Iron Maiden lyrics tournament final: Empire of the Clouds rises above all

Pick the song with the best lyrics from each pair

  • Total voters
    17
  • Poll closed .
Advancing are Brave New World (7-2) and Blood Brothers (5-4)

Next up:

EL DORADO

El Dorado.jpg

Gotta tell you a story
On a cold winter's night
You'll been sailing for glory
Before you know what is right

So come over here now
I've got a vision for you
It's my personal snake oil
It's just something I do

I'm the Jester with no tears
And I'm playing on your fears
I'm a trickster smiling underneath this mask of love and death
The eternal lie I've told
About the pyramids of gold
I've got you hooked at every turn, your money's left to burn

You'll be wanting a contract,
You'll be waiting a while
I'd like to give you my contact
But that isn't my style
Well, you'll only get one chance
And it's too good to miss
If I didn't lie to you
Then I wouldn't exist

Greed, lust, and envy, pride
It's the same old same old way
The smoke and mirrors
Visions that you see are just like me
I'm a clever banker's face
With just a letter out of place
I know someone just like you know someone just like me

El Dorado come and play
El Dorado step this way
Take a ticket for the ride
El Dorado streets of gold
See the ship its oversold
You've got one last chance to try

So gone is the glory
And gone is the gold
Well if you need a story
I'll come, it has to be told

Well you may say I'm a devil
And I wouldn't say no
But out here on the dark side
Hey! On with the show!

So now my tale is told
Big and bad and twice as bold
The ship of fools is sinking as the cracks begin to grow
There is no easy way
For an honest man today
Which is something you should think of as my lifeboat sails away

El Dorado come and play
El Dorado step this way
Take a ticket for the ride

El Dorado streets of gold
See the ship its oversold
You've got one last chance to try

versus

WHERE EAGLES DARE

Where Eagles Dare.jpg

It's snowing outside the rumbling sound
of engines roar in the night,
The mission is near the confident men
are waiting to drop from the sky.

The blizzard goes on but still they must fly
No one should go where eagles dare.

Bavarian alps that lay all around
they seem to stare from below,
The enemy lines a long time passed
are lying deep in the snow.

Into the night they fall through the sky
No one should fly where eagles dare.

They're closing in the fortress is near
it's standing high in the sky,
The cable car's the only way in
it's really impossible to climb.

They make their way but maybe too late
They've got to try to save the day.

The panicking cries the roaring of guns
are echoing all round the valley,
The mission complete they make to escape
away from the Eagles Nest.

They dared to go where no one would try
they chose to fly where eagles dare.
 
and

MURDERS IN THE RUE MORGUE

Rue Morgue.jpg

I remember it as plain as day
Although it happened in the dark of the night.
I was strolling through the streets of Paris
And it was cold it was starting to rain.
And then I heard a piercing scream
And I rushed to the scene of the crime
But all I found was the butchered remains
Of two girls laying side by side.

Murders in the Rue Morgue
Someone call the gendarmes
Murders in the Rue Morgue
Run before the killers go free

There's some people coming down the street
At last there's someone heard my call
I can't understand why they're pointing at me
I never done nothing at all.
But I must have got some blood on my hands
Because everyone's shouting at me
I can't speak French so I couldn't explain
And like a fool I started running away.

Murders in the Rue Morgue
Someone call the gendarmes
Murders in the Rue Morgue
Run before the killers go free

And now I've gotta get away from the arms of the law.
All France is looking for me.
I've gotta find my way across the border for sure
Down the south to Italy.

Murders in the Rue Morgue
Someone call the gendarmes
Murders in the Rue Morgue
Run before the killers go free

Well I made it to the border at last
But I can't erase the scene from my mind
Anytime somebody stares at me, well
I just start running blind
Well I'm moving through the shadows at night
Away from the staring eyes
Any day they'll be looking for me
'Cause I know I show the signs of...

Murders in the Rue Morgue
Someone call the gendarmes
Murders in the Rue Morgue
Am I ever going to be free

It took so long and I'm getting so tired
I'm running out of places to hide
Should I return to the scene of the crime
Where the two young victims died
If I could go to somebody for help
It'd get me out of trouble for sure
But I know that it's on my mind
That my doctor said I've done it before.

