ROLAND THE HEADLESS THOMPSON GUNNER
Words and music by Warren Zevon & David Lindell
As recorded by Warren Zevon on “Excitable Boy,” 1978.

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 sixty-six and seven 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
Roland the Thompson gunner

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 bravest son (to even up the score)
They can still see his headless body stalking through the night
In the muzzle flash of Roland's Thompson gun,
In the muzzle flash of Roland's Thompson gun.

Roland searched the continent for the man who'd 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,
Roland the headless Thompson gunner,
Roland the headless Thompson gunner,
Talkin' about the man,
Roland the headless Thompson gunner.

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.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wRWCK9zGynA