The first thing to say about No Prayer For The Dying is the departure of Adrian Smith
and his replacement with Janick Gers. It was sad to see Smith go, for both his playing skill
and song-writing talent. However, the show must go on, and it does.
Many fans dislike this album, and I can understand many of the reasons why. With a few
exceptions, the song-writing is a bit weaker and the lyrics are somewhat shallower than
on previous albums. The sound quality is excellent (the album was digitally recorded),
but many of the songs are missing that intangible quality that creates a deep and
compelling mood.
In addition, Dickinson appears to be experimenting with a different singing style which is
rougher and raspier than before. This is not necessarily bad in and of itself, but I still prefer
the clear and powerful style of the past.
I want to point our that this is by no means a bad album. It may be a step down from the
timeless classics of the golden era, but it does contain some excellent material. However,
for new Maiden fans I would recommend waiting on this album at least until you have absorbed
the classic albums of the golden era.
Many people mistakenly believe that Iron Maiden abandoned the synths for this album.
The synths are still present on a few tracks, but in order to hear them you must listen very
carefully with a good set of headphones. Try
'No Prayer
For The Dying',
'Fates
Warning', and
'Mother
Russia'.
The cover picture above is that of the original CD version of the album. Bruce Dickinson's
comments are extracts taken from an interview done soon after the release of the album
(thanks to Antonis Mix
for pointing it out to me).
Tailgunner (Harris, Dickinson)
In the Maiden tradition of war songs, 'Tailgunner' returns once again to the air war of WWII.
Lyrically, the song is quite similar to
'Aces High',
although it adds an element of subtle anti-war irony that
'Aces High'
lacked.
Trace your way back 50 years To the glow of Dresden – blood and tears
The song mentions here one of the most infamous and most controversial bombings of World War II.
Dresden, that had been left unharmed until then because of its lack of military value, was indeed glowing
on the night of 13th–14th February 1945. Although the damage inflicted on the town wer
less extensive than, for example, in Battle of Hamburg, the apparent uselessness of such a murderous
action has left a lasting trace in the history of all-out warfare.
In the black above by the cruel searchlight Men will die men will fight
After dealing with the horrors of a bombing on the ground, we are taken here to the suffering
of the airmen, who also risked their lives during such campaigns. The huge losses of
bomber crews during the 1942–45 carpet-bombing of Germany (which began with a
massive attack on Cologne, also mentioned in the song) gave Sir Arthur
"Bomber" Harris, head of Bomber Command at that time and initiator of
the switch to the destruction of civilian targets instead of military and industrial ones,
the nickname of "Butcher" Harris among the RAF crewmen. Post-war, the man
was considered a hero by some – the man who brought Nazi Germany to her knees
and forced her to surrender, thus putting an end to the horrors that were taking place there
– and a mass-murderer by others because of the killing of thousands of innocent civilians
that his strategy implied.
B-17G Rear Gunner by Geoff Pleasance.
No radar lock on – skin and bone
The difference between air warfare during WWII and today's "push-button" combat
is highlighted in this sentence. Those who fought in those days needed "guts" to
do what they did. This does not diminish the courage of the airmen who fight today with the help
of a more advanced technology, but it should make us realise the extent of self-sacrifice and
boldness of those who contributed to end the atrocities of an evil regime.
Nail that Fokker, kill that son
Now, this line always makes me cringe – a bit like the mention of dinosaurs in
'Quest For Fire'
– as the Germans never flew any Fokker planes during World War II (although they did
in World War I, Manfred Von Richtofen, a.k.a. "The Red Baron", being the most
famous example of a German ace flying a Fokker). Only the Dutch air force flew this type of plane
at the beginning the conflict. However, The Netherlands were defeated in five days of war in May 1940.
During that time there were 36 Fokker D.XXIs operational. Losses were heavy, but they did manage
to shoot down almost 40 Junkers Ju 52 transports planes and a couple of Messerschmitt
bf 109s fighters before they ran out of ammo (!). The Dutch government had tried to maintain
its neutrality, like during World War I, and there was therefore a kind of short-sightedness
concerning their armed forces, which resulted in a shortage of ammo. After the 5 days of war,
there were still 8 aircraft operational, which were destroyed deliberately just before the surrender
to Germany. The others either had been shot down, or destroyed on the ground. It is therefore obvious
that the name "Fokker" has just been printed in the lyrics as crude way to get around saying
"Fucker".
Tail-end Charlie in the boiling sky
It is an interesting piece of trivia to know that the common nickname for tailgunners originates from
a certain Charles Cooper. He was the first commissioned rear-gunner in the RAF during the
Second World War, and was subsequently nicknamed "Tail-End Charlie" by his crew.
That name rapidly became adopted for all rear-gunners in the RAF. Cooper was blinded by a German
bomb which fell outside his billet in 1941.
