gor
Ancient Mariner
This is one of the things that really got me to loving Maiden... they really pay attention to the lyrics of the songs.
Anyway, the intresting fact is, although they only made one concept album (ssoass), they have several theme albums, in which the lyrics of most songs have the same refference point, an underlying common subject. These albums are:
KILLERS
Most of the songs rotate around the motives and different feelings of a killer
The Ides Of March: The Ides Of March is the 15th day of March, the day where Ceasar is killed by Brutus in Shakespear's play Julius Ceasar. This is a song about killing for intrest, with ulterior motives.
Murders In The Rue Morgue: This song is inspired by the story of the same name by Edgear Alan Poe. Although Maiden give a different finish to the story than Poe does. In the story, in the end it is revealed that the murders were made by an escaped urangotang. In the lyrics, they are done by the narrator. This song is about The phsycopath killer, which has no motives or awareness of his actions.
Another Life: The character is in a very bad phsycological state and is contemplating suicide. This song is about the strangest killings of all, suicide.
Genghis Khan: Militar genius, his march through Europe changed history for ever. This song touches the album theme by the killing in time of war, in Khan's case very mass, gruesome and merciless...
Innocent Exile: The lyrics are about the fleeting person who is wrongly accused of killing someone.
Killers: The centerpiece... Take a good look at the lyrics! "I'm bound to destroy all this greed!". Yes, this song is about Murder because of the sence of an ethical motive, a holy mission, needed clensing. This kind of thinking goes on in a schizophrenic's head.
Twilight Zone: Here, the killer is the dead spouce, who wants to kill his lady because he misses her so much! Killing in the name of love is the theme here.
SOMEWHERE IN TIME
Most of the songs rotate around the concept of Time and taking advantage of it!
Caught Somewhere In Time: Inspired by the film Time And Time again, it poses a question many have pondered. If we could go back in time, would we change our choises? Here, time is the prison that prevents us from changing the things we regret doing. It would be so tempting to travel time that we could be persuaded by the devil in exchange for our soul...or not?
Wasted Years: Lyricaly, this song comes as a contrast to the previous one. This time, the listener is promted to let go of the past and realise the importance of the present. here, time is perceived as a gift, a beautiful journey. Carpe Diem.
Heaven Can Wait: This song is about the limits of the time given to each person, and the feelings caused when our time is near. When death knocks on our door, many of us will very unwillingly live our life behind, entering oblivience with intense feelings of leaving things unfinished behind. Yikes!
Stranger In A Strange Land: Here, time is the teacher. Men time and time again come across frozen and preserved evidence of the past, which should help them take decisions wisely. People who don't know history are bound to repeat it.
Deja Vu: We all get that feeling sometimes. This song contemplates the fact that the perception of time is a procedure that can be manipulated by our brains and can be deceitful and subjective. We all have memories from things that never happened, fragmented and distorted memories of true events. It is because of the way our brain stores data.
Alexander The Great: This song deals with events, leaders, heroes of the past which have gone on to receive great status through history, making them seem out of this world and turning them into legends.
SEVENTH SON OF A SEVENTH SON
This concept album deals with the everlasting battle of good vs. evil. The following is my interpretation of the concept, it is not nececeraly THE interpretation:
Moonchild: The 7th son is born. Lucifer, knowing of his powers, through threats to his parents is trying to win over the 7th so as to control his powers.
Sevent Son Of A Seventh Son: Lyricwise, this song should have been placed between Moonchild and Infinite dreams, as it is a detailed view of the birth of the seventh son, and his 6 brothers awaiting his coming.
Infinite Dreams: The young boy is seeing increasingly frightening dreams, which are the result of the dawning of his powers, which he does not know of yet. The nature of the dreams fills the 7th son with worries and unanswered questions.
Can I Play With Madness: The accumulating questions as well as the increasing fear drive the 7th son to ask a prophet in search of answers. The prophet understands the young boy's nature and his ignorance of his powers. Thinking of the harms they could cause if the boy were won over to the "left side", he avoids answering and tries to scare the boy away from finding any answers, threatening him that his soul would "burn in a lake of fire".
