The term Viking (from Old Norse víkingr) is customarily used to refer to the Norse explorers, warriors, merchants, and pirates who raided, traded, explored and settled in wide areas of Europe, Asia and the North Atlantic islands from the late 8th to the mid-11th century.
These Norsemen used their famed longships to travel as far east as Constantinople and the Volga River in Russia, and as far west as Iceland, Greenland, and Newfoundland, and as far south as Al-Andalus. This period of Viking expansion – known as the Viking Age – forms a major part of the medieval history of Scandinavia, Great Britain, Ireland and the rest of Europe in general.
Popular conceptions of the Vikings often differ from the complex picture that emerges from archaeology and written sources. A romanticised picture of Vikings as Germanic noble savages began to take root in the 18th century, and this developed and became widely propagated during the 19th-century Viking revival. The received views of the Vikings as violent brutes or intrepid adventurers owe much to the modern Viking myth which had taken shape by the early 20th century. Current popular representations are typically highly clichéd, presenting the Vikings as familiar caricatures.
My axe blade is splitting a head
I won't stop 'till everyone is dead
My axe blade is splitting a head
Fresh french bread
Drenched in dread
Bong your head (oui papa)
Viking, now the time is ripe for conquest,
Viking, now it's time for you to leave,
Take your Longship way across the water,
Just one more drink before you do.
Viking, now it's time to sail to new lands,
Viking, now it's time to put to sea,
Take your Longship way across the water,
Take your Longship away from me.
Chorus
SHOUT, SHOUT, SHOUT to me, across the snow,
SING, SING, SING to me, all winter long,
Tell me tales of other lands that
I can never know
On your travels Viking, Go.
Viking, you'll be sailing on the Cruel Sea,
Viking, you'll feel lonely and so cold,
Fight with spirit on your quest of plunder,
Bring us back some amulets of gold
Ahead, my axe blade is splitting a head
I won't stop till everyone is dead
My axe blade is splitting a head
Fresh french bread
Drenched in dread
Bang your head, oui papa
Gonna do things my way
Gonna see you tomorrow,
On a German war plane
We gonna bomb you 'til Tuesday
Important vision
Incredible smile
"I and out"
On a Viking warship
We want you on our island,
If we can ever find it
Important wisdom
Unfortunate lie, again
In and out
We're gonna run through the desert
We got big boots to fill
We're gone just to seek cheap thrills
Imported wisdom
Incredible cry