The Enola Gay was my last try
The Enola Gay is the name of the bomber flown by Paul Tibbets that dropped an atomic bomb,
lovingly nicknamed the "Little Boy", on Hiroshima, on 6th August 1945
(closely followed by another atomic bombing, this time performed by another B-29 called Bock's Car
which dropped the "Fat Man" on Nagasaki on 9th August 1945). The name of
the bomber derives from the inversion of the word "alone", associated with the pilot's
mother's name, Gay (and has therefore nothing to do with male homosexuality as some misinformed
people may think). Like the attack on Dresden, the unleashing of nuclear power on Japan was
deemed an unnecessary massacre by some, while others consider that it was the only way
to end the war. The "last tailgunner", Staff Sgt. George Caron, was the only
crew member on board the Enola Gay to witness the explosion, whereas Tibbets only
felt a tingling in his teeth, as the bomb's radioactive forces were interacting with his fillings.
On a concluding note, it would be useful to the few individuals who have suggested that
'Tailgunner' is actually not about war at all, but is instead a 'gay' song to re-read the lyrics,
as well as this commentary. The lyrics are as clear and unambiguous as they can be, and
there is just no way that they can be anything other than what they seem to be –
any other interpretation is pure fantasy. The song's title may come from a porn film,
but that's about the only link to any sexual innuendo.
Like some other Maiden songs that deal with a rather serious topic, it has that pesky 'happy' sound
which creates a mood that doesn't quite match the lyrics. After listening to it many times it is
possible to appreciate it more, but it would be over-reacting to call it a wonderful song.
The title came from a porno movie, about anal sex, then I thought, well I can't write
the lyrics about that! So I wrote it about real tailgunners. I had some words which began
"Trace your way back fifty years, to the glow of Dresden, blood and tears".
I know we shouldn't mention the war but it's about the attitude of bombing people.
It was real death in the skies back then. But there aren't any tailgunners on planes anymore,
it's all done by computers using missiles. At least it used to be man-on-man,
but now it's machine-on-machine. Who uses bullets
anymore?
Bruce Dickinson
Before the Second World War, the Saxon city of Dresden was renowned for its
Baroque architecture. So beautiful was the old quarter of the city that it was known throughout
Western Europe as "The Florence on the Elbe". The Zwinger Palace, an architectural
marvel itself, was a centre of scientific and artistic wonder. Its collection of fine porcelain
was not seen anywhere else in Europe before or since. The Frauenkirche ("Church
of Our Lady" is the closest English translation, but this hardly does it justice) was a symbol
of Dresden. For North Americans, like myself, it is difficult to appreciate the significance of
a Cathedral Town. For many, like Dresden, Salisbury, Freiburg, etc., the cathedral was
the embodiment of what it meant to be a citizen of that town. It was a symbol of religious worship,
of course, but also one of pride and progress.
How does any of this relate to Iron Maiden? I’m glad you asked. The song 'Tailgunner'
opens with the line:
Trace your way back 50 years To the glow of Dresden, blood and tears
While not one of Iron Maiden’s best songs, it certainly allows for some interesting historical
background information. It’s been nearly 60 years since the end of the war, but the song is
an older one.
We tend to focus on the atrocities committed by the Axis powers, mainly Germany,
in most studies of the Second World War – The bombing of Rotterdam, the torture
of Russian POWs, the flattening of Coventry, and, worst of all, the Holocaust.
Less known are some of the actions of the Allies. (This by no means forgives the Nazis
for their actions! The Nazis and their supporters were evil, regardless of the Allies’ actions.)
One such atrocity was the bombing of Dresden. From the 13th to the 15th of February 1945,
Dresden was on the receiving end of the most destructive aerial bombardment to that date.
The Zwinger Palace was completely destroyed. The Frauenkirche, after living through
numerous shellings from various enemies throughout its history, collapsed after being gutted
by incendiary bombs. Thousands of homes, and hundreds of schools, shops, and other buildings
were destroyed. So hot were the fires created by the firebombs that experts estimate the temperature
reached 1,900ºC, hot enough to create the infamous "death wind" many surrvivors
reported – a wind that sucked their loved ones into the flames. (For students of British history,
this phenomenon is similar to the wind created by the Great Fire of London, 1666. It has something
to do with hot and cold air…..but I’m not sure how.) The final death tolls, depending on whom
you ask, vary between 35,000 and 135,000.
Why Dresden? It certainly was a symbolic city, but that scarcely justified such a collosal raid
into eastern Germany by the Allies. Dresden had no military of strategic value. In fact, in irony’s sick way,
its lack of strategic value increased the death toll. During the late stage of the war, most industrial
and military strongholds in Germany (Hamburg, Frankfurt, Berlin) had been hit hard. The refugees
noticed that Dresden, because of its lack of (military) importance, was being spared, and thus
they fled there by the thousands. The increased refugee population in Dresden caused the death
toll to dramatically rise during the merciless bombing.
So – Why?
The British and Americans needed to prove they were tough. Not to Germany, but to the Soviets.
The main advance of Soviet troops into Germany went right by Dresden. The Western powers, while
nominally the allies of the Soviets, were terrified of Communism (whether this fear was justified
is not relevant). What was to stop a collosal Soviet army from stopping at Berlin? They could try
to take the industrial Rhineland, or even threaten France. This couldn’t do at all, so Dresden
was used as a demonstration of the might of allied air power.
