Warren Zevon Lyrics

Album: Learning To Flinch

Roland The Headless Thompson Gunner Lyrics

"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 '66 and 7 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 (2x)

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 (greatest) son won't stop till he sums up the score

They can still see his headless body stalking through the night

In the muzzle flash of Roland's thompson gun (2x)

Roland searched the continent for the man who done him in

He found him in Mombasa 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 (4x)

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