///*****/// [Intro] (Slow epic build, choir pad, church bell, guitars entering in unison) (Twenty thousand people rising to their feet) [Verse 1] They built this place for spectacle a thousand years ago Different stone, same hunger, and the same enormous show They came to watch the lions and they came to watch men fall Now they come to watch us bleed a little louder for them all And I have never once complained about the bargain that we made You give them all your blood and they will give you back a name But there are chains inside the marble that you never really see Every emperor is a prisoner of the crowd that set him free [Pre-Chorus] So sound the horn and raise the gate The animal is hungry and it will not wait [Chorus] Chains of the coliseum Golden, glorious and cold Chains of the coliseum Wrapped around a heart of gold I would not trade this life for anything I've known But nobody in this arena walks home alone Chains of the coliseum [Verse 2] There's a hundred million dollars in the merchandising stand There's a lawyer and a doctor and a man who owns the band There's a schedule made in Tokyo that runs another year And a body that has told me it will not be standing here But out beyond the footlights there are children who believe And a father who saved six months for the ticket in his sleeve So I'll take the pills, I'll take the plane, I'll take whatever comes Because the gate is open now and I can hear the drums [Pre-Chorus] So sound the horn and raise the gate The animal is hungry and it will not wait [Chorus] Chains of the coliseum Golden, glorious and cold Chains of the coliseum Wrapped around a heart of gold I would not trade this life for anything I've known But nobody in this arena walks home alone Chains of the coliseum [Guitar Solo] (Epic, majestic, classically phrased, harmonised thirds over marching toms) [Breakdown - Choir and Toms] (Wordless massed vocal chant, low and enormous) Ah-ah-ah, ah-ah-ah-ah Ah-ah-ah, ah-ah-ah-ah Rise up! [Bridge] Caesar, are you happy? Gladiator, are you free? Somewhere in the middle of that question there is me And there is you out there with your job and with your cage And that's exactly why we understand each other on this stage [Final Chorus] Chains of the coliseum Golden, glorious and cold Chains of the coliseum Wrapped around a heart of gold I would not trade this life for anything I've known But nobody in this arena walks home alone Chains of the coliseum Chains of the coliseum tonight [Verse 3] I met a man in Rome who'd been a plumber all his life Forty years of other people's water and their pipes He said, you think that you're the gladiator, but I've watched you play And you're just the same as me, you only found a louder way And he was absolutely right and I have not forgotten it The only difference here tonight is I get the light on me [Outro] (Choir pad swelling, bell tolling, band cutting to silence) Long live the crowd. Long live the noise.