The bomber boys are going home!
So terrible was Dresden for some Allied airmen that they developed a deep loathing
of themselves. Those who were Christian believed they were destined for Hell because of their
"crimes". One historian writes of the airmen involved "some had nightmares,
some thought they would go to Hell as war criminals, some had unshakable visions of the fires
and the burning cities."
Tail end Charlie in the boiling sky The Enola Gay was my last try Now that this tailgunner’s gone No more bombers, just one big bomb!
Has the conventional bomber been replaced? Absolutely not, in my opinion.
While nuclear arms up the anti, the M-A-D therom (see also my comment on
'Out of the
Silent Planet' .) Korea, Vietnam, the two Gulf Wars have all proven the usefulness
of plain old explosives.
So hot were the fires created by the firebombs that experts estimate the temperature
reached 1,900ºC, hot enough to create the infamous "death wind" many surrvivors
reported – a wind that sucked their loved ones into the flames. (For students of British history,
this phenomenon is similar to the wind created by the Great Fire of London, 1666. It has something
to do with hold and cold air…..but I’m not sure
how.)
IronDuke
I'm going to start with real basic chemical facts here, so you'll probably be familiar
with some of this – I don't mean to be patronizing, but I want to make sure this makes
sense to everyone, so I can't afford to assume that all this is common knowledge.
When a fire burns, it consumes oxygen from the atmosphere. In the process,
it heats up other atmospheric gases which it doesn't need (such as nitrogen) and releases
hot exhaust gases from the burning fuel. Heat is essentially a measure of molecular speed,
so the hotter a fire burns, the faster the heated air rises away from it. This creates a
"suction" at the base of the fire – cool air and fresh oxygen move in
to take the place of the heated gases which are rising away. The rate of speed of this
air movement is roughly proportional to the heat the fire generates.
Normally, the effects of this cooler air moving in are imperceptible. It happens for every fire;
it happens when you do something as small as lighting a match. But because the area of most fires
is very small compared to the area of the surrounding air, only a slight movement of all that
surrounding air is needed to refuel the fire.
In order to create a noticeable refueling wind, the ratio of fire size to available air
must be increased dramatically. This is what happened in Dresden and London. The large,
hot fires by themselves weren't enough to create the death wind. The surrounding buildings
constricted the air flow around the fire. Thus, the enormous volume of air the fire sucked in
was compressed into narrow European streets and confined between buildings. You may
have experienced this phenomenon yourself. If you've ever been in a major metropolitan
downtown area that is full of nothing but skyscrapers (midtown Manhattan, for example),
you may have noticed that a slow, calm wind in the intersections speeds up to become
a raging gale in the middle of the streets, where it has to flow through the canyon
of tall buildings.
Another useful analogy is water flow. A flow of 1,000 liters per minute
is no problem for a large river – it can move very slowly and still reach that number.
But try and get 1,000 liters per minute through your kitchen sink. Even if your plumbing
could withstand it, the water would have to move about 250 km/hr! (That's
155 miles per hour for those of you who still aren't metric-friendly.)
In other words, it's all in the environment in which the fire burns. Take the Dresden
or London fires and put them in the middle of a big empty field: no death wind. This type
of phenomenon can only happen in a city, as there are very few (if any) natural features
that can constrict air flow sufficiently.
Strategic bombing in World War 2 is an interesting topic, to say the least.
The theory is highly questionable. In the late 20s and 30s many strategists were predicting
the next wars would be over in a manner of hours, with the mutual destruction of enemy capital
cities by massive heavy bomber raids. Of course, by 1939 the tools for such destruction were lacking.
However, there was widespread panic and the belief in terror bombing was very real.
Long range bombing was very difficult for both the Brits and the Germans. At the outbreak
of war the British bombers could barely reach Germany from their home bases. From French bases
they could fly over Germany, but unescorted for most of it. Pre-war theory pushed the idea of the
"self-defending heavy bomber", an airplane that could ignore the need for long-range fighters
in favour of a heavier defence armament. Pinpoint bombing by day was the preferred method of strategic
bombing in this school.
In order to understand how bombing worked it is important to look at the vehicles designed
to carry out this operation, and the mechanics of the various air forces behind it. The three airforces
that should be examined are the German Luftwaffe, the British Royal Air Force, and the American
United States Army Air Forces.
The Luftwaffe was officially given existance in 1935 but in reality existed well back
in the late 20s, well before the rise of Adolf Hitler. The German officers who survived the war
worked hard to find loopholes in the Treaty of Versailles. Many glider schools were established
in Germany to give pilot training. By 1933 Germany had more qualified glider pilots than any
other nation.
Hitler was quick to turn this to his advantage. He proceeded to develop airplanes
under the guise of passenger aircraft (Heinkel He-111), mail airplanes (Junkers Ju-88),
and speed racers (Messerschmitt Bf-109). Using the German airline Lufthansa as a cover,
the Germans tested airplanes and even strategy to use with their swiftly developing airforce.
