Judas Priest - Heroes End Lyrics






I heard a human voice who sang like no one else
I heard a proud lady singing loud
Lived her life as she liked, didn't give a damn
But soon she found she was underground and wasted

I watched her hitting notes as she strutted stage
Her body shook oh, she did her stuff
She screamed and quake, give and take, maybe took too much
If you take the smooth you gotta take the rough

Why do you have to die to be a hero
It's a shame a legend begins at its end
Why do you have to die if you're a hero
When there's still so many things to say unsaid

I heard a man's guitar electrify a crowd
I felt the sound shower 'round
And he would take you with him where no music's been before
As you merged the power surge together

His music knew no limits if you were in it's wake
You had no choice, no, but hear its voice
And you would listen hypnotized, and in a dream
But once so strong survive or become weak

Why do you have to die to be a hero
It's a shame a legend begins at its end
Why do you have to die if you're a hero
When there's still so many things to say unsaid

If you gaze across timeless years you'll find them always there
And many gods will join the list compiled with dying care
Hungry mouths are waiting to bite the hand that feeds
And so the living dead carry on immortal deeds

I saw on silver screen an actor's rise to fame
But fast car user lose
That legend's born from death and that is such a shame
'cos ev'ry year new ones appear

Why do you have to die to be a hero
It's a shame a legend begins at its end
Why do you have to die if you're a hero
When there's still so many things to say unsaid





Other Lyrics by Artist

Rand Lyrics

Last Posts

Judas Priest Heroes End Comments
  1. J.... W....

    Superior tune. One of my faves, on and off the album. 💜😊🎵👊

  2. Z.... ....

    1978.....2019...stained classic!!!!

  3. Z.... ....

    christ is this good!

  4. M.... a....

    I always remember walking to peaches and I bought three albums Led Zeppelin 3 Van H,alen and Judas Priest 1978, and every album floored me but the Heroes end was the icing on the cake Judas Priest. All these albums you must have in your collection.

  5. J.... R....

    HELLLLL!!! MOTHER!!!!! FUCKINGGG!!!!!! DOGGY!!!! STYLE!!!! YEAHHHHH!!!

  6. k.... ....

    Amazing music. Tragic sentiment But yes the hero has to die!

  7. T.... M....

    I'm not sure if the heavy metal angels of valhalla could dream up a riff like this one

  8. S.... K....

    My sister Terri!

  9. o.... s....

    I have loved many rock/metal bands and albums over the years...but in the end I always comes back to Priest and Stained Class...it is simply the greatest and will never be surpassed.

  10. R.... K....

    Fuckin great singer is Rob 🤘🤘

  11. J.... A....

    Its funny how meaningfull songs are of the past. If your firmiliar with music and arts of the padt you know who this song is about. Janis joplin, jimi hendrix and james dean and the ill fated "lil bastard"

  12. V.... J....

    This is 1978.. HOW THE FUCK? So Heavy, brutal, guitars distortion. The other bands in 80's must thanks to Priest.

  13. 2.... ....

    This song has some of my favourite vocals from Rob Halford.

  14. L.... C....

    JUDAS PRIEST= THE GREATEST METAL BAND OF ALL TIME// ROB HALFORD= THE GREATEST METAL VOCALIST OF ALL TIME//

  15. L.... C....

    WHY DO YOU HAVE TO DIE TO BE A HERO?

  16. L.... C....

    BEST PRIEST SONG OF ALL TIME/// IMHO// REMEMBER WIHAT YEAR THIS WAS// SO BADASS\,,,/\,,,/\,,,/ 1978// I WAS 11 YEARS OLD AND USED TO BUY THE COLUMBIA RECORDS VINYL+ CASSETTES.I BOUGHT ( ROCA ROLLA/ SAD WINGS OF DESTINY/ SIN AFTER SIN/ STAINED CLASS/ UNLEASHED IN THE EAST/ HELL BENT FOR LEATHER" AKA KILLING MACHINE"/ DEFENDERS OF THE FAITH/ SCREAMING FOR VENGEANCE/ POINT OF ENTRY/ RAM IT DOWN/ THE FIRST ONE WITH RIPPER OWENS// ELEVEN THAT I BOUGHT// I NEED TO GET THE NEWEST WITH ROB/ THE NEWEST CALLED ( FIREPOWER) IS SO AWESOME// GREATEST BAND EVER//

  17. l.... m....

    that wailing guitar at the end... that is metal.

  18. H.... D....

    Who does the solo at the end? Kk or glen ?

    H.... D....

    Tipton plus he wrote the song.

