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To ride the storm, to an empire of the clouds

 To ride the storm, they climbed aboard their silver ghost

 To ride the storm, to a kingdom that will come

 To ride the storm, and damn the rest, oblivion

 Royalty and dignitaries, brandy and cigars

 Grey lady giant of the skies, you hold them in your arms

 The millionth chance they laughed, to take down his majesty's craft

 "To India," they say, "magic carpet float away," an October fateful day

 Mist is in the trees, stone sweats with the dew

 The morning sunrise, red before the blue

 Hanging at the mast, waiting for command

 His majesty's airship, the R101

 She's the biggest vessel built by man, a giant of the skies

 For all you unbelievers, the titanic fits inside

 Drum roll tight, her canvas skin, silvered in the sun

 Never tested with the fury, with the beating yet to come

 The fury yet to come…

In the gathering gloom, the storm rising in the west

 The coxswain stared into the plunging weather glass

 We must go now, we must take our chance with fate

 We must go now, for a politician he can't be late

 The airship crew awake for thirty hours at full stretch,

 But the ship is in their backbone, every sinew, every inch

 She never flew at full speed, a trial never done

 Her fragile outer cover, her Achilles would become

 An Achilles yet to come...

 Sailors of the sky, a hardened breed

 Loyal to the king, and an airship creed

 The engines drum, the telegraph sounds

 Release the cords that bind us to the ground

 Said the coxswain, "Sir, she's heavy, she'll never make this flight."

 Said the captain, "Damn the cargo! We'll be on our way tonight."

 Groundlings cheered in wonder, as she backed off from the mast

 Baptizing them her water, from the ballast fore and aft

 Now she slips into our past…

Fighting the wind as it rolls you

 Feeling the diesels that push you along

 Watching The Channel below you

 Lower and lower, into the night

 Lights are passing below you

 Northern France, asleep in their beds

 Storm is raging around you

 A million to one, that's what he said

 Reaper standing beside her

 With his scythe cuts to the bone

 Panic to make a decision

 Experienced men, asleep in their graves

 Her cover is ripped and she's drowning

 Rain is flooding into the hull

 Bleeding to death and she's falling

 Lifting gas is draining away

 "We're down, lads!" came a cry, bow plunging from the sky

 Three thousand horses silent as the ship began to die

 The flares to guide her path ignited at the last

 The empire of the clouds, just ashes in our past

 Just ashes at the last…

Here lie their dreams as I stand in the sun

 On the ground where they built, and the engines did run

 To the moon and the stars, now what have we done?

 Oh the dreamers may die, but the dreams live on

 Dreams live on

 Dreams live on

 Now a shadow on a hill, the angel of the east

 The empire of the clouds may rest in peace

 And in a country churchyard, laid head to the mast

 Eight and forty souls, who came to die in France…