However, the airforce had one flaw. The officers within it were mostly army washouts
(although their most famous general, Kesselring, would be known as one of Germany's greatest
generals after his largely successful holding campaign in Italy). The Luftwaffe was also inexorably
tied to the demands of the Wehrmacht (German Army). This meant close relations between
the two service, leading to exceptional ground support for the first half of the war, but it meant
that the Luftwaffe was unable to do any other task Hitler might require of it. This includes strategic
bombing.
Although Germany, by 1940, had large amounts of bombers, none of them were up
to the task of strategic bombing. The emphasis on ground support led to a plethora of aging
dive bombers (the Ju-87 Stuka) being employed, as well as medium bombers (He-111, Do-17, Ju-88).
None of these craft were as speedy as a four-engined bomber, and carried on average a quarter
of the payload of an Allied bomber.
Germany did have a four-engined bomber program. But it was shelved on express
orders from Goering, who told his technical chief (famed WW1 ace Ernst Udet) that although
four engined bombers were more efficient than 3 medium bombers, Hitler was unlikely to ask
"how many bomber engines Germany has." So, when Germany undertook air offensives,
such as the Battle of Britain, Goering's force was to find itself woefully overtasked.
The sole exception to Germany's bomber woes was the Focke Wulf Fw-200 Kondor.
This airplane was a four-engined craft with enormous range. It was used to hunt down and
sink Allied ships. Before the Merchant Aircraft Carriers and the escort carriers took to the seas,
the Kondors were able to claim huge tonnage sunk. However, the Kondor was a civilian airframe,
unsuited to the rigours of combat. Air stress showed quickly on the airplanes and as a result,
few were serviceable beyond 1942.
Germany did eventually restart its four-engine bomber programme. But by then it was
too late. By 1944 all German aircraft production was diverted to fighters to stave off the combined
USAAF/Bomber Command onslaught on German cities. In an interesting side note to Germany's
bombing career, they did create the first jet bomber, the Blitz. It came too late to aid them.
Hitler had also insisted the first jet fighter, the Messerschmitt Me-262 Schwalbe, was used as a bomber.
This crazy demand set the German jet fighters back years, as they converted the airframe to hold
a payload and a bombadier. Hitler eventually allowed one in 10 to be fighters. Dr. Albert Speer,
his chief of industry, ignored him.
The Royal Air Force had a small force of bombers at the start of WW2 in the formation
they called Bomber Command. Led by Air Marshal Arthur "Bomber" Harris, Bomber
Command had one job: reduce Germany to rubble. Other jobs bombers might be employed for,
such as hunting down submarines, were relegated to other divisions within the RAF. For instance,
Coastal Command used bombers to go sub hunting.
This allowed for one section of the RAF to concentrate on Germany. By 1940,
Bomber Command was all Britain had left to hurt the Germans. Bomber Harris took up
his job with relish. The British began precision bombing the Germans by night. However,
it was soon apparent that this was impossible. British airmen were dying to mostly crater
the German countryside.
At this point in the war the British were limited to a few poor aircraft, the Sterling
and the Manchester. Both were twin-engined, had small payloads, and were unable to fly
over German flak (fliegerabwehrkannon). The crews were basically unable to aim
their bombs, as it was the middle of the night and the Germans did practise blackout.
A few things came about to change that, however.
1) New aircraft. Introduction of heavy four-engine bombers such as the Handley Page
Halifax and the Avro Lancaster allowed Bomber Command to carry much larger payloads to
Germany faster, higher, and safer. The De Havilland Mosquito light bomber also arrived to power
a special new unit:
2) Pathfinders. Highly trained in navigation and precision bombing, the Pathfinders
used the incredibly quick Mosquito to lay flares and fire bombs down on Bomber Command's
targets. The rest of the bombers would then simply arrive and plaster the area already lit up.
Interestingly enough, Bomber Harris argued against the creation of the Pathfinders, believing
an elite unit like this would take away from the effectiveness of the main bomber groups.
However, it greatly increased efficiency.
3) Change of target. With the failure to nail Germany's industries into the ground,
strategic bombing took on a new face: mass air raids over cities. Rather than destroy the plants
from which armaments were created, Bomber Command chose to destroy the workers who
made them, along with their morale.
Harris' new tactic brought the ire of the House of Commons on him. Harris claimed
it was neccessary, but one MP (or perhaps Lord) spoke out, "Of course the Germans
started it, but we do not take the Devil as our example." The wholesale destruction
of cities is never the less what Bomber Command set out to do.
The British started making their infamous "Thousand-Bomber Raids"
over Germany, using speed and numbers to overwhelm German fighter and flak defence
and devastate a city using incendiary bombs and high explosives. Older German cities
burned and burned. The tactic seemed to be a success, as far as Harris was concerned.
He thus switched targets: Berlin. During the long nights of winter he hit Berlin.