  19. I.... f....

    1.Beyond the Realms of Death 2. Exciter + Heroes End

  20. E.... S....

    Great!!!! Great!!!!!

  21. M.... T....

    Yeah.... Love those lyrics....

  22. S.... C....

    0:23 eargasm

  23. T.... H....

    Que riff absurdo

  24. s.... ....

    haven't heard this song in twenty years, wow. killer song.

  25. T.... L....

    Hell yes. Sing it Rob!

  26. J.... B....

    Megadeths Youthanasia riff at 1:50

  27. 0.... ....

    IMHO KK's finest solo.

    0.... ....

    Tipton wrote the song...I doubt it's his solo.

    0.... ....

    If you know Priest,its easy to tell Glenn does the first solo; KK the finale. It's cataloged on Glenn's website. I agree that it's KK'S finest.

  28. M.... a....

    What can you say Heroes end!👍✌✌

  29. M.... P....

    THINKING OF GLENN TIPTON... ✊🏻

  30. M.... F....

    To all Priest fans: Please have the Millenials listen to their catalog so we can preserve the Priest!

    M.... F....

    Marco Franco right on

  31. G.... O....

    I feel sorry for those who do not know this song.

  32. �.... ....

    アビリバボ

  33. M.... r....

    Fantastic album, Les Binks is a spectacular drummer, spectacular how Halford change his voice, great era.

  34. D.... C....

    Awesome JP Deep Cut!. The Stained Class album overall is one of their finest achievements - great writing, fantastic execution. Really love the production as well. Even with all of the intensity and densely packed composition of the songs, there is still clear separation between the parts. Allows one to dig in and enjoy every little incredible moment!

  35. T.... ....

    ╚╬╝

  36. B.... B....

    I wish who ever types underrated your phone would blow your face off!

  37. T.... ....

    ╚╬╝\m/>.<\m/ JUDAS motherfucking PRIEST!!!!!

  38. H.... M....

    mano, o judas priest tem uma gama de músicas foda !

  39. D.... ....

    These guys have so many great albums just like Led Zeppelin and Black Sabbath. I didn't care much for Turbo. I absolutely love everything up to the song Painikiller.

  40. G.... ....

    Am I the only one to notice that, when Rob is singing abou Janis Joplin (the first part), he is actually singing like her? Like in 0:35 " and wassteeeeeeeeeeed" and in the nex chorus also

    G.... ....

    GabrielKirov yep. Ironic too. Janice was a singer full of vitality- just as Halford is.

    G.... ....

    and Hendrix in the next verse

    G.... ....

    Rob can sing...her voice was like nails on a chalkboard...it would be like comparing a Rolls Royce to Chevette.

    G.... ....

    GabrielKirov First verse is about Janis Joplin, second verse is about Hendrix, and from what I’m told the third verse is about James Dean.

  41. J.... B....

    Good bye Chris Cornell

    J.... B....

    Man I still really miss him :/.

  42. D.... U....

    AAAAAAAAARRRRRGHHHHHH heavier than hell ;)

    long live JUDAS PRIEST

  43. A.... R....

    Judas fucking Priest.

  44. i.... ....

    How did I never hear of this song? Seriously underrated

    i.... ....

    It's the Priest. America fell in love with them first in 1977 when they went on tour with R>E>O> Speedwagon.

  45. J.... P....

    This song is about Hendrix, Joplin and Dean.

    J.... P....

    That's what I thought.

    J.... P....

    I also thought about Paul Walker as well (R.I.P.).

    J.... P....

    Chris Cornell Soundgarden and singer Aaliyah. Hero's End. Such a significant song for the ages past present and future. Very true. Legends yet it's a shame.

  46. A.... A....

    Judas Priest Boyz est 1981 JPB EL SERENO CA USA. My nickname INVADER

  47. F.... V....

    Looks like a Metallica song

    F.... V....

    Felipe Valverde Looks like it. Sounds like Judah Priest to me.

    F.... V....

    you mean Metallica sounds like a judas priest song...

    F.... V....

    Felipe Valverde hate to say this song came came out before Metallica started hitting it Road

    F.... V....

    You stoned or just stupid?

  48. K.... 7....

    As much as I love Priest they have had a tendency at times to go with what's in vogue, blues rock(rocka rolla),prog (sad wings),American style Van Halen rock (killing machine),Ac/Dc(British steel),hair metal(turbo),speed metal(painkiller),nu metal(Ripper Owens era),Pantera(Halford/Fight),i do love those aforementioned albums btw, most of them are undisputed metal classics, so please don't get offended peeps. On this album however, they did their own thing without being influenced by anything external.

    K.... 7....

