Golden Age of Leather

"Golden Age of Leather" is the second track from Blue Öyster Cult's fifth studio album, Spectres. Its lyrics describe an aging motorcycle gang whose last act is to fight each other to the death in the desert.

Blue Öyster Cult

 * Eric Bloom - lead vocals, guitar
 * Donald "Buck Dharma" Roeser - lead guitar, vocals
 * Allen Lanier - keyboards, guitar, vocals
 * Joe Bouchard - bass, vocals, guitar
 * Albert Bouchard - drums, vocals, harmonica

Production

 * David Lucas - producer
 * Murray Krugman - producer
 * Sandy Pearlman - producer
 * Shelly Yakus - engineer, mixing
 * John Jansen – engineer
 * Corky Stasiak – engineer
 * Thom Panunzio – engineer
 * Andy Abrams – engineer
 * Gray Russell – assistant engineer
 * Dave Thoener – assistant engineer
 * Jay Krugman – assistant engineer
 * Rod O’Brien – assistant engineer
 * Sam Ginsberg – assistant engineer
 * Joe Brescio – mastering
 * Roni Hoffman – design
 * Eric Meola – photos
 * David Infante – laser effects

Lyrics
Raise your can of beer on high And seal your fate forever Our best years have passed us by The Golden Age of Leather

This was the night not long to come In the year of our Lord A.D. Where in a desert way-house poised on the brink of eternity Four and ninety studded horsemen closed the knot of honor As only drunken soldiers can

And passed from man to man A wanton child too dead to care That each would find his pleasure as he might For this fantastic night was billed As nothing less than the end of an age A last crusade A final outrage In this day of flaccid plumage

And there was worn no cloth but leather Made supple by years of stinging cinders And here were seen the scars of age For age had been the common call for one last night together

(Dawn colored the sky) The ritual ceased (Some had died) And they were buried with their bikes (Each grabbed a rag) From a man with a sack (Torn strips of color) The red and the black

I came here willingly And I will go down valiantly (We made a vow) To give it all we had to give (We made a vow) To die as we had lived

They flew the colors they began to fight They flailed at each other like bugs at a light Bodies and bikes beyond repair Smell of oil and gas in the air

Then the wind whipped the desert with a giant hand And the humans and the Harleys caught the shifting sand The old ranger weathered the storm And he topped the rise by the middle of morn He saw rippled dunes Calm and surreal And the glint of a solitary shaft of chromium steel

Golden Age Golden Age Golden Age Golden Age Golden Age Golden Age Golden Age

Trivia

 * The a lyric from the second section ("Torn strips of color / The red and the black) references the song "The Red and the Black" from Tyranny and Mutation.