However, Berlin was a newer city and resisted burning. As well, it was protected by huge
amounts of flak. Of greater importance was the arrival of new German nightfighters, Bf-110s
and Ju-88s, equipped with radar and "Jazz Musik" armaments, which were
basically cannons mounted in the fuselage that shot straight up. All a German pilot had
to do was fly directly below a British bomber and blast till it fell. These innovations and
the fact that Berlin was so far from Bomber Command bases meant that the aircrews
took huge amounts of damage.
The United States Army Air Forces entered the war with a stratagem already worked out.
They clung to the 1930s doctrine of strategic bombing and had designed an airplane around it:
the famous Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress. The B-17 was coated in machine guns and had
a greatly accurate bombsight. Its original purpose was to attack enemy ships from the air,
a method of defense proven to work by renegade General Billy Mitchell, who was courtmarshalled
for using his bombers to sink old US battleships in 1925.
The Eighth US Army Air Force was deployed to Britain to begin day-bombing German
munitions factories and other important sites. Their first target was a ballbearings plant deep
inside German territory. The B-17s flew as far as they could with P-47 Thunderbolt escorts,
but continued through Germany without them after their range ended. The B-17 was supposed
to be self-defending.
It was not.
The B-17 did have lots of machine guns. But as shown by older British fighters,
0.303 inch machine guns simply did not have the power to bring down German fighters.
Meanwhile the 20mm cannons of the Fw-190 and the Bf-109 ripped through the unescorted bombers,
sending over 20% of them to their doom. The American day-bombing ideal would have to wait until
long-range fighters could be created to aid their attempt to slow German production.
Long-range fighters did exist, but they were twin-engined fighters: the Bristol Beaufighter
and the Lockheed P-38 Lightning. They simply weren't manœuverable enough to outfight
the German single-engined fighters.
Luckilly for the British and the Americans, however, the strategic bombing campaign
was put on hold to support D-Day. Both units protested, believing that the purpose of strategic
bombing was to hit strategic, not tactical, targets. However, both Bomber Command and the
8th (and 9th, which was medium bombers and rocket fighters) USAAF provided admirable
support on D-Day. Over 12,000 sorties were flown by the Allies on June 6th, 1944
alone. Carpet bombing led to the breakout from Normandy, and would continue to allow
the Allies to get an edge over the Germans.
The strategic bombing campaign resumed after D-Day. The Americans now
had a fighter they could use to help defend against the German fighters: the long-range,
heavily armed North American P-51 Mustang. An American airframe with a British engine
(the Merlin 51), the P-51 allowed the Allies to establish superiority over the daytime skies.
Luckilly for the Allies, the Me-262 was in short supply.
The success of the P-51 called for more and more German day fighters to use up
precious fuel to fend off the Americans. This drained the fuel from the night-fighters, who
had success rates against the British sharply drop off. However, it was a sad day when
the British destroyed Dresden, killing untold thousands of German civilians. There was
no reason for this devastation, except that perhaps Bomber Command wanted to make
sure that no German forgot the power of the Allies. Scare tactics?
The Pacific Ocean.
Allied strategic bombing raids began with the Doolittle Raid of early 1941.
Sixteen B-25 Mitchell medium bombers took off from the deck of the USS Hornet
to strike Tokyo. They did so, causing little damage but scaring the Japanese enough to initiate
the Battle of Midway, where they were defeated. Bombing did not continue until after Saipan
fell to the Allies, giving the Americans a base from which the B-29 Superfortress could hit Japan.
They firebombed the Japanese without respite. By the dropping of the atomic bombs the US
had destroyed 60% of the Japanese built up areas: most of the cities were made of wood.
The atomic bomb, however, raises interesting questions. Was it a good idea?
Was it neccessary?
I believe it was. The Japanese were giving no sign of surrendering, and the idea
of attacking Japan sickened even the bloodiest American generals (Patton, MacArthur).
Figures as high as "one million dead" were tossed around.
However, the Americans dropped two bombs. It has been argued that one
was acceptable, to show the power of America's new weapon. The second, however,
might have been overkill. However, nuclear weapons brought strategic bombing to
a new level. Now, a city with huge industrial capacity could be identified, and removed.
And honestly, it doesn't matter if you miss the factory. A few blocks over still gets it
with a nuke.
'Holy Smoke' is a religion-mocking song, in the same vein as Metallica's 'Leper Messiah'
and 'The God That Failed'. The song focuses on the greed and hypocrisy of
T.V. preachers
and the lyrics are actually very sharp and intelligent.
Believe in me – Send no money I died on the cross and that ain't funny
The first verse is obviously looking at the preachers from Jesus's point of view (whether or not he
has really existed seems to remain open to speculation and some
links
provided may help to gain further insight into this matter). Basically, he's not impressed to realise
that some unscrupulous characters are making money out of what was originally a free charity
and a message of love and tolerance. Many preachers are more interested in "Saving your souls
by taking your money" than in anything else and it's obvious that "They ain't religious
but they ain't no fools". Those who want to get rich out of others' gullibility are probably in the
best trade to become millionaires.
I've got a book by Jimmy Swaggart at home, Music: The New Pornography,
with a big picture of Steve on the front! It was sent to me by a Bible-basher and a quite sincere
letter came with it, very sincere. She sent me a copy of the Holy Bible, which was good because
I didn't have one and I needed one to research for some
songs.
