extremehoogl.blogg.se - Warren zevon roland the headless thompson gunner lyrics

WARREN ZEVON ROLAND THE HEADLESS THOMPSON GUNNER LYRICS LICENSE

Windys, a game containing a Roland reference in its secret level.

Roland and Blood video game crossover fan fiction.

I'll Sleep When I'm Dead (An Anthology).

A Quiet Normal Life: The Best of Warren Zevon.

These range from changing the location where Roland got his revenge on Van Owen to the area where he was preforming, changing the conflicts and events Roland was involved in to be more modern, and changing the line "Now it's ten years later but he still keeps up the fight" to show a more realistic number of years that would have passed since the events portrayed in the song would have been at the time of the concert. It was not uncommon for Zevon to change some of the lyrics of this song during concert performances. Patty Hearst heard the burst of Roland's Thompson gun and bought it In Ireland, in Lebanon, in Palestine and Berkeley Now it's ten years later but he still keeps up the fight Roland aimed his Thompson gun - he didn't say a wordīut he blew Van Owen's body from there to Johannesburg He found him in Mombassa in a barroom drinking gin Roland searched the continent for the man who'd done him in In the muzzle flash of Roland's Thompson gun They can still see his headless body stalking through the night That son-of-a-bitch Van Owen blew off Roland's head

So the CIA decided they wanted Roland dead His comrades fought beside him - Van Owen and the restīut of all the Thompson gunners, Roland was the best They killed to earn their living and to help out the Congolese With their fingers on their triggers, knee-deep in goreįor days and nights they battled the Bantu to their knees Through sixty-six and seven they fought the Congo war So he set out for Biafra to join the bloody fray. The deal was made in Denmark on a dark and stormy day With a Thompson gun for hire, fighting to be done Roland was a warrior from the Land of the Midnight Sun

WARREN ZEVON ROLAND THE HEADLESS THOMPSON GUNNER LYRICS LICENSE

Note: the text of this song's lyrics is not under the same copyright license as the wiki's encyclopedic text, it is used under fair use/ dealing.

The Learning to Flinch version with live piano solo spots clocks the song in at over eleven minutes, not including the prelude, " Roland Chorale". The studio version of the song is 3 minutes and 47 seconds long. This solo is played in the key of F-sharp minor, a perfect fourth below the key of B minor. The Learning to Flinch live version of this song features a 3 minute piano solo to open the song and another, though greatly similar solo, before the last verse. The piano is the most prominent instrument. "Roland the Headless Thompson Gunner" is in the key of B minor and is played at 82 beats per-minute. Roland was from "The land of the midnight sun"' andīiafra's National Anthem was "Land of the Rising Sun"

The film The Lost World: Jurassic Park has characters named Nick Van Owen and Roland Tembo, as a tribute to the song. Also it is believed that it is referring to Rolands spirt going into Patty Hearst The final line of the song, "Patty Hearst heard the burst of Roland's Thompson gun, and bought it.", referring to heiress Patty Hearst's kidnapping and subsequent involvement in the Symbionese Liberation Army, throws a cynical twist into the song's portrayal of a mercenary come back from the dead for justice and revenge. Roland becomes the phantom "headless Thompson gunner" (reminiscent of the Headless Horseman) and eventually has his revenge on Van Owen, when he catches him "in a bar room drinking gin." After this Roland continues "wandering through the night" as a sort of revolutionary spirit.īesides the historical references to third-world conflicts around the globe, the 'Troubles' in the Northern Ireland, and the often shadowy involvement of the CIA, the song is a sort of bittersweet rallying cry to the "revolution" in America. Roland is betrayed and murdered by a fellow mercenary, Van Owen, who blows off his head. He earns a reputation as the greatest Thompson gunner, a reputation that attracts the attention of the CIA in foreign conflicts. Roland is a Norwegian who becomes embroiled in the Congo Crisis of the late 1960s. Typically interested in the darker side of life, Zevon decided to collaborate with Lindell on a song about a mercenary. Zevon met co-writer Lindell in Spain, where the latter was running a bar after a stint working as a mercenary in Africa.