzMaybe Iron Maiden got the idea for this song from the movie Brave Heart with Mel Gibson?
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