Bruce Dickinson
I've lived in filth, I've lived in sin And I still smell cleaner than the shit you're in
This is a sharp and ironic statement that reminds us of the truth behind whatever "Jimmy Reptile
and all his friends" are saying. Incidentally, this "Jimmy Reptile" mentioned in the song
is in fact Jimmy Swaggart, a homophobic Bible-thumper who was advocating the utter respect of family values,
but was caught with prostitutes in a cheap motel at the time. That rat apologised publicly on air, cunningly
shedding a few crocodile tears, asking for the forgiveness of God and his flock, which earned him even
more followers. As Voltaire is supposed to have said, "Religion began when the first scoundrel met
the first fool"...
Unfortunately the lyrics of 'Holy Smoke' are not enough to save this song, which lacks that elusive deep
and compelling mood. Maiden don't seem to be at their best with political or contemporary subjects
– instead their strength resides more in History, films, and literature.
This is about TV preachers and all the various lies they tell and I just had this big image
of all those ovens in the death camps with the preachers' feet sticking out and holy smoke
going up.
Bruce Dickinson
No Prayer For The Dying (Harris)
This is a very introspective song, which combines soft acoustic verses with powerful choruses
and instrumentals. Although its title may have been inspired by the 1987 film, the lyrics
do not deal at all with the story line. Its topic is the familiar questions about the meaning of life,
which the song doesn't attempt to answer. Instead, there is an uncharacteristic appeal to God
for answers. However, it is difficult to see a link between the lyrics and the song's title.
In any case, this is a very good song, possibly one of the best on the entire album.
This song has Steve's lyrics and for me it has the best vocals on the album –
the one I like best, even though it's like just two lines. It's one of the best "quiet
beginning"-type songs I've ever done with Maiden and I really like the melody
line.
Bruce Dickinson
Public Enema Number One (Murray, Dickinson)
'Public Enema Number One' is another politically motivated song, which seems to be pointing out
the "enema" that the public is getting from the current state of the world. For those who
are not familiar with medical terms, an enema is, according to the dictionary, "the injection
of liquid into the rectum through the anus for cleansing, for stimulating evacuation of the bowels,
or for other therapeutic or diagnostic purposes." Basically and crudely speaking, it's about
"getting it up the arse". Even though it's political, it is a stronger song than 'Holy Smoke',
with great but too short guitar solos. It's one of the better songs on the album.
It's actually about... green hypocrites. It's about a big guy with his fast car, and
he's leaving the city in a cloud of smoke leaving the children crying in fear. He's got a one-way
ticket out of here. Fine, see ya. Because he can afford it, he's left everyone else behind and
in the cities there is over crowding, guns and riots and it seems like everything is gonna snap.
The politicians just lie to save their own skins, gamble that they are gonna do the right thing,
and they give the press scapegoats all the time. The whole thing is based on a cross between
New York and LA and I just hope the kids of today have more brains than the frazzled remains
of the Sixties and the Seventies generations... California dreaming as the earth dies screaming!
That's what it's about, people talking about the environment and not doing
anything.
Bruce Dickinson
Fates Warning (Murray, Harris)
'Fates Warning' is a fairly standard song whose subject is the finality and unavoidability of fate.
This topic is still open to discussion: are our experiences simply a string of coincidences, or
are our lives already laid out for us? A pre-destined life seems – to me at least –
quite unlikely, though...
The best feature of this song is the good instrumental and the guitar solos. To my knowledge,
'Fates Warning' has never been played live in concert.
Steve's words again. This is about feeling secure when everyone's life can hang by a thread.
You can go anytime and who knows why or
how?
Bruce Dickinson
The Assassin (Harris)
This song is lyrically very similar to
'Killers',
describing the perspective of a hit-man as he prepares for the assassination. The feeling
of the song matches perfectly what a real hit-man once said to a psychologist:
"I have a special power. It takes a special power to kill a fellow man and it gives you
a secret something – a force, a confidence, afterwards. [...] There is a something
which I feel as I do the job. It is a private thing, but you know when you fly, at take-off,
you feel a strange feeling in your body, not explicable, but strange. A sort of revolution
in your belly. That's the way I feel when I kill. It's no mystery."
The music successfully manages to create a mysterious James Bond-ish type of mood, but
unfortunately never rises to any type of climax. It is still a very good song, though.
Here we are trying to get into the head of a hired killer. He doesn't do it for money,
but because he likes it and he's cool, calculating, cold and sadistic. These are Steve's lyrics
again.
Bruce Dickinson
Run Silent Run Deep (Harris, Dickinson)
Based on the classic
novel by Edward L. Beach (1918–2002) and the 1958
film
starring Clark Gable and Burt Lancaster, this song is about WWII submarine warfare in the Pacific.
It's a brilliant song, which does a good job of recreating the mood of suspense and excitement of the
film.