The Evil That Men Do: At this point, Satan again tries to win the 7th son to his side. He sends his virgin daughter to him as bait to lure him over. The 7th son sleeps with the virgin which leeds to "the slaughter of innocence". His awarness has become more acute and he is very close to discovering what he is. The spiritual rebirth of the 7th son takes place. He realises his powers and the only thing remaining is to see if he will use them for good or for evil, "which path will he take".
The Prophecy: The son has chosen the good side. Lucifer again tries to win him over, this time through other means. Lucifer prepares a disaster to the village, knowing that the 7th son will foresee it and try to warn the others. Lucifer is depending on the nature of mankind, as the villagers disbelieve the 7th son and mock him. The people now turn against the 7th son acusing him that he "brought down a curse" with his false predictions. Lucifer hopes that this ungreatfulness will push the 7th son to rethink about the side he has chosen. Disaster comes, as predicted.
The Clairvoyant: Human ungreatfulness and the futility of trying to use his powers for good have taken a great toll on the 7th son's heart. As his courage is diminishing and his powers grow stronger each day, the young boy has started to be scared of them once again. he is scared that he will no longer be able to be in control of them. he prepairs to "meet his maker".
Only The Good Die Young: The Seventh Son, in his dying moments, spits at humanity's hypocrisy, foretells the doom of all and questions the purpose of his own being.
FEAR OF THE DARK
This album deals with the different faces of fear in today's society. Those that were always there and those that were born from the modern ways of life.
Afraid To Shoot Strangers: The fear of war, portrayed through the eyes of a soldier fighting on foreign land, for alien causes, dissilusioned about his mission
Fear Is The Key: The fear that has changed the way we see sex, fear of AIDS.
Childhood's End: The fear instilled in people's heart by an uncertain future. In our so called advanced society, we yet haven't realised that 1 person out of 5 doesn't even have access to drinkable water and 1 out of 3 doesn't have electricity on this miserable planet.
Wasting Love: The lyrics are about the fear of emotional investing on another person, a direct consequence of the overpopulation of modern cities, which leads to superficial relationships and guides men and women astray from true love.
Chains Of Misery: This song is about fears of damnation / destruction / hell / holocaust, sawn by religion in hope to reap faith, thus control. Fear not say the lyrics, it's only love that holds the key to our hearts!
Fear Of The Dark: Fittingly enough, the centerpiece and last song of the album deals with a fear that has been with us since the dawn of our existance and is so strongly rooted in us that will probably never go away.... FEAR... OF... THE... DARK!
THE X FACTOR
The concept of this album is war, not only in the classical sence, but in all its faces...
Lord of the flies: This song is about the everpresent beast inside humans, no matter how "civilised" we may have become. It is about the everlasting war between the beast and the man inside us... READ THE BOOK!
Man On The Edge: War against an opressing, inhuman modern society, personal revolution... SEE THE FILM (falling down)!
Fortunes Of War: The results of war in the personality of the soldier. No winners here.
Look for the truth: One of the most inspiring maiden lyrics EVER. The war against your inner fears, your wounds, the memories you'd like to forget, your flaws, yourself!
The Aftermath: War in it's classical sense and its destroying effect. This one is about the Battle Of Somme (WWI - 1916).
Judgement Of Heaven: Inner war against depression and thoughts of suicide. Steve was really suffering through his divorce!
Blood On The World's Hands: Again, the cruel face of war between nations. This song is about the 1991 war in Yugoslavia/Croatia.
The Edge Of Darkness: This song is about how man can loose his mind during war. Its lyrics are lines taken right out of Apocalypse Now. It's a boring movie, but if you see it you get the idea of how twisted the characters' thoughts have become.
I'd like to see ppl's thoughts on these, as well as a development of a possible theme in Dance of Death...how about it?
Anyway, the intresting fact is, although they only made one concept album (ssoass), they have several theme albums, in which the lyrics of most songs have the same refference point, an underlying common subject. These albums are:
KILLERS
Most of the songs rotate around the motives and different feelings of a killer
The Ides Of March: The Ides Of March is the 15th day of March, the day where Ceasar is killed by Brutus in Shakespear's play Julius Ceasar. This is a song about killing for intrest, with ulterior motives.
