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The Eve of the War
Jeff Wayne
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No one would have believed in the last years of the nineteenth century
That human affairs were being watched by intelligences
Which inhabited the timeless worlds of space
No one could have dreamed that we were being scrutinized
As someone with a microscope studies creatures that swarm and multiply in a drop of water
Few men even considered the possibility of life on other planets
And yet, across the gulf of space
Minds, immeasurably superior to ours, regarded this Earth with envious eyes
And slowly and surely they drew their plans against us
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At midnight, on the 12th of August
A huge mass of luminous gas erupted from Mars and sped towards Earth
I made contact with Ogilvy the astronomer
And we hurried to his observatory
Across two hundred million miles of void invisibly hurtling towards us
Came the first of the missiles that were to bring so much calamity to Earth
As we watched, there was another jet of gas
It was another missile, starting on its way
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And that's how it was for the next ten nights
A flare, spurting out from Mars
Bright green, drawing a green mist behind it
A beautiful, but somehow disturbing sight
Ogilvy, assured me we were in no danger
Perhaps a huge volcanic explosion was in progress
But he was convinced there could be no living thing on that remote forbidding planet
"The chances of anything coming from Mars
Are a million to one", he said
The chances of anything coming from Mars
Are a million to one, but still, they come
Then came the night the first missile approached Earth
Hundreds saw it, but thought to be an ordinary falling star
Some say it travelled with a hissing sound
Some that it landed with a green flash
However, next day there was a huge crater in the middle of Horsell Common
And Ogilvy came to examine what lay there
A cylinder, thirty yards across, glowing hot
And with faint sounds of movement coming from within
Suddenly the top began moving, rotating, unscrewing
And Ogilvy feared there was a man inside trying to escape
He rushed to the cylinder
But the intense heat stopped him before he could burn himself on the steel cloaked metal
"The chances of anything coming from Mars
Are a million to one", he said
The chances of anything coming from Mars
Are a million to one, but still, they come
Yes, "the chances of anything coming from Mars
Are a million to one", he said
The chances of anything coming from Mars
Are a million to one, but still, they come
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It seems totally incredible to me now
That everyone spent that evening as though it were just like any other
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From the railway station came the sound of shunting trains
Ringing and rumbling, softened almost into melody by the distance
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It all seemed so safe and tranquil
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