For those who are not familiar with the English language and who wonder who Davy Jones may be,
just know that "Davy Jones's locker" is a common name give to the bottom of the sea, and
especially the grave of those who died at sea. Apparently, the term was first recorded in 1726, and
alludes to Davy Jones, a name given to the evil spirit of the sea. The real origin of both "Davy"
and "Jones" is disputed. A logical theory is that Jones referred to the biblical Jonah,
who, according to the legend, was swallowed by a whale and spent 3 day inside, and that Davy
was a corruption of a West Indian word for "devil". Alternatively, Jones may have been a real character
– a 16th century publican (mentioned in the ballad Jones Ale Is Newe) who owned a locker,
much feared by sailors, where he stored his beer. The first mention of Davy Jones – his locker came later
– is to be found in The Adventures of Peregrine Pickle, written by Tobias Smollett in 1751.
Lastly, Davy Jones may have taken his surname from Jonah, but first name from Saint David,
the patron saint of Wales and guardian of Welsh sailors.
These are some words I wrote for the Somewhere In Time album. That particular song
never made it but I kept the words, and when Steve came up with something, I said: 'You know what will
fit brilliantly there – these words'. It's a song about submarines, actually the first song about
submarines. 'Dive, Dive, Dive' came later. This is a slightly more serious version. The title comes
from one of my favourite war movies. We do use a lot of film and book titles because they always
inspire good material for us. But then books crop up a lot on films! This is about the dog eat dog,
no mercy world of life and death at sea during the Second World War, and it was as rough for the
guys below as it was for the guys up top. They both engaged in this evil struggle without any mercy.
And the sea didn't have any
mercy.
Bruce Dickinson
Hooks In You (Dickinson, Smith)
'Hooks In You' represents Adrian Smith's last song writing contribution to Iron Maiden until the
Brave New World album.
Some people argue that this song is a continuation of the
'Charlotte
The Harlot' saga, and perhaps the strongest evidence for this is the reference to
"number 22". Like
'Charlotte
The Harlot' and
'22,
Acacia Avenue', this song speaks of a relationship with a woman who is unable or unwilling
to reciprocate. However, the mood of the song is very unlike the other "Charlotte" songs,
and has that "happy" sound. Because of this, I generally do not consider it to be part
of the series.
'Hooks In You' is a slightly tongue-in-cheek thing. Me and Paddy went to look at a house
to buy and it was lived in by three gay guys. We looked around and it had all these beams, and one
of the guys was obviously into S&M and leather and stuff, and in one room there were these
enormous industrial hooks screwed into the beams. My mind boggled at what they could be used for.
I went home and wrote 'Hooks In You' with the line 'All the hooks in the ceiling, that well hung feeling'.
I couldn't write it about gay guys, but what if you went round to the house of Mr. and Mrs. Average
you found all these hooks in the ceiling? What do THEY get up to? (Did Bruce buy the house?)
No we didn't! At the end of the song the guy thinks his wife has been unfaithful and sets her in
concrete in the
foundations.
Bruce Dickinson
Bring Your Daughter... ...To The Slaughter (Dickinson)
The original version of this song was written by Bruce Dickinson for the
Nightmare On Elm Street 5 soundtrack
and featured Janick Gers on guitar (before he had joined Iron Maiden). According to the
Iron Maiden FAQ, this song is based on the poem
To His Coy Mistress by
Andrew Marvell (1621–1678).
After reading the poem several times, I am a bit skeptical that it has much to do with this song.
To His Coy Mistress is a love poem, where the poet is urging his lady to abandon her coyness.
On the other hand, the song seems to be coarsely sexual ('slaughter' is just a metaphor).
Perhaps it parallels the poem in some extremely distant way, but shares in little of the poem's depth
and introspectiveness. However the song is quite good musically, especially in the instrumental
and excellent guitar solos, and was part of the standard concert setlist until the departure of
Bruce Dickinson. But taken at face value, many people – mostly those who have daughters!
– may be offended by the title and apparent subject of this song.
Here I tried to sum up what I thought Nightmare On Elm Street movies are really
about, and it's all about adolescent fear of period pains. That's what I think it is – deep down.
When a young girl first gets her period she bleeds and it happens at night, and so she is afraid to go
to sleep and it's a very terrifying time for her, sexually as well, and Nightmare On Elm Street
targets that fear. The real slaughter in the Freddie movies is when she loses her virginity. That is the
rather nasty thought behind it all, but that's what makes those kind of movies
frightening.
Bruce Dickinson
Mother Russia (Harris)
'Mother Russia' is a tribute to Russia and the Russian people, inspired by the imminent collapse of
soviet communism at that time. However, many Russians don't like this song, as they consider it somehow
patronising. It is the epic song of the album in the Steve Harris tradition, and while
not quite in the same league with others such as
'Phantom
Of The Opera' or
'Rime
Of The Ancient Mariner', it is still a decent song.
You can really hear those synths on this one, and anyone who thinks that there are no synths on
this album should give this another listen.
'Mother Russia' is about the tragedy of a great land which has an incredible history
of being overrun and people being massacred, for centuries, and this song says: wouldn't it be
great if Russia could finally get itself together now and live in
peace?
