Megadeth Lyrics

Risk

Info

Insomnia (Music, lyrics: Mustaine) I'm running in quicksand Something's haunting me The guilty past I've buried My mind won't let me sleep I'll do anything for peace (I keep waking up) A solemn oath I make Cross my heart please let me sleep (I keep waking up) How much more do I take My head is talking to me I don't know what it needs But the loudest voice Is the one I heed Insomnia, my swollen bloodshot eyes Insomnia, awake till morning light Insomnia, stirring deep inside Insomnia, somebody turn out the lights I can't sleep - Insomnia I'm twisting and turning (I keep waking up) The madness I must tame My candle is burning (I keep waking up) Both ends again today The whole house is creaking I know they're out there The things kept from sight I beg to the shadows I can't sleep Insomnia, footsteps on the walk Insomnia, I hear someone knock Insomnia, I wish it was a dream Insomnia, can you hear me scream

"I think the song is something that people aren't going to expect. It was inspired by a lot of the English rave and techno bands, but at the same time, it's pretty heavy. It's talking about insomnia, but it's really a tongue in cheek song about my life during the '80s, something that anyone who has ever been into staying up all night partying can relate to." (Mustaine, 1999) "I took a psychology class recently while I was in Nashville, and I was surprised to find out that insomnia is not that you can't fall asleep; it is that you can't stay asleep. This reminded me of my many years of using stimulants and how hard it was to stay asleep, the sounds that you hear that may or may not really be there, and how my eyes felt. I felt like I was running on empty most of the time and a lot of the references in this song are actually true." (Mustaine, 1999) "Those weird notes at the beginning were actually the last notes that I recorded for this album, and actually the last notes I recorded for Megadeth. This tune was kind of an afterthought and was almost completely Mustaine's. I was very impressed by the modern sounding stuff that he and Dann Huff came up with." (Friedman, 2002)

Prince of Darkness (Music, lyrics: Mustaine, Friedman) My victims are rich or poor, Young or old, strong or weak I cause millions of accidents, I am cancer in your bones I fathered the lie, Twist what you say, speak not the truth I am insidious, impartial, Deep inside your chromosomes I take what you love, And leave you in tears Imprison your soul, Your hopes are my games I strip you of pride, My promise is in vain While you burn at the stake I dance with the flames I bring poverty, sickness and death A worthless handshake, the slickest thief, I steal your wealth I answer your prayers for greed and lust More than evil, I laugh at your trust I am more powerful Than all the armies of the world I am more violent than violence, More deadly than death I have destroyed more men Than all the nation's wars I am relentless, unpredictable, Waiting for your last breath Evil, more evil than violence Violent, more violent than death Deadly, more deadly than man I am yeah, yeah, I'm evil I am My kingdom corrupt with dissent Your sins erupt by my intent I loathe your prayer, I wallow in sin Let the nightmare begin Prince of darkness, The devilish serpent, the dreaded Lucifer Prince of darkness, I take what you love, And leave you in tears Imprison your soul, Your hopes are my games I strip you of pride, My promise is in vain While you burn at the stake I dance with the flames Prince of darkness, Your satanic highness Prince of darkness, The most beautiful angel Prince of darkness, The devilish serpent, the dreaded Lucifer Prince of darkness, Unpredictable, the prince of darkness Prince of darkness

"This song to the layman, to someone who's not really going to look very much farther than what they are listening to, its gonna sound like it's about the devil. But for me, it's about my own personal devil. For all of us, we all have own demons. This has nothing to do with the devil per se... but my own personal demons. Which happen to be very private to me, but it's very renowned to anyone who knows me." (Mustaine, 1999) "I recorded the eerie middle section at my home studio in Phoenix. I wrote a lot of this tune and overall I think it came out pretty good. We opened many shows on the 'Risk' tour with this one." (Friedman, 2002)

Enter the Arena (Music, lyrics: Mustaine, Bud Prager) "Here we go... crush, crush, Crush'em..."