Murders in the Rue Morgue
They're never gonna find me
Murders in the Rue Morgue
I'm never going home...

versus

THE CLANSMAN

Clansman.jpg

Wake alone in the hills
With the wind in your face
It feels good to be proud
And be free and a race
That is part of a clan
And to live on high lands
And the air that you breathe
So pure and so clean

When alone on the hills
With the wind in your hair
With a longing to feel
Just to be free...

It is right to believe
In the need to be free
It's a time when you die
And without asking why
Can't you see what they do
They are grinding us down
They are taking our land
That belongs to the clans

Not alone with a dream
Just a want to be free
With a need to belong
I am a clansman...

Freedom!

It's a time wrought with fear
It's a land wrought with change
Ancestors could hear
What is happening now
They would turn in their graves
They would all be ashamed
That the land of the free
Has been written in chains

And I know what I want
When the timing is right
Then I'll take what is mine
I am the clansman...

And I swear to defend
And we'll fight to the end
And I swear that I'll never
Be taken alive
And I know that we'll stand
And we'll fight for our land
And I swear that my bairns
Will be born free

And I know what I want
When the timing is right
Then I'll take what is mine
I am the clansman...

Freedom!

No, no we can't let them take anymore
No we can't let them take anymore
We've the land of the free...

Freedom!

And I know what I want
When the timing is right
Then I'll take what is mine
I am the clansman...
 
Kudos for finding all of the different images @mckindog , just goes to show that there's fan art for literally every Maiden song there is. Only a band with a mascot like Eddie can accomplish that. Pretty cool :cool:
 
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I absolutely hate these battles.

Where Eagles Dare and Murders epitomize what a young Steve was good at: telling a great adventure tale that put you right into the story.
The Clansman is a latter-day classic that adopts that old-style approach. And El Dorado is a fabulous lyric that works on every level.

I can't not vote for El Dorado and Murders tells a better story than the Clansman.
 
Murders is the worst offender when it comes to Steve's wordy lyrics problem. It reads like word vomit. WED has this problem too but not nearly as bad and the imagery is fantastic.

El Dorado is one of my favorites though and The Clansman is among Maiden's most powerful.
 
El Dorado (11-1) and The Clansman (7-5) advance

Next up:

IF ETERNITY SHOULD FAIL

If Eternity Should Fail.jpg

Here is the soul of a man
Here in this place for the taking
Clothed in white, stand in the light
Here is the soul of a man

Time to speak with the shaman again
Conjure the jester again
Black dog in the ruins is howling my name
So here is the soul of a man...

When the world was virgin before the coming of men
Just a solar witness the beginning of the end
From a world of magma to a cold rock face
The ascent of madness and a human race

We are strange believers all of us
There are stranger truths immortal lust
We rise from slumber he calls our name
Recalls our number abide with pain

Reef in a sail at the edge of the world
If eternity should fail
Waiting in line for the ending of time
If eternity should fail

To god’s illusion which I recall
Was our delusion before the fall
The angels come and the angels go
But the lord of light shining below

Eternal blackness beyond the stars
We think our wisdom will get that far
At the master’s table the table’s bare
No land of plenty, devastation, despair

Reef in a sail at the edge of the world
If eternity should fail
Waiting in line for the ending of time
If eternity should fail

Good day my name is Necropolis
I am formed of the dead
I am the harvester of the soul meat
And I suck the lives from around my bed
My own two sons I gave them breath
And I filled their living corpses with my bile
What humanity I knew I have long forgotten
For me eternity is nothing
But a short while

versus

FLIGHT OF ICARUS

Icarus.jpg

As the sun breaks, above the ground,
An old man stands on the hill.
As the ground warms, to the first rays of light
A birdsong shatters the still.

His eyes are ablaze,
See the madman in his gaze.

Fly on your way, like an eagle,
Fly as high as the sun,
On your way, like an eagle,
Fly and touch the sun

Now the crowd breaks and a young boy appears
Looks the old man in the eye
As he spreads his wings and shouts at the crowd
In the name of God my father I fly.

