You'll take my life but I'll take yours too
You'll fire your musket but I'll run you through
So when you're waiting for the next attack
You'd better stand there's no turning back

The bugle sounds as the charge begins
But on this battlefield no one wins
The smell of acrid smoke and horses breath
As you plunge into a certain death

The horse he sweats with fear we break to run
The mighty roar of the Russian guns
And as we race towards human wall
The screams of pain as my comrades fall

We hurdle bodies that lay on the ground
And as the Russians fire another round
We get so near yet so far away
We won't live to fight another day

We get so close near enough to fight
When a Russian gets me in his sights
He pulls the trigger and I feel the blow
A burst of rounds takes my horse below

And as I lay there gazing at the sky
My body's numb and my throat is dry
And as I lay forgotten and alone
Without a tear I draw my parting groan



Lyrics submitted by numb, edited by jjwilko

Track duration: 04:12

"The Trooper" as written by Stephen Percy Harris

Lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group

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The Trooper song meanings
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88 Comments

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  • 0
    My Interpretation:clearly about the crimean war against the russians, only the crimean because the mention of muskets and horses.
    Flag jjwilkoon May 14, 2013   Link
  • -4
    General Comment:Yo, people. It's actually, Prussian, not Russian. Prussia was ruled by Kaiser Wilhelm during WWI, and included Germany. In fact, they are actually being far more historically accurate than most people. Not to mention the fact that it mentions "A burst of rounds takes out by horse below" which would refer to a machine gun, introduced in WWI. Another giveaway is "Acrid Smoke" which could be meant to refer to Mustard Gas, a chemical weapon first used in WWI trench warfare. All in all, it sounds very much like Trench warfare, or an open field charge on an entrenched Prussian position by the Allied Powers (The Triple Entente to all history buffs).
    Flag Joe2on May 21, 2012   Link
  • 0
    Song Meaning:People claiming anything American about this song is dead wrong and absurd. Iron Maiden is British and gives zero fucks about American history. This song was about the Crimeon War w/ Russia vs the British over the decline of the Ottoman Empire. It was a war to see who gets that land. They used muskets and horses. Very deadly war.
    Flag Outfielderon April 19, 2012   Link
  • 0
    General Comment:Half a league half a league, half a league onward! All in the valley of death rode the six hundred!
    Flag atemu1234on February 09, 2012   Link
  • 0
    General Comment:One of the best by Maiden. Never fails to rush the adrenaline..
    Flag pushkar027on September 08, 2011   Link
  • 0
    General Comment:i love iron maiden so much! one of the reasons i love them is because their lyrics are so powerful and tell a story. mix that with the steve harris and you are golden
    Flag chewman0007on August 20, 2010   Link
  • +1
    Song Meaning:This song is actually the retelling of a poem. "The Charge of the Light Brigade" by Alfred Lord Tennyson. The poem was written about the Battle of Balaclava during the Crimean War.
    Flag free2kill1211on May 10, 2010   Link
  • +2
    General Comment:It is not about the civil war, the war of independence, either world wars or the Napoleonic wars.

    The American Civil war, which is what I presume people are meaning by just saying the Civil war did not involve Russians.
    The war of independence didn't either as far as I know, however it could have due to the fact Russians did land and colonize parts of America.

    Also for both of the above, Iron Maiden a British band are more likely to sing about a war more relevant to their country. The British don't care much for the war of independence.

    World war 1 there was use of horses in the artillery but not use of muskets, so that rules that one out.

    The Napoleonic wars are a good guess however it is more likely to be the Crimean war between The Russian Empire at the time and the British Empire, French Empire, Ottoman empire and the kingdom of Sardinia. It is in fact the battle of balaclava, if you read the poem The Charge of the Light Brigade it will be more clear.
    Flag Jormungandon April 04, 2010   Link
  • 0
    General Comment:youtube.com/…
    "The Trooper Believer"
    Thought some of you might enjoy this :)
    Flag swiminredon February 03, 2010   Link
  • +2
    General Comment:This is Alfred Lord Tennyson's "The Charge of the Light Brigade." It is about the Battle of Balaklava during the Crimean War. What happened was the calvalry was sent to charge accidentaly and they charged into a line of fire and then they retreated. Fun stuff. Go to wikipedia.org. They have most everything.
    Flag ChildOfThunderon January 28, 2010   Link

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