The crowd chants were recorded at a fan fair on January 1, 1999, which took place in Phoenix, Arizona in Alice Cooper's Town, the day after Megadeth's show with Black Sabbath on New Years Eve 1998. At the fan fair, Mustaine had the crowd yell, "Crush" and "Crush'em" while he held a DAT recorder and a microphone. These chants were ultimately used in "Enter the Arena," as well as in the song "Crush'em." "This reminds me of that little 'bonus track' at the end of the original vinyl version of Kiss' Destroyer. I like it for that. " (Friedman, 2002)

Crush'em (Music, lyrics: Mustaine, Friedman, Bud Prager) Enter the arena and hit the lights Step up now you're in for a ride this is war, ain't no fun and games we get it up, you go down in flames Party time, going down you better not mess us around the stakes are rich, take a hit or stay the price is high, someone's gonna pay Heads I win, tails you lose out of my way I'm coming through roll the dice don't think twice and we crush, Crush'em Looking for trouble, now you've found it you're a drum and we're gonna pound it Last one standing wins the fight hear us scream and shout all night down on the floor and eat the grit this is gonna hurt a little bit Heads I win, tails you lose out of my way I'm coming through roll the dice don't think twice and we crush, Crush'em Now we lay you down to rest you'll never be more than second best step inside you're in for a ride and we crush, Crush'em Don't need reason, don't want names just a John Doe to put to shame step aside let me explain the name of the game is pain Now we've found you We're gonna pound you We're gonna beat you Gonna defeat you We're gonna bust you We're gonna crush you We're gonna Crush'em

"The song was going to be our ode to sports because, you know, Arizona has some cool sports teams and I particularly like the Coyotes. Whenever they score a goal they play that one song, I hate that song... I would just as soon have my eyelids pulled off than listen to that song again. So we wanted to make a hockey anthem..." (Mustaine, 1999) "I made that song out of a love for hockey. I go to a lot of Phoenix Coyotes games, and whenever they score a goal, they play 'Rock and Roll part II' by Gary Glitter, and I'm just tired of that song. I thought, 'maybe we can do something that is celebratory and inspiring.' So we did 'Crush'em, which we also felt would be good for any sport." (Mustaine, 1999) "Our manager at the time, Bud Prager said, 'Dave I want you to do something,' and this is exactly what he said, he's a legend in the music ministry and I was really lucky to work with him. But he said, 'Dave, I want you to do something that your previous band members said, 'Goddamnit' why didn't we think of that.'' I said, 'Well, that pretty much leaves it wide open 'cause we've done just about everything.' And he said, 'You haven't done a disco song and you haven't done a grassroots song, like a hillbilly song, like Deliverance.' I said, 'I ain't doing that grassroots crap,' because I had just spent a year out in Nashville and I wasn't interested in becoming a hillbilly. So I said, 'Okay, we'll check out this disco thing,' and that's where 'Crush'em' came from because we were trying to get this pulsating, drum program underneath the bass line thing that is really infectious and it brings you in." (Mustaine, 2001) "For me, this tune is like a powerful shot that misses the bull's eye. It's way too complicated to be what it's trying to be, which is a sports anthem. We fought and fought over many facets of this song, between the members, managers, producers. I give everyone credit for trying and a big thanks to the Megadeth CyberArmy who did the backup vocals!" (Friedman, 2002)

Breadline (Music, lyrics: Mustaine, Friedman, Bud Prager) Ain't got no job Ain't got no smoke Ain't got a car His life's a joke Living on the skids Thinks the world's just fine Forgot what he did Dancing on the breadline No one there to bind him Nothing to remind him Nowhere left to find him About to lose his lifeline He's dancing on the breadline Forgot who he is Forgot who he was Used to call the shots Now he can't connect the dots A mover and shaker Getting closer to his maker Lower than a hemline Dancing on the breadline No one there to bind him Nothing to remind him Nowhere left to find him About to lose his lifeline He's looking for a headline Sniffing up the white lines He's dancing on the breadline Watch him dance About to lose his lifeline He's looking for a headline Sniffing up the white lines He's dancing on the breadline About to lose his lifeline He's dancing on the breadline No one, nothing, nowhere Dancing on the breadline He forgot and he ain't got nothing