His eyes seem so glazed
As he flies on the wings of a dream.
Now he knows his father betrayed
Now his wings turn to ashes to ashes his grave

Fly on your way, like an eagle,
Fly as high as the sun,
On your way, like an eagle,
Fly and touch the sun

Fly as high as the sun
 
...and

DREAM OF MIRRORS

DreamofMirrors.jpg

Have you ever felt the future is the past,
but you don't know how...?
A reflected dream of a captured time,
is it really now, is it really happening?

Don't know why I feel this way, have I dreamt this time, this place?
Something vivid comes again into my mind
And I think I've seen your face, seen this room, been in this place
Something vivid comes again into my mind

All my hopes and expectations, looking for an explanation
Have I found my destination? I just can't take no more

The dream is true, the dream is true
The dream is true, the dream is true

Think I've heard your voice before, think I've said these words before
Something makes me feel I just might lose my mind
Am I still inside my dream? Is this a new reality
Something makes me feel that I have lost my mind

All my hopes and expectations, looking for an explanation
Coming to the realization that I can't see for sure

I only dream in black and white, I only dream cause I'm alive
I only dream in black and white, to save me from myself
I only dream in black and white, I only dream cause I'm alive
I only dream in black and white, to save me from myself

The dream is true, the dream is true
The dream is true, the dream is true

I get up put on the light, dreading the oncoming night
Scared to fall asleep and dream the dream again
Nothing that I contemplate, nothing that I can compare
To letting loose the demons deep inside my head

Dread to think what might be stirring, that my dream is reoccurring
Got to keep away from drifting, saving me from myself

I only dream in black and white, I only dream cause I'm alive
I only dream in black and white, to save me from myself
I only dream in black and white, I only dream cause I'm alive
I only dream in black and white, to save me from myself

Lost in a dream of mirrors, lost in a paradox
Lost and time is spinning, lost a nightmare I retrace
Lost a hell that I revisit, lost another time and place
Lost a parallel existence, lost a nightmare I retrace

I only dream in black and white, I only dream cause I'm alive
I only dream in black and white, to save me from myself
I only dream in black and white, I only dream cause I'm alive
I only dream in black and white, to save me from myself

The dream is true, the dream is true
The dream is true, the dream is true

versus

NO MORE LIES

No more lies.jpg

There's a darkened sky before me
There's no time to prepare
Salvage a last horizon
But no regrets from me

Maybe I'll be back some other day
To live again just who can say
In what shape or form that I might be
Just another chance for me

A hurried time no disgrace
Instead of racing to conclusion
And wishing all my life away
No one can stop me now

Time is up it couldn't last
But there's more things I'd like to do
I'm coming back to try again
Someday maybe I'll wait till then

No more lies

They're all sitting at my table
Talking tall and drinking wine
Their time is up just like me
But they just don't know it yet

So just a word of warning
When you're in your deepest dreams
There's nothing you can hide from
I've got my eye on you

The clock is fast, the hour is near
Eventful past is ever clear
My life is set, the time is here
I think I'm coming home

No more lies

A hurried time, no disgrace
Instead of racing to conclusions
And wishing all your life away
No-one can stop me now

Time is up it couldn't last
But there's more things I have to do
I'm coming back to try again
Don't tell me that this is the end

No more lies...
 
Definitely Eternity, one of my personal favourites. Probably Dream of Mirrors from the second pair but I'll need to think about it first.
 
Eternity gets my vote because of the poetry and darkness. Really cool stuff. I think Icarus is actually quite good, but it's structured like a story song and needs another verse or two to be truly effective. The lyrics themselves are solid.

I absolutely adore the fit of the lyrics in No More Lies, but Dream has the power. Simple, sometimes too simple, but quite moving.
 
If Eternity Should Fail (8-2) and Dream of Mirrors (8-2) advance.

Next up, the final two matchups of the first round:

ACES HIGH

Aces High.jpg

There goes the siren that warns off the air raid
Then comes the sound of the guns sending flak
Out for the scramble we've got to get airborne
Got to get up for the coming attack.

Jump in the cockpit and start up the engines
Remove all the wheelblocks
There's no time to waste
Gathering speed as we head down the runway
Gotta get airborne before it's too late

Running, scrambling, flying
Rolling, turning, diving, going in again
Run, live to fly, fly to live, do or die
Won't you run, live to fly, fly to live, Aces high

Move in to fire at the mainstream of bombers
Let off a sharp burst and then turn away
Roll over, spin round to come in behind them
Move to their blindsides and firing again

Bandits at 8 o'clock move in behind us
Ten ME-109's out of the sun
Ascending and turning out spitfires to face them
Heading straight for them I press my guns.

