What I Learned From Iron Maiden

April 25th, 2005 | by Craig |

No point asking when it is.
No point asking who’s to go.
No point asking what’s the game.
No point asking who’s to blame.

Cuz if you’re gonna die, if you’re gonna die
Cuz if you’re gonna die, if you’re gonna die

If you’re gonna die, die with your boots on.
If you’re gonna try, just stick around.
Gonna cry, just move along.
If you’re gonna die, you’re gonna die.

—Iron Maiden, “Die With Your Boots On”

  1. 4 Responses to “What I Learned From Iron Maiden”

  2. By The Chad on Apr 25, 2005 | Reply

    As true today as it was when it was written. Don’t forget though, Maiden also taught us about “Running Free” and that “Hell is From Here to Eternity”…”Be Quick or Be Dead!”

  3. By Amber on Apr 25, 2005 | Reply

    This may be the only spot on the web where people are admitting to “learning” something from Iron Maiden…

  4. By Craig on Apr 25, 2005 | Reply

    Hey now!

    If it hadn’t been for Maiden, I never would have read “The Rime of the Ancient Mariner.”

    Them’s fighting words, girl.

    Besides, I’ll be you a dollar to a doughnut that someone, somewhere out on the intarweb has a whole thesis devoted to what they learned from Maiden.

  5. By Lightfoot on Apr 25, 2005 | Reply

    As a teenager, I remember fondly listening to Maiden’s ‘Piece of Mind’ (PoM) and ‘Powerslave’. I had to sneak it into my honkin’ walkman and hide the cassettes in a Phil Collins case because my mother had a coronary when she saw Eddie on the cover of PoM. ‘2 Minutes’ was one of my favorites both for the chunky bass of Harris, and Dickenson’s complex and violent vocals. Sure it’s as close as I ever really got to being a ‘wild child’ but it was my form of rebellion.

    Out of high school, my cassettes long since worn out, I took a hiatus from my Maiden listening (yes, sacrilege to the purists) and focused more on Zeppelin, The Who, and other classic Brit rockers. One day many years later, I happened upon a CD of PoM and was re-hooked. One note of change was the way I metabolized the lyrics, looking at them through the eyes of an adult rather than the blissfully ignorant closet head-banger those many years ago.

    This certainly won’t qualify as a thesis, but it’s worth pointing out some of the interesting passages in ‘2 Minutes To Midnight’ from Iron Maiden’s ‘Powerslave’ album.

    1. First, the title referring to the Doomsday Clock, indicating how close our world is to nuclear war. Keep in mind the album was released the year after ‘The Day After’ played in European movie theaters, and scared the shit out of kids who made the mistake of watching it here in the U.S. (I was eleven, and it scared the bejeezus out of me).

    2. “Blood is Freedom’s stain.” By itself, it’s an acknowledgement that freedom is achieved more often through sacrifice than through words. Taken with the next line of ‘but don’t pray for my soul anymore’ it could be saying that while history may show that sacrifice in combat may be the vanguard of freedom, the events that have brought us to within two minutes of midnight are so insane that one’s soul is being forsaken in the madness of this unnecessary conflict.

    3. “To Kill The Unborn In The Womb.” At face value this could be taken as a reference to abortion, and that abortions are still performed is an indication of the madness of the times. Agree or disagree with that concept, I don’t think it’s germane based on the context of lyrics throughout the rest of the song. I would submit it could refer to nuclear annihilation not only actually killing unborn babies in their mothers’ womb, but perhaps the radiological sterilization, or even the more esoteric ‘killing’ of our future generations by destroying the world we live in.

    4. “The Blind Men Shout.” Blind in faith of malevolent leaders, the group dynamic creates a fever pitch of aggression to ‘let the creatures out’, and ‘show the unbelievers,’ those who disagree with the aggressive actions being taken.

    5. “The napalm screams of human flames from a Prime Time Belsen feast, yeah.” The inherent rad-ness of singing this line as a kid aside, it’s remarkably prescient writing since CNN was only in its fourth year. Indicating a news bonanza covering the carnage of war, with a historical reference to the death camps at Belsen.

    6. “As the reasons for the carnage cut their meat and lick the gravy,” is an unmistakable indictment of world leaders who sit in their ivory towers of comfort sending others in to die in battles they created.

    7. “We oil the jaws of the war machine, and feed it with our babies.” While a teen, I envisioned this gnarly metal tank-like beast with people chucking newborns into its maw. It was a disturbing vision to say the least, but as it led into the bridge of the song, it still kicked ass as far as lyrics went. Now, as a father myself, I know which babies they were referring to, as it’s the youth of our generations that do the bulk of the fighting (even though I’m not far removed from that time, I’m now definitely too out of shape to make the recruiter’s cut).

    8. “As the madmen play on words and make us all dance to their song” The world leaders use statistics and spin to push the general political temperature towards a position of support for aggression.

    9. “To the tune of starving millions, to make a better kind of gun.” Those same ‘madmen’ ignore the plight of millions, sacrificing social programs to beef up defense programs.

    I will add that by analyzing this as I have, it doesn’t mean I necessarily agree with all the positions staked out by Maiden, but I certainly appreciate the depth of the lyrics much more than I did as a kid with a denim jacket and pegged 501’s. I would close by saying it’s worth remembering one of the last verses of “Rime of the Ancient Mariner”, that we must love all things that God made.

    Up the Irons!

    p.s. Even though I make many references to the Powerslave album, and do agree that it’s a hell of a good listen, I still think Piece of Mind is better. Craig will disagree.

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