"Swords of a Thousand Men" is a song and

single Single may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media * Single (music), a song release Songs * "Single" (Natasha Bedingfield song), 2004 * "Single" (New Kids on the Block and Ne-Yo song), 2008 * "Single" (William Wei song), 2016 * "Single", by ...

written by Eddie Tenpole, and performed by the English

punk Punk or punks may refer to: Genres, subculture, and related aspects * Punk rock, a music genre originating in the 1970s associated with various subgenres * Punk subculture, a subculture associated with punk rock, or aspects of the subculture s ...

band Band or BAND may refer to: Places *Bánd, a village in Hungary *Band, Iran, a village in Urmia County, West Azerbaijan Province, Iran * Band, Mureș, a commune in Romania *Band-e Majid Khan, a village in Bukan County, West Azerbaijan Province, I ...

Tenpole Tudor Tenpole Tudor are an English punk band fronted by Edward Tudor-Pole. The band first came to prominence when Tudor-Pole appeared in the Sex Pistols' film ''The Great Rock 'n' Roll Swindle'' and on three of the singles released from the soundtr ...

. It was first released on

Stiff Records Stiff Records is a British independent record label formed in London, England, by Dave Robinson and Jake Riviera. Originally active from 1976 to 1986, the label was reactivated in 2007. Established at the outset of the punk rock boom, Stiff ...

in March 1981. It entered the

UK Singles Chart The UK Singles Chart (currently titled Official Singles Chart, with the upper section more commonly known as the Official UK Top 40) is compiled by the Official Charts Company (OCC), on behalf of the British record industry, listing the top-s ...

in April that year, reaching number 6 and staying for 10 weeks on the chart. On 1 June 1981, the single was awarded a silver certification by the BPI in the UK for sales of over 250,000 units.

Charts

Skyclad version

In 2001,

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies. ** Britishness, the British identity and common culture * British English, ...

folk metal Folk metal is a fusion genre of heavy metal music and traditional folk music that developed in Europe during the 1990s. It is characterised by the widespread use of folk instruments and, to a lesser extent, traditional singing styles (for exampl ...

group Skyclad released the song as their second true single (after 1993's "Thinking Allowed"). It featured two versions of Skyclad's cover of the song, one with Tenpole Tudor, plus a re-recorded version of one of their earliest tracks.

In other media

The lyric "Over the hill with the swords of a thousand men" was used by writer

Garth Ennis Garth Ennis (born January 16, 1970) is a Northern Irish–American comics writer, best known for the Vertigo series ''Preacher'' with artist Steve Dillon, his nine-year run on Marvel Comics' Punisher franchise, and '' The Boys'' with artist Dari ...

as the title for a story arc of his comic series '' The Boys'', consisting of issues 60–65. This lyric was again used as the title for episode 3 of season 2 of the

Amazon Prime Video Amazon Prime Video, also known simply as Prime Video, is an American Video on demand#Subscription models, subscription video on-demand Over-the-top media service, over-the-top Streaming media, streaming and Renting, rental service of Amazon (c ...

adaptation of the comic. The song enjoyed a new lease of life thanks to being used as the opening titles theme for 2012's ''

The Pirates! In an Adventure with Scientists! ''The Pirates! In an Adventure with Scientists!'' (released in North America, Australia and New Zealand as ''The Pirates! Band of Misfits'') is a 2012 3D stop-motion animated swashbuckler comedy film produced by the British studio Aardman Ani ...

''. This led to it being picked up for a number of adverts, most recently in the British television advertisement for the holiday company Haven in 2020.Sony Classics Channel

References

External links

Tenpole Tudor's video of the song
1981 songs 1981 singles 2001 singles Tenpole Tudor songs Skyclad (band) songs Stiff Records singles Songs written by Edward Tudor-Pole {{1980s-rock-song-stub