Bruce Dickinson
In contrary to what the Commentary says, the song cannot have been inspired by
the 'fall of Soviet Communism', simply because it had not taken place by the time the song
was written (1990).
The song is much more inspired by the political reforms that took place under Gorbachev's
government, known as Glasnost and Perestroika, in the same vein as 'Wind Of Change'
by Scorpions. Gorbachev was/is not an anti-Communist – else, he would've ended in Siberia and not
at the head of the Communist Party. Gorbachev was much more a realist who knew that the people
of the Soviet Union were not happy with the way things were. It does not take many brain cells to realize
that the people were not free in the Soviet Union despite what all the propaganda said.
During the 1980s, the Soviet Union suffered from a series of economical mistakes made
in the past, which were not all because of Communist ideology, but also because of ecological
short-sightedness. Take, for example, the quick dependency on agricultural ground in Kazakhstan
and Uzbekistan, which turned out to be a disaster, with the Kazakh farmlands turning into deserts
again and the Aral Sea shrinking dramatically. These small examples can serve to visualize
the dramatic situation in the entire Eastern Block. No matter how much the Communist rulers
struggled against it, sooner or later, a change had to take place if they still wanted to stay in
power.
What really forced these political changes, however, was the increasing unhappiness
among the populations of the Communist countries. After a wave of unrests and riots in the 1950s,
most importantly in Poland, East Germany and Hungary, the Communist world had been quite peaceful,
bar Czechoslovakia in 1968. The 80s proved to be rather turbulent, with the people of Poland making
the start in the 1980s with the Solidarnosc movement. Other Satellite states of the USSR
quickly followed suit, most importantly Hungary. Surely everyone here will know that Iron Maiden
toured Poland and Hungary in 1985, something that would have been outright impossible just
five years earlier!
Gorbachev became president of the USSR in 1986. He quickly introduced political reforms
that guaranteed more freedoms and rights to the people. It soon became clear that Gorbachev was
not too keen on keeping the Eastern Block as it was, and therefore tolerated the democratic process
in formerly Communist countries – much to the dismay of Communist hardliners.
In 1990, when the song was written, the Soviet Union had changed its face considerably. While
the people were still not exactly "free", as the song claims, they did enjoy a vast number
of liberties they didn't have before. The system of satellite states of the USSR was in the process
of collapsing. Countries like Poland, the Czech Republic and Hungary were peacefully becoming
democracies. East Germany was in the process of re-unifying with the Federal Republic
(which finally happened on 3rd October 1990 – two days after No Prayer
For The Dying was released) while Romania got rid of Ceaucescu in a bloody revolution
a year before.
Despite what the song claims, Russia did not finally enjoy peace and freedom.
It was at the verge of civil war in 1993, after the Soviet Union had officially been disbanded
in 1992 following declarations of independence by almost all former Soviet Republics.
Today, the situation has improved, but poverty and crime are a very big problem in Russia,
and the level of political freedom and security is certainly not comparable to western standards.
Definitely one of Maiden's most enduring commentaries on contemporary events.
As stated above, the song was written around 1990 when the Soviet Union was collapsing
under its own weight. I believe the second stanza is key to this understanding:
Mother Russia poetry majestic Tells the time of a great empire Turning round the old man ponders Reminiscing an age gone by
It seemed like the real Russia could reassert itself. The glory days of the Tsars
when Russia was at the centre of the world, politically and culturally. Russian art and
culture thrived, and out of the cold barren steppe a great empire emerged. That is,
in my opinion, the "age gone by" about which the old man is reminiscing.
As we know, however, the new Russia did not revert to the greatness of the old.
The country is being torn apart by terrorists, corrupt officials, poor economic outlooks, etc.
In these unsure times, many Russians have looked back to the glory days of the Soviet Union:
The Great Patriotic War, the heady days of Sputnik and Yuri Gagarin; when the world trembled
at the sound of their rockets (to steal from the Hunt for Red October). This nostalgia
is manifesting itself in many ways. The old Soviet Anthem, with its imposing refrains,
was adopted (with new words) as the anthem of the Russian Federation. The Russian
government is becoming increasingly centralized under Putin, making it resemble the Soviet
system more each day. The people have forgotten the horrors and brutality of the old regime
in favour of the relative security and ‘sureness’ it offered.
In other words, this song comments on the Russian habit of always looking back
instead of forward. The music is superb, and unlike almost anything else Iron Maiden plays.
Even if it weren’t entitled 'Mother Russia' and the words not present, the listener instantly
recognises the ‘Russianess’ of the music.
The title came from a porno movie, about anal sex, then I thought, well I can't write
the lyrics about that! So I wrote it about real tailgunners. I had some words which began
"Trace your way back fifty years, to the glow of Dresden, blood and tears".
I know we shouldn't mention the war but it's about the attitude of bombing people.
It was real death in the skies back then. But there aren't any tailgunners on planes anymore,
it's all done by computers using missiles. At least it used to be man-on-man,
but now it's machine-on-machine. Who uses bullets
anymore? 