"'Breadline' is about when David Ellefson and I used to have to drive downtown everyday past the soup kitchens and we would see the derelicts out in the street with their shopping carts. We realized that if we didn't make it soon we would be one of them because we were running out of options and we had no other choice but to make it or die trying." (Mustaine, 1999) "... [They] always smiled and made the impression that they had no problems. They were marked from hunger, alcoholism and drug abuse so much, that their brains did not work anymore." (Mustaine, 1999) "The original version of this song started off like Fear's 'I Love Living in the City.' The original lyrics were really bad: 'I got bugs on my balls and sores on my feet, I rinse out my beard so I got something to eat. In my Safeway Winnebago, everything is fine. I'm dancing on the breadline.' A little different, eh? But something cool came out of it because we ended up helping support the young homeless kids in America with this song. So it ended up being a good thing." (Mustaine, 2001) "This was my fave tune on the album at the time. I also did my fave solo of the album on this song, but it was replaced by Dave without my knowledge. I showed up in Nashville all excited to hear the mixes and when 'Breadline' came up, I was especially excited. The solo came and my mouth dropped to the floor. Where the hell was my solo? I was furious that no one had told me anything until the song was already mixed. It turns out that our managers didn't like the solo I that did, they said it was 'too happy and melodic'. Well it was a 'happy and melodic' song! Anyway, if they needed it redone, they just could have told me, I would have been glad to get back to Nashville and redo it. This lack of consideration certainly planted the seed for me to want to quit the band. It was like, if they didn't need my guitar playing, I certainly didn't have to be there. It wasn't like I was Ace Frehley, too high to play and not showing up in the studio to record. I did a great solo, and I would have been happy to replace it with one that made everyone happy, but no call, no nothing, until I'm standing in the control room listening to the final mixes." (Friedman, 2002)

The Doctor Is Calling (Music, lyrics: Mustaine, Friedman, Bud Prager) The doctor is calling Something's gone wrong Nowhere do I belong I listen to the voices in the dark room Something's going down But I can't make a sound Looking past the bars of my mind The coat of arms falling I hear the doctor calling The family crest is falling I hear the doctor calling Always sharing trips Remove me from your lips Sight and mind still and never go away One too many tantrums Deviated symptoms Better lock the phantom away The coat of arms falling I hear the doctor calling The family crest is falling I hear the doctor calling I see the chalkline crawling I hear the doctor calling me away This place is my home My mind still runs free The doctor's prescription Less for you and more for me The coat of arms falling I hear the doctor calling The family crest is falling I hear the doctor calling I see the chalkline crawling I hear the doctor calling me away A merciful embalming I hear the doctor calling me away

"A lot of people are imprisoned by their family, whether it is a real institution, or just by the silent treatment. People tend to think that blood is thicker than water only in the movies anymore. When we really love someone we need to look past the stupid things that they sometimes say or do and never forget that they are family. I know because this happened to me by my own family." (Mustaine, 1999) "I complained to Dave that we didn't really have any 'really heavy' songs on the record and that everything was kind of middle of the road. I wanted to be extreme; make the heavy stuff unbelievably heavy and the light stuff totally pop. The rest of the guys weren't too comfortable with that, and Dave and I argued a bit before using one of my riffs to write this tune. This is probably my fave solo on the album, but the way it was mixed, it gets kinda lost. I also don't understand and don't particularly like all of the spoken parts and sound effects in this tune. Also, some parts of this were taken from a song called 'Absolution' that I wrote for Countdown... Parts of that were used in 'Trust' as well." (Friedman, 2002)

