Lyrics to
Roland The Headless Thompson Gunner

This version of Roland The Headless Thompson Gunner was released by Warren Zevon in 1978.

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Roland was a warrior from the Land of the Midnight Sun
With a Thompson gun for hire, fighting to be done
The deal was made in Denmark on a dark and stormy day
So he set out for Biafra to join the bloody fray

Through sixty-six and seven they fought the Congo war
With their fingers on their triggers, knee-deep in gore
For days and nights they battled the Bantu to their knees
They killed to earn their living and to help out the Congolese

Roland the Thompson gunner…

His comrades fought beside him – Van Owen and the rest
But of all the Thompson gunners, Roland was the best
So the CIA decided they wanted Roland dead
That son-of-a-bitch Van Owen blew off Roland’s head

Roland the headless Thompson gunner
Norway’s bravest son
Time, time, time
For another peaceful war
But time stands still for Roland
‘Til he evens up the score
They can still see his headless body stalking through the night
In the muzzle flash of Roland’s Thompson gun
In the muzzle flash of Roland’s Thompson gun

Roland searched the continent for the man who’d done him in
He found him in Mombassa in a barroom drinking gin
Roland aimed his Thompson gun – he didn’t say a word
But he blew Van Owen’s body from there to Johannesburg

Roland the headless Thompson gunner…
The eternal Thompson gunner
still wandering through the night
Now it’s ten years later but he still keeps up the fight
In Ireland, in Lebanon, in Palestine and Berkeley
Patty Hearst heard the burst of Roland’s Thompson gun and bought it

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Warren Zevon has released many songs over the years besides Roland The Headless Thompson Gunner. Warren Zevon released songs from 1969 to 2003 spanning across albums like Wanted Dead Or Alive, Warren Zevon, Excitable Boy, Bad Luck Streak In Dancing School, Stand In The Fire, The Envoy, Sentimental Hygiene, Transverse City, Hindu Love Gods, Mr. Bad Example, Mutineer, Life'll Kill Ya, My Ride's Here, and The Wind. Decade Lyrics has over lyrics & songs by Warren Zevon.

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About Lyrics and Roland The Headless Thompson Gunner by Warren Zevon

When you decide to study the lyrics to Roland The Headless Thompson Gunner, you're looking at the words, verses and background chorus from the 1978 song by Warren Zevon. Some of the lyrics to Roland The Headless Thompson Gunner have clear meanings and some contain metaphorical references. Like most songs, only Warren Zevon and their collaborators know the full story behind any of the their songs.

You can understand the lyrics to Roland The Headless Thompson Gunner if you take apart the structure of the words. The word "lyric" itself derives from the Latin word lyricus, with the actual English word lyrics applied to the definition "words set to music" listed in Stainer and Barrett's 1876 Dictionary of Musical Terms. Continuing the chain, the Latin word lyricus derives from the Greek word λυρικός or lyrikós. This somewhat means "poetry accompanied by the lyre" or "words set to music." You can easily see that by looking at the background of the word lyric, that the "lyrics to Roland The Headless Thompson Gunner" means the words set to the music of Roland The Headless Thompson Gunner, or poetry accompanied by the lyre played by Warren Zevon. The singular form "lyric" is still used to mean the complete words to a song. However, the singular form lyric is also commonly used to refer to a specific line (or phrase) within a song's lyrics. Hence, by this analysis of word structure, you could say that the lyric to Roland The Headless Thompson Gunner and the lyrics to Roland The Headless Thompson Gunner are both one and the same thing. None of this talk about the word Lyrics is really relevant to fans of Warren Zevon who came here looking just for the lyrics to Roland The Headless Thompson Gunner, but we feel it is still fun to learn what's behind commonly used words and lyrics in songs.

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