    Yeah, it's true, but well, a lot of big rock bands did that (even the Beatles actually did that in their own creative way) probably it's just not as common in metal.
    And well, it's true that Killing Machine and British Steel were influenced by Van Halen and AC/DC respectively, but I think they added their own big musical preferences (I can't see AC/DC playing Rapid Fire, and Killing Machine has such a varied amount of musical influences...), something that it seems didn''t happen on Turbo, Demolition or maybe even on Painkiller.

    K.... 7....

    not offended at all.....and i never thought about that....i mean turbo and all that shit was pretty commersh....but his shit....rocka rolla....point of entry.....sad wings....thats the only shit....along with screaming....im fucked up...ill stop now

    K.... 7....

    @Kongorlobo Sin after sin seemed an uninfluenced album as well

  49. N.... M....

    it ain't easy being a hero.

    N.... M....

    Hero’s are suckers

  50. d.... b....

    How did I not know about this album?

    d.... b....

    because you suck

    d.... b....

    :D exactly...especially his mother

  51. I.... F....

    This song has such an awesome swing to it. Love that sassy Rob Halford style. Great way to finish a great album.

  52. R.... M....

    Una de mis canciones favoritas, del mejor disco de heavy metal en la historia !!!!!!!!!!!!!

  53. b.... ....

    I needed that

  54. M.... F....

    I like the guitar in this song.

  55. b.... 2....

    2:03-3:07, rob's great voice over fantastic riff, damn good.

  56. F.... D....

    Puissant et poétique

  57. J.... G....

    it's a shame I can't find a cover of this song. I guess one of us have to do our best at one

  58. W.... 1....

    2:13 That part is so good...

  59. �.... ....

    yeah great riff
    fuckin a

  60. L.... Z....

    Awesome riff!!!!

  61. R.... a....

    Stained Classsic

  62. D.... m....

    Mozart of the 20th century

    D.... m....

    I totally agree mate, Judas playing that Heavy Metal(played by the others bands in 80's) in 70's.

    D.... m....

    21st century buddy lmAO

    D.... m....

    This song was recorded in 1978, that is in fact the 20th century...

  63. T.... M....

    best metal album ever ..imo , especially considering there was no such thing as heavy metal at the time . From Exciter to Beyond The Realms - every song is interesting in their rhythm changes and aggression

    T.... M....

    Tony Morielli One of the greatest indeed, but by 78 metal had been around for over 10 years...

    T.... M....

    @CRASS_886
    no.

    what you referring is hard rock, which is based on blues scales: sabbath, led zeppelin, name it, it's all blues.

    T.... M....

    Tony Morielli
    also my favorite album of all time

  64. C.... H....

    That lick at 2:14 is just too tasty!

  65. D.... ....

    2:54 - My favorite riff of all time. So awesome and fun to play.

  66. S.... C....

    Stained Class is the true masterpiece of Priest.. Best album until Painkiller, IMHO.

  67. P.... L....

    (呪いの音楽 ) its sound (do it do it) click 1:22 listen

  68. f.... ....

    never forgotten these gems.....you just have to go back and re-explore....you will find that these countless early priest ,belong in the same vein as early  first 5 or 6 albums of such other great bands as Sabbath, Zeppelin  , Purple and Alice Cooper......well maybe wait a few  albums from the beginning from Purple and Cooper....but theres something about the Priest.....oh yeah now I know.........ROB FUCKING HALFORD !!!!!!   HANDS DOWN

  69. D.... ....

    This song is the perfect exemple of why the more the time passes, the more I love the sound of early Heavy Metal, à la Black Sabbath, early Priest, early Mercyful Fate etc, vicious riffing, great solos, great dramatic tension, and still organic, somewhat dancing, while later Metal tends to be quite mechanic. When I was younger, I was all into "pure" Metal songs à la "Painkiller", "Freewheel Burning" etc, but now, I prefer that blend of old Metal, or "The Green Manalishi", "Starbreaker" etc :)

    D.... ....

    Yep, many friends say how Painkiller is so good... it is yet mechanical and 'predictable'. The early stuff I always used to view as a little dull; now I find myself going back to the early albums and realising that is was far more dynamic. Wish they would do some more stuff like this. 'Raw Deal' is a ripper riff.

    D.... ....