I'll Be There (Music, lyrics: Mustaine, Friedman, Bud Prager) I heard the voice of redemption For me there is no exemption I started praying I heard the voice of satisfaction Needing me for benefaction I started pleading I heard the bells begin to chime Warning me oh lord Don't let this be my time Don't let this be my time I'll be there for you, when you walk through the fire I'll be there for you, when the flames get higher When nothing fits and nothing seems right Till the very last breath of my life, I'll be there for you You saw me slide, you saw me fall We kept our pride through it all We started screaming When skies are dark, no sun shines through I know I see the light in you We stopped dreaming and started believing I'll be there for you, when you walk through the fire I'll be there for you, when the flames get higher When nothing fits and nothing seems right Till the very last breath of my life, I'll be there for you I'll be there In my hour of need You were there always Now it's time for me to be there for you too Always I'll be there for you

"This song means a lot to me. 'In My Darkest Hour' was a song about someone who was not there as he was needed. I can well remember playing '... Darkest Hour' back then. It was very moving every time. 'I'll Be There' is for the fans who always supported us, even when I had problems with my drug addiction again. I want to tell people with this song that I am there for them now." (Mustaine, 1999) "I guess the concept was, the fans have been there for so long and I wanted to tell them, in turn, I'll be there for you now. And that's been happening more now that we've been making ourselves available through the Internet. People say, 'Dude, 'In My Darkest Hour' got me through so many bad days,' or ''A Tout Le Monde' really helped me.' Somebody came up to me the other day and said, 'My father was killed by a train and 'Train of Consequences' has helped me out a lot,' and I thought, 'Jeez, that's a little morbid, but I'm really glad that we were there for you.' (Mustaine, 1999) "Great vocal work by Dave. This has lots of guitar textures that I did, and I believe there are some other instruments filling this out. I learned how to use an e-bow for this." (Friedman, 2002)

Wanderlust (Music, lyrics: Mustaine, Friedman) As sure as the sun rises in the east Another gunman will come Seeking my defeat Will he be as fast as me, Are his nerves quiet and still Will he fall like all the rest Ending his days upon boothill I'm an outcast Riding into town alone I got wanderlust Branded deeper than the bone I'm an outcast Riding into town alone I got a lust for wandering Branded deeper than the bone As I ride into the sunset To take another town Thank you for the invite, But I just can't settle down The dust that coats my hat Is from a dozen towns Dust from shooting down Another dozen clowns I'm an outcast Riding into town alone I got wanderlust Branded deeper than the bone I'm an outcast Riding into town alone I got a lust for wandering Branded deeper than the bone A drum beats for me, It's louder every day The cadence tells me That soon I'll meet my judgment day Life's an endless showdown Never knowing when they'll come I sleep with one eye open Lying with my smoking gun The game I play has caused a lot of grief They were dying for fame, So I obliged them some relief I'm an outcast Riding into town alone I got wanderlust Branded deeper than the bone I'm an outcast With lightning in my hand I got wanderlust Lost in no man's land I got a lust for wandering Lost in no man's land I got wanderlust

"One of my favorite movies is 'The Good, the Bad and the Ugly' with Clint Eastwood. Wanderlust is partly about someone who moves from town to town and who has a pursuer who is after him. In heavy metal there are always new bands, who try to push the most popular band from the top. This song describes someone who can draw his gun quicker than the other one. Its very much inspired by classical duels." (Mustaine, 1999) "Nice playing by everyone. I like the breakdown in the middle. We were really trying to be more than a thrash band." (Friedman, 2002)

Ecstasy (Music, lyrics: Mustaine, Friedman) You live in a world of fantasy You live in a web of deceit You want it all including me You like it all to be neat I come to you when shadows fall I leave as the dawn arrives Hide the truth to deceive them all How my good intention lies Try to silence the suspicions Feeding the dark inhibitions We can never let anyone see The sin I bring called ecstasy The sin I bring ecstasy Secret meetings that we hide Deeds of iniquity The price of foolish pride The cost of immorality And we hide the truth to deceive them all And the pain of what will never be Try to silence the suspicions Feeding the dark inhibitions We can never let anyone see The sin I bring called ecstasy The sin I bring ecstasy

