(Intro)

Cold steel in the era of iron and wire,

A promise of thunder — a dealer in fire.

They called it the Starship — future on a hull,

152 thunder, and a brain full of skull.

(Verse 1)

Rumbling out of Detroit in the age of the Cold,

Blueprints and bravado, a story bold —

A turret like a moon with a mouth open wide,

A cannon that could swallow a guided ride.

Cast iron heart, crew of four inside,

Driver, loader, gunner, commander — spine and pride.

A launcher for the future, shells and guided steel,

A risky kind of brilliance with a fragile will.

(Pre-Chorus)

New electronics humming, promises bright,

Glass and wires wired into the night —

But every silver promise has a weight and a cost,

And every bell of victory hides something lost.

(Chorus, big)

Ride the Starship, into the thunder,

Guns that howl and rockets that wander.

Ride the Starship, born to ignite,

Cold war steel with a fevered light.

We burn for glory, we crash for pride —

Starship screaming down the line.

(Verse 2)

152 millimeter — a gun that’s half prophecy,

Fires a shell or a Shillelagh — guided heresy.

Gun/launcher hybrid, one bore, two souls,

Missile in the cradle, round in the hole.

Stabilizers jitter, fire-control's bright eye,

Aiming for the skyline where armored ghosts die.

But wires breathe trouble and electronics age,

What looks like tomorrow can break in a cage.

(Pre-Chorus)

Autumn grease and midnight spares, the crew kept the beat,

Grip on the periscope, boots on the seat.

Training in the dust, doctrine on the page,

She slept in the hangar, a half-finished rage.

(Chorus)

Ride the Starship, into the thunder,

Guns that howl and rockets that wander.

Ride the Starship, born to ignite,

Cold war steel with a fevered light.

We burn for glory, we crash for pride —

Starship screaming down the line.

(Bridge)

They said she was the future — they painted her in chrome,

But the future can be brittle when you leave the heart at home.

Temperamental thunder, a maintenance swear,

Missiles that wandered and parts that weren't there.

She learned the hard lesson of experiment's cost —

A warrior half-ready and a kingdom half-lost.

(Verse 3)

She rolled with the regiments, a symbol and a test,

In armored columns, through exercises and rest.

Not many in the lineup, her number stayed small,

A prototype heartbeat that couldn't outlast the brawl.

They traded her secrets into the river of time,

Lessons in the treads, in the copper and grime.

Replaced by new phantoms with turbine and steel,

The Starship faded — its thunder was real.

(Pre-Chorus last)

Not every rocket finds its mark in the sky,

Not every brave iron gets the chance to fly —

But their hands on the wrench and their eyes on the lens,

Wrote the hard-won pages of mechanical friends.

(Final Chorus)

Ride the Starship, into the thunder,

Guns that howl and rockets that wander.

Ride the Starship, born to ignite,

Cold war steel with a fevered light.

We burn for glory, we crash for pride —

Starship screaming down the line.

(Repeat, gang vocals, shout)

Ride! Ride! Ride the Starship!

(Outro)

152 like a comet, and a spine made of chrome —

Not every dream of metal gets to call earth home.

Remember the Starship — loud, brief, and bright,

A flash in the corridor between day and night.