Dying For the Emperor

One main version:

* (1981) - Chemical Playschool 1 (6:59), Premonition (6:22), Under Triple Moons (6:14)

On both Premonition and Under Triple Moons the fade-in is mixed with the previous song ("Digital"). At 3:40 the keyboard sequences gradually slow down and become distorted, becoming an improvisational dirge. On Premonition and Under Triple Moons the song leads into "Oceans of Emotion" after a brief sing-song portion, but on Chemical Playschool 1 the song continues on for a while, fades out, and ends with a sudden explosive synth sound.

Instruments: Quick sequenced bass keyboard; quick sequenced keyboard playing melody; two vocal tracks, one whispered; two vocoder tracks repeating lines from the song; percussive accents (tambourine) quietly halfway through; quiet whistling sounds leading into the slower "dirge" portion; rattling wooden percussion during the dirge.

What It's About:

A man (Damien?) is obsessed with a Space Invaders type game, and he plays it long past exhaustion in a never-ending quest to "destroy the aliens." He refuses to give up the fight but eventually he dies despite the efforts of others to keep him alive. Since the game never ends, he can't destroy ALL the aliens...but he sure tried!

Lyrics (adapted from the Cloud-Zero archive):

Finger on the button, perspiration on the forehead,
splashing puddles on the keyboard,
jerking sideways, upwards, downwards,
sister's spied us [?].

You can't destroy the aliens, can't destroy the aliens.
It's painful and you're doing well, but we keep coming back.

But still he tries as missiles fly. His lady keeps complaining
'bout the lack of conversation, session's lasted for a day now
but he won't give up the fight.

He's gotta destroy those aliens, gotta destroy the aliens.
It's painful but he's doing well, but they keep coming back.

And patiently they brought him food and forced it down his throat
'til he was choking, dribbled gravy, swiveled crazy,
spacey glimmer in his eyes.

Tries to spatter all the aliens, splattered all the aliens.
It's painful and he's doing well but still they creep on back.
Creeping back for more.
Creeping back for more.

But still he won't give up, those actors slap him on the back
and snap him with their Instamatic, automatic, Jap-o-matic,
he' s fanatical but ice-cool

as he cannons down these aliens, gotta destroy the aliens.
It's painful but he's doing well, but they keep on coming back.

His score's just topped a million, he's killing them, a winner,
though he's getting so much thinner and beginning to see stars.
Starts to mutter, eyelids flutter on the point of passing out.

Gotta destroy these aliens, gotta destroy the aliens.
It's painful but he's doing well, but they keep on coming back.

A nation sighed, his mother cried, he just expired,
Still firing, firing, howling why he tried to beat them to the end.

Tried to beat the aliens, tried to beat the aliens.
He failed to fail-ians.
The fail-ians.
The fail-ians.

Ambiguity:

This may actually be two songs: "Stand Firm, Damien" followed by the "Dying for the Emperor" dirge. The words "dying for the emperor" do not appear until the last section, and the "gotta kill the aliens" lyrics would suggest more a man who is "standing firm" as opposed to "dying for an emperor."

But on Premonition and Under Triple Moons this is just presented as a single song ("Dying for the Emperor"), and on Chemical Playschool 1 -- which lists "Stand Firm, Damien" immediately before it -- the "Stand Firm" song might be the short instrumental track preceding it.