"This is about a girl who lives in a dream world with a perfect guy that makes her feel complete. But there is no possibility of it ever working out so she tries to hide it and her feelings for him. They both know that it is wrong so that is why he knows the ecstasy that he brings is a sin." (Mustaine, 1999) "I love the drum beat at the beginning!! Jimmy rules!! Also nice playing. You can tell that we were not only metallers, but well-rounded musicians. Dave's voice on the choruses is fabulous, I saw a ton of potential in him as a singer when I hear him sing this way. " (Friedman, 2002)

Seven (Music, lyrics: Mustaine, Ellefson) Full of greed you sell your soul Full of pride a heavy load You eat yourself gluttony Resent yourself you envy me Everything turns into wrath You lust yourself to death Deep fears that drive us Hid beneath disguises Judge the world within Forgive my deadly sins Procrastination always giving up Something better comes to interrupt Cast your verdict down to me Spare me your bleeding sympathy Only care how you appear Clearly see you can't see clear Deep fears that drive us Hid beneath disguises Judge the world within Forgive my deadly sins Greed, gluttony, pride, envy, wrath, sloth, death, deadly seven Seven deadly sins of mine On every street And corner lie These seven deadly sins of mine

"... ['Seven'] which was orignally called 'Anti-Hero'... And before that it was called 'Hornet F***.' I used to have this saying that if something frustrated me it felt like I had hornets in my brain. The song was called 'Hornet F***,' whatever, and that ended up being called 'Seven'." (Mustaine, 1999) "The Bible and several other self help or enlightenment books cite the Seven Deadly Sins. They are: pride, greed, lust, envy, wrath, sloth, and gluttony. That pretty much covers everything that we do, that is sinful... or fun for that matter." (Mustaine, 1999) "By listening to the lack of production on this, you can tell that this was the one that the producers were least interested in. But at the same time, this is what we sounded like without all the sound effects, samples and other stuff thrown in. I used an ancient 8 inch Rickenbacker amp for the breakdown. Fucking amazing drumming on this one too!" (Friedman, 2002)

Time: The Beginning (Music, lyrics: Mustaine, Friedman) Father time, I'm running late I'm winding down, I'm growing tired Seconds drift into the night The clock just ticks till my time expires You were once my friend Now I know I can't tie your hands The days I saved I couldn't spend They fell like sand through the hourglass No time to lose, no time to choose Time taking time, it's taken mine Scenes of my life seem so unkind Time chasing time creeps up behind I can't run forever, and time waits for no one Not even me An enemy I can't defend My final place a deadly end Life's just a speck in space Dreams of an eternal resting place I can't get any younger Time has brutal hunger

"'Time' was made into two parts because the concept and the music were very closely related however they couldn't possibly be further apart". (Mustaine, 1999) "... [This song is] about how we all try hard to stay young. Time is relentless. Sometimes people age overnight. Some time ago I met a girl I used to know. She had been incredibly beautiful and young back then. I was completely shocked as I saw her again, because she had become old and wrinkled, and she had gained a lot of weight. 'The Beginning' describes how time tries to steal seconds of your life." (Mustaine, 1999) "More great vocals. When I was working on songs like this, I really was excited about the future of the band. This is a classy ballad, but still has the eerie Megadeth quality about it. I love the two different drum set sounds used in this one." (Friedman, 2002)

Time: The End (Music, lyrics: Mustaine) I see Chronos His eyes are on fire. He holds my life And I see my time expire. Beat the clock My head starts to spin Tick, tock I can't let time win

"... [This song is] about about Cronos, the Greek God of time, who is merciless and of whom there is no escape." (Mustaine, 1999) "'The End' is about when I face father time, also known as the reaper, and my persistence not to let him age me." (Mustaine, 1999) "I did a demo version at my house that I like much better than this one, but it was way too futuristic and weird for the others to buy it. It's probably best that this one came out as full-on slamming metal." (Friedman, 2002)

Duke Nukem Theme (Music: Mustaine) Instrumental

This song is available only on the Japanese release of the album.