    Debiruman1666 agreed. Modern metal is so focused on technicality... but lacks that power and bite which the earlier stuff had. Personally I live the dynamics; the light and shade; the groove; the pathos - from tragedy to elation to wrath; how the rhythm and guitar licks, riffs and solos draws and pulls you in. The 70s metal is just plain cool. Tastful playing. Not just fast/heavy/distorted/harsh for the sake of it. Sometimes less is more. But this genre is Judas Priest and Black Sabbath - amongst srveral honourable mentions - so they crafted it and therefore their compositions just have the right balance. Everything just hits right and the guitar rips. Anyone whp says "lol it's not metal because its not xyz or not like a death/black/nu metal or doesn't have monster vocals/crap screaming/blast beats etc' makes me despair. It's music not a check list. You're right modern tends to be mechanical. It's not snappy or dynamic. It might be "heavy" or "brutal" but is so artificial that it doesn't sound it to me. Even typical hard rock has more balls.

    D.... ....

    PanterA too

    D.... ....

    You got that right ACE!

    D.... ....

    black sabbath are not pure heavy metal

  70. J.... ....

    Joe Anthony the godfather of ROCK N ROLL was the best DJ San Antonio Tx ever had thnx 2his bad as music connections we were able 2see ROB HALFORD -judas priest live many times...J P ROX!!!!

  71. O.... P....

    Great song, great album. I bought when It came out way back when… strange I think Rob's voice is even better sounding now. On Nostradamus it's more operatic…. or not… Halford is the voice of GAWD!.

    O.... P....

    @Old-Man Parker No way, Halford was at the top of the world between 74 and 84, he was unique. Now, he plays on a couple of pseudo-operatic tricks, strong medium and his emotions, but he's nowhere near where he was from the mid-70's to the first half of the 80's... the "ancient" halford could sing Nostradamus note for note, actual Halford will never be able to sing parts such as the final in "run of the mill", "dreamer/dream deceiver", where he sings at heights that others reach only by screaming, "Screaming For Vengeance" "Freewheel Burning" etc... I don't talk about "Painkiller" because the truth is he wasn't able to sing it even by the time he recorded it, I bet that the song Painkiller alone took more time to record and mix than the whole rest of the album, and you won't find any live version near the studio version, even by the time of Painkiller's release. If you compare the live form the "Turbo" tour in 1986 with the "Live Vengeance", you'll notice that this isn't exactly the same singer, he still was awesome on the "Priest live", but he wasn't "from outer space" as he was in the "live vengeance" (and other videos that catch him in the same period), where he actually is the "Metal God", at this point of history, he was just unbeatable, unmatchable, by any other singer, including the greatest such as Dickinson or Dio. Halford in his prime was, maybe with Freddie Mercury, the most unique singer I've heard in any record of any kind of music (especially in Rock/Metal).

    O.... P....

    +Debiruman1666 well, I wouldn't compare his 70's singing to that from early 80's. From British Steel to Defenders his singing live was very raw, tough, sometimes nosy. He did great work but it wasn't that effortless as in 70's. For me another great period for him was late 80's, tour promoting Ram It Down. Listen to Sinner 88 from San Diego. He kinda ruined the melodic side of that song, yet he killed it screaming his lungs off

    O.... P....

    +Debiruman1666 I just saw them in Frisco at the warfield. He still has a VERY powerful voice, but yes hes is struggling a bit with some of the highs. Basically they decided to drop a lot of them down just one octave. Let me put it this way though, I could hear the band through their speakers, the screaming of the crowd and all the noise of being there live, but above it all, I could literally hear just Rob above it all. In a space that small, he almost doesn't need the microphone!

  72. j.... ....

    This song is the seed of Seek and Destroy.....btw. very cool, interesting and informative lyrics

  73. D.... D....

    UNDERRATED !

    D.... D....

    @Dmitri Davidovicth Sadly, early Priest is full of forgotten gems, since the very first album, nobody never talks about "Run of the mill" (which the final part shows that Rob already was a singer from outer space), and songs like Heroes End, Raw Deal, Delivering the goods, let us prey/call for the priest (which can be regarded as the first "European Power Metal" song as it will be played later by bands such as Helloween, Gamma Ray etc)... to me, these songs are far better than many songs cited as "classics"...

    D.... D....

    +Debiruman1666 That's what I love about Priest. They have so many songs, so unavoidably you're gonna forget about some songs and when you listen to them again, you're like HOLY SHIT THIS IS AWESOME. Like this song. What a badass riff.

  74. W.... ....

    I'm still a sperm, and i love this song

    W.... ....

    Wirtamjie97 Very funny. Nice play. I almost snorted.

  75. P.... ....

    WHY HAVE THEY NEVER PLAYED THIS LIVE? THAT RIFF IS JUST AMAZING! Such an underrated gem.

    P.... ....

    heros end 1 of the best of the jp stained class album

    P.... ....