Murders In The Rue Morgue: This song is inspired by the story of the same name by Edgear Alan Poe. Although Maiden give a different finish to the story than Poe does. In the story, in the end it is revealed that the murders were made by an escaped urangotang. In the lyrics, they are done by the narrator. This song is about The phsycopath killer, which has no motives or awareness of his actions.
Another Life: The character is in a very bad phsycological state and is contemplating suicide. This song is about the strangest killings of all, suicide.
Genghis Khan: Militar genius, his march through Europe changed history for ever. This song touches the album theme by the killing in time of war, in Khan's case very mass, gruesome and merciless...
Innocent Exile: The lyrics are about the fleeting person who is wrongly accused of killing someone.
Killers: The centerpiece... Take a good look at the lyrics! "I'm bound to destroy all this greed!". Yes, this song is about Murder because of the sence of an ethical motive, a holy mission, needed clensing. This kind of thinking goes on in a schizophrenic's head.
Twilight Zone: Here, the killer is the dead spouce, who wants to kill his lady because he misses her so much! Killing in the name of love is the theme here.
SOMEWHERE IN TIME
Most of the songs rotate around the concept of Time and taking advantage of it!
Caught Somewhere In Time: Inspired by the film Time And Time again, it poses a question many have pondered. If we could go back in time, would we change our choises? Here, time is the prison that prevents us from changing the things we regret doing. It would be so tempting to travel time that we could be persuaded by the devil in exchange for our soul...or not?
Wasted Years: Lyricaly, this song comes as a contrast to the previous one. This time, the listener is promted to let go of the past and realise the importance of the present. here, time is perceived as a gift, a beautiful journey. Carpe Diem.
Heaven Can Wait: This song is about the limits of the time given to each person, and the feelings caused when our time is near. When death knocks on our door, many of us will very unwillingly live our life behind, entering oblivience with intense feelings of leaving things unfinished behind. Yikes!
Stranger In A Strange Land: Here, time is the teacher. Men time and time again come across frozen and preserved evidence of the past, which should help them take decisions wisely. People who don't know history are bound to repeat it.
Deja Vu: We all get that feeling sometimes. This song contemplates the fact that the perception of time is a procedure that can be manipulated by our brains and can be deceitful and subjective. We all have memories from things that never happened, fragmented and distorted memories of true events. It is because of the way our brain stores data.
Alexander The Great: This song deals with events, leaders, heroes of the past which have gone on to receive great status through history, making them seem out of this world and turning them into legends.
SEVENTH SON OF A SEVENTH SON
This concept album deals with the everlasting battle of good vs. evil. The following is my interpretation of the concept, it is not nececeraly THE interpretation:
Moonchild: The 7th son is born. Lucifer, knowing of his powers, through threats to his parents is trying to win over the 7th so as to control his powers.
Sevent Son Of A Seventh Son: Lyricwise, this song should have been placed between Moonchild and Infinite dreams, as it is a detailed view of the birth of the seventh son, and his 6 brothers awaiting his coming.
Infinite Dreams: The young boy is seeing increasingly frightening dreams, which are the result of the dawning of his powers, which he does not know of yet. The nature of the dreams fills the 7th son with worries and unanswered questions.
Can I Play With Madness: The accumulating questions as well as the increasing fear drive the 7th son to ask a prophet in search of answers. The prophet understands the young boy's nature and his ignorance of his powers. Thinking of the harms they could cause if the boy were won over to the "left side", he avoids answering and tries to scare the boy away from finding any answers, threatening him that his soul would "burn in a lake of fire".
The Evil That Men Do: At this point, Satan again tries to win the 7th son to his side. He sends his virgin daughter to him as bait to lure him over. The 7th son sleeps with the virgin which leeds to "the slaughter of innocence". His awarness has become more acute and he is very close to discovering what he is. The spiritual rebirth of the 7th son takes place. He realises his powers and the only thing remaining is to see if he will use them for good or for evil, "which path will he take".
