Dedication

My Brucey! Air Raid Siren, Heavy Metal God
And kick-ass frontman of the best band ever
To you I hereby dedicate my newest spot
My cute Don Juan, sexy, charming, clever

Paschendale

So when in April all the showers sweet
Had pierced the draught of March quite well indeed
Then Cathar longed to go on pilgrimage
To visit many strange locations which
Are dear to every Iron Maiden fan
And close at home she naturally began
My friends, I beg you, come and follow me
I'll take you on an Iron Maiden spree

When I heard on the Dance of Death CD
The Paschendale song, I didn't know, you see
That this battlefield where so many died
Was close to my home, a three-hour ride.
I never liked wars, the blood and the gore
The Roman god Mars and the like I abhor.
I knew that during the First World War
Millions of people were slaughtered for sure
All over Europe, peace went on a strike.
Children, civilians and soldiers alike
Were sacrificed and called "patriots"
The greed of nations triumphed with the shots

H Smith, guitarist of the Maiden band
Got interested in this period and
Read through a book by one Siegfried Sassoon
Describing great horrors under the moon
Four hundred thousand human beings died
In Flanders (Belgium) where the armies met
In Passendale, the centre of the fight
Memorials were built lest anyone forget

An endless graveyard, cross upon white cross
Tyne Cot Memorial stretches out across
The fields. I knelt and read upon the grave
The names of youngsters, who, it says, died "brave"
Nineteen, twenty years old and no more
Were they, and died upon a foreign shore.
I close my eyes and think with pain in heart
That man remembers, yet still new wars start
In every corner of this brave new world
For gods (for men !) the terror is unfurled.
I turn away, these crosses will not change
The way of mankind. But I think a change
Is possible, now, then and each new time
A person smiles or sings a gentle rhyme.
A better world unfolds within our heart!
It's nothing grand, it's only just a start.
But do not despair, keep this in sight:
To laugh takes as much muscles as to fight!

A monument built right inside the town
Canada's soldiers died here, it says down
On the stone. It's quiet, I take a shot
And contemplate life, history, the lot
When all of a sudden I see all bright
A yellow juniper shrub to my right.
Glorious nature, you make me forget
The horrors of war, and show beauty instead.

In Paschendale (at the end of my trip)
I found a nice bar "L'Apéro" (a tip!)
We chatted to the barman (friendly bloke)
But when of Maiden and their song I spoke
He looked confused and said he was quite sure
He'd never heard of such a band before!

L'Apéro is the red-brick building to the right

Before we left this dale of human passion
We took a walk and made a little session
Before a statue, well known to the kids
In Luxembourg and Belgium too, it's
Reynard the Fox under a tree and he's
Trying to get hold of black Raven's cheese.

Reynard says: "Raven you look oh so good
Sing me a song, mate, I'm sure that you could!"
Raven is flattered and starts to croak
The cheese falls down, Fox laughs at the bloke!
A funny story that shows vanity
It also shows that the cheese industry
Is big in this region, for who could fail
To like the famous cheese of Paschendale?

Here endeth the tale
Of our Paschendale
But watch out for more
Trip two: Jersey shore!