Rolling, turning, diving
Rolling, turning, diving, going in again
Rolling, turning, diving
Rolling, turning, diving
Run, live to fly, fly to live, do or die
Won't you run, live to fly, fly to live, Aces high.

versus

SEVENTH SON OF A SEVENTH SON

Seventh Son.jpg

Here they stand brothers them all
All the sons divided they'd fall
Here await the birth of the son
The seventh, the heavenly, the chosen one.

Here the birth from an unbroken line
Born the healer the seventh, his time
Unknowingly blessed and as his life unfolds
Slowly unveiling the power he holds

Seventh son of a seventh son

Then they watch the progress he makes
The Good and the evil which path will he take
Both of them trying to manipulate
The use of his powers before it's too late

Today is born the seventh one
Born of woman the seventh son
And he in turn of a seventh son
He has the power to heal
He has the gift of the second sight
He is the chosen one
So it shall be written
So it shall be done
 
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...and

THE ALCHEMIST

Alchemist.jpg

Stranger than the comet as it streaks across the sky
Stranger than the truth I know before my open eyes
I have dealt in mysteries and trickery, of light to entertain
Looked into the abyss, called it by its name

I have plundered time itself, put the world inside it
And the mysteries, day and night, divide it
A plague of wonders, on your knees beside me
Know the secrets, you shall not deride us

My dreams of empire for my frozen queen
Will come to pass
Know me, the Magus
I am Dr. Dee
And this is my house

I am the master of the tides
I shame the mirror in my sight
What random music of the spheres across the years

Know this I will return to this land
Rebuild where the ruins did stand
Chain of the demons set free
Strange alchemy

Gather round the aimless and the feckless and the lame
Hear the master summon up the spirits by their names
I curse you Edward Kelly your betrayal for eternity is damned
Know you speak with demons you cannot command

Even as I looked into the glass then I was blinded
Burning by the Mortlake shore my house my books inside it
You have taken up my wife and lain beside her
Now the black rain on my house, the timbers burning

My dreams of empire for my frozen queen
Will come to pass
Know me, the Magus
I am Dr. Dee
And this was my house

I was the keeper of the books
I had the knowledge of the scrolls
But now through ignorance and fear
I cast a shadow through the years

Know this I will return to this land
Rebuild where the ruins did stand
Chain of the demons set free
Strange alchemy


versus

RAINMAKER

Rainmaker.jpg

When I was wandering in the desert
And was searching for the truth
I heard a choir of angels calling out my name
I had the feeling that my life would never be the same again
I turned my face towards the barren sun

And I know of the pain that you feel the same as me
And I dream of the rain as it falls upon the leaves
And the cracks in our lives like the cracks upon the ground
They are sealed and are now washed away

You tell me we can start the rain
You tell me that we all can change
You tell me we can find something to wash the tears away
You tell me we can start the rain
You tell me that we all can change
You tell me we can find something to wash the tears.....

And I know of the pain that you feel the same as me
And I dream of the rain as it falls upon the leaves
And the cracks in the ground like the cracks are in our lives
They are sealed and now far away
 
Aces High because of the classic lines, energy, and rallying cry that it carries. I love Seventh Son, but I feel the lyrics a bit too murky (like the concept) to win in this matchup.

Definitely The Alchemist. Rainmaker is nice and simple and I like it quite a bit, but Alchemist is better. I especially the love the fit during the end of the chorus.
 
Aces High is one of those all-action ones. Despite Seventh Son being a long-time favourite of mine, I have to say the appeal is more in the music much than the lyrics, which are less than dazzling. Aces High from the first pair.

The second pair wasn't such an easy choice. For all I like the sentiment and the historical background to Alchemist, I think it's let down by some lines coming across as hurried and crammed in. There are some finely crafted words in there, but at times it feels like a lot of weightier statements have been shoehorned into a song that has the character of a short rocker. There's a lot more grace to the way Rainmaker's lyrics fit the music, and they have a more visual quality, even if the writing is nowhere near as rich. I'll give my vote to Alchemist, but I don't find it a brilliant fit.
 
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