The Prophecy: The son has chosen the good side. Lucifer again tries to win him over, this time through other means. Lucifer prepares a disaster to the village, knowing that the 7th son will foresee it and try to warn the others. Lucifer is depending on the nature of mankind, as the villagers disbelieve the 7th son and mock him. The people now turn against the 7th son acusing him that he "brought down a curse" with his false predictions. Lucifer hopes that this ungreatfulness will push the 7th son to rethink about the side he has chosen. Disaster comes, as predicted.
The Clairvoyant: Human ungreatfulness and the futility of trying to use his powers for good have taken a great toll on the 7th son's heart. As his courage is diminishing and his powers grow stronger each day, the young boy has started to be scared of them once again. he is scared that he will no longer be able to be in control of them. he prepairs to "meet his maker".
Only The Good Die Young: The Seventh Son, in his dying moments, spits at humanity's hypocrisy, foretells the doom of all and questions the purpose of his own being.
FEAR OF THE DARK
This album deals with the different faces of fear in today's society. Those that were always there and those that were born from the modern ways of life.
Afraid To Shoot Strangers: The fear of war, portrayed through the eyes of a soldier fighting on foreign land, for alien causes, dissilusioned about his mission
Fear Is The Key: The fear that has changed the way we see sex, fear of AIDS.
Childhood's End: The fear instilled in people's heart by an uncertain future. In our so called advanced society, we yet haven't realised that 1 person out of 5 doesn't even have access to drinkable water and 1 out of 3 doesn't have electricity on this miserable planet.
Wasting Love: The lyrics are about the fear of emotional investing on another person, a direct consequence of the overpopulation of modern cities, which leads to superficial relationships and guides men and women astray from true love.
Chains Of Misery: This song is about fears of damnation / destruction / hell / holocaust, sawn by religion in hope to reap faith, thus control. Fear not say the lyrics, it's only love that holds the key to our hearts!
Fear Of The Dark: Fittingly enough, the centerpiece and last song of the album deals with a fear that has been with us since the dawn of our existance and is so strongly rooted in us that will probably never go away.... FEAR... OF... THE... DARK!
THE X FACTOR
The concept of this album is war, not only in the classical sence, but in all its faces...
Lord of the flies: This song is about the everpresent beast inside humans, no matter how "civilised" we may have become. It is about the everlasting war between the beast and the man inside us... READ THE BOOK!
Man On The Edge: War against an opressing, inhuman modern society, personal revolution... SEE THE FILM (falling down)!
Fortunes Of War: The results of war in the personality of the soldier. No winners here.
Look for the truth: One of the most inspiring maiden lyrics EVER. The war against your inner fears, your wounds, the memories you'd like to forget, your flaws, yourself!
The Aftermath: War in it's classical sense and its destroying effect. This one is about the Battle Of Somme (WWI - 1916).
Judgement Of Heaven: Inner war against depression and thoughts of suicide. Steve was really suffering through his divorce!
Blood On The World's Hands: Again, the cruel face of war between nations. This song is about the 1991 war in Yugoslavia/Croatia.
The Edge Of Darkness: This song is about how man can loose his mind during war. Its lyrics are lines taken right out of Apocalypse Now. It's a boring movie, but if you see it you get the idea of how twisted the characters' thoughts have become.
I'd like to see ppl's thoughts on these, as well as a development of a possible theme in Dance of Death...how about it?
--][img src=\'style_emoticons/[#EMO_DIR#]/biggrin.gif\' border=\'0\' style=\'vertical-align:middle\' alt=\'biggrin.gif\' /][!--endemo--] because, even if they don't have lyrics, they have titles! and titles were not chosen out of a candy box! i mean, why name the short intro before wrathchild the idles of march and not "fishing rod"? dont forget that brutus himself was a wrathchild, said to be the illegitimate son of Julius Caesar and his mistress Servilia (who was already married to Marcus Junius Brutus)
--][img src=\'style_emoticons/[#EMO_DIR#]/smile.gif\' border=\'0\' style=\'vertical-align:middle\' alt=\'smile.gif\' /][!--endemo--]