    They play the really popular ones for the most part. Usually every tour they’ll throw in one or two forgotten gems that not a lot of people know besides the die hard fans. This last tour those songs were sinner and saints in hell

    P.... ....

    And no band covers of this song on YouTube either 😡

    P.... ....

    @Mike ace Word!

    P.... ....

    I knew if I looked, some rocket scientist would use the word 'underrated'...and yep. Yawn.

  76. P.... L....

    Parts of this song are kind of melodic almost poppy but other parts sound like RATM. Especially the end. What a great and original song. Awesome.

    P.... L....

    Per Lofgren I know this is an old comment, but fuck I was surprised by the Born Again album. Saw it secondhand at a record shop and put it on not thinking it would be worth a tin shit without Ozzy but it was actually a solid album.

  77. J.... S....

    Great song from a great album.

  78. S.... T....

    I thought I was alone in thinking this is one of the greatest guitar riffs ever, clearly I was wrong, now will someone post a tab? it doesn't sound too difficult but I just can't seem to nail it.

  79. N.... B....

    I'M A 1 YEAR OLD FUKIN BABY AND I LOVE THIS SONG!!!!!

    N.... B....

    From where does this way of expressing oneself on Youtube videos originate? Is it something about that god damn "reddit" which I've never understood what it is. 

    N.... B....

    haha  no idea

  80. T.... V....

    The song is about JANIS, JIMMY and JAMES DEAN, no?

    T.... V....

    @giani gighen ?

    T.... V....

    @GabrielCCCP
    Jimi (Hendrix) is with one "m"... and Jimmy (Page) is still alive. ;)

    T.... V....

    @giani gighen got it

    T.... V....

    Jimmy Morrison....

    T.... V....

    +Tamerlane Villanos NO, Jimi Hendrix

  81. �.... �....

    Fucking love this song, and the whole staind class album. I Actually have this album, i can't listen to the music loud uh because i still live with my parents, and they're a sleep. LOL

    �.... �....

    Dude, this is seriously one of the best judas priest songs ever made.  70's priest is completely unmatched man.

    �.... �....

    @John Yentes
    hell yeah, this song is just all sorts of badass.

    �.... �....

    @John Yentes Except by early 80s Priest.

  82. j.... ....

    this song has one of the best riffs ever. around that breakdown

    j.... ....

    Agree. That breakdown / bridge around 2:09 to 3:10 is orgasmic!

    j.... ....

    @Christopher Hargreaves Yeah man! Kerry King and Marty Friedman actually talk about that riff and jam to it on Marty Friedman's Japanese show /watch?v=XcvEqW72S9c

    j.... ....

    @jbohler33 Rock Fujyama ftw \m/

    j.... ....

    That breakdown riff

  83. c.... ....

    I'd ask Alex Skolnick's opinion on jazz!

  84. F.... L....

    Yeah I haven`t seen the episode in a while too. You are right, it was just Heroes End, but being Kerry such a huge JP fan, I wouldn't doubt he might have played every Priest song in his time jajaj... He played some of Priest's most popular songs in some rehearsals with Pantera (such as Metal Gods, Hell Bent For Leather and the Peter Green's Green Manalishi cover).

  85. F.... R....

    This record gets good reviews but they always warn that this song is weak yet this song epitomizes JP's unigue sound. It's a killer track and the reviewers need to give it another listen

  86. k.... ....

    I am 16 and I HATE all the new shit that people call music today but this i just can´t get enough of!

    k.... ....

    I'm 58, and this is what I was listening to when I was your age LOL.

  87. R.... ....

    Jazz and Blues were HUGE influences on Judas Priest, in fact Stained Class album demonstrates this the most.

  88. C.... T....

    its been a while since I saw that episode but im pretty sure he only played heroes end and marty mistakenly said it was saints in hell...do you know where I could watch it again? that was a cool episode...

  89. F.... L....

    I think he means when Kerry played both songs in Marty Friedman's TV show.

  90. T.... M....

    why? It's their loss that they don't know music like this, not ours ;D

  91. Z.... J....

    You mean "knew"...?

  92. Z.... J....

    Why are you hating on jazz?

  93. C.... T....

    dissident aggressor

  94. v.... ....

    Listening to one form of music does not disclose you from enjoying another genre. Remember that for the rest of your life.

  95. A.... R....

    Hell yes want sum nice dreams

  96. p.... ....

    0:27 "Livro na Mochila".

  97. j.... ....

    The woman is Janis Joplin.

  98. V.... ....

    this song is propably about the lifes and deaths of some famous people. james dean=fast car user? the guitarist is propably jimi hendrix and the woman im not sure.