To be "on the road again"

I

IronDuke

Ancient Mariner
So I had my collection of metal MP3s playing this afternoon, set to random. It played "Turn the Page" by Metallica, then "Wildest Dreams" by Maiden.
What struck me as odd is that both songs contain the line "I'm on the road again", yet use this image in completely different ways.

In her excellent rant on the IMC, Syl tell us that being "on the road again" for Iron Maiden is a way of bebing reborn, of escaping some past, of making big changes in your life. Certainly, the lyrics, fast pace, and sheer intensity of Wildest Dream attests to this. If you listen to the lyrics, the song is actually quite upbeat, confident, and optimistic about the future.

Metallica's "Turn the Page", however, is quite the opposite. The song uses being "on the road again" as description of a mundane, unsatisfying, even boring existance. The ficticious character in Turn the Page is fed up, disenchanted, and on the vere of a nervous breakdown. It almost seems like the protagonist of the song just wants to go home, instead of escape something. They hate being on the road again, whereas the progtagonist in Wildest Dreams is excited about it. When reading the lyrics to this song while it plays, on is struck by just how depressing it actually is. You really start to feel like this guy is on th verge or suicide or OD-ing. If the feelings expressed in it are indicative of how most musicians feel, it's little wonder so many of them turn to drugs.

I like both songs (yes, I like Metallica) very much, but I just thought it was interesting how they can use the same phrases to convey a totally different set of emotions. Perhaps a connection could be made that Iron Maiden still has their youthful energy to put out intense songs like this, but other groups like Metallica are really slowing down and tiring of the music scene. (It might be a bit of a stretch, though)

I would strongly suggest listening to these songs back-to-back and compare the tones and meangins behind the lyrics, it might give some insight to the differences between these two great bands. (Yes, Metallica is great.)
 
May I remind you that 'Turn The Page' is actually a Neil Diamond song? Metallica merely covered it (and quite nicely too). [!--emo&:)--][img src=\'style_emoticons/[#EMO_DIR#]/smile.gif\' border=\'0\' style=\'vertical-align:middle\' alt=\'smile.gif\' /][!--endemo--]
 
You're wrong. 'Turn the Page' is a Bob Seger's song.

But it's still interesting. Here's an extract from the Garage Inc booklet :
Listening to his car as he drove across the Golden Gate Bridge about three years ago, Ulrich heard Bob Seger's Turn the Page, a brutally honest, white-soul ballad about the oppressive grind and stupefying ennui of touring, the stuff the fans never see. Ulrich's response : "That song has 'James Hetfield' written all over it." Hetfield had a similar initial reaction : "It was the lyrics. We should have written that."

So it's not really important to know who wrote the song as long as James Hetfield had been able to accept it as his own.

Thinking of the road as an allegory of life is quite common anyway and the way you talk about it depends on the life you live.
 
I stand corrected, master Syl. You are indeed right.


*Slaps himself and goes back on the road again* [!--emo&^_^--][img src=\'style_emoticons/[#EMO_DIR#]/happy.gif\' border=\'0\' style=\'vertical-align:middle\' alt=\'happy.gif\' /][!--endemo--]
 
"Turn The Page" shouldn't be taken as the entirety of Metallica's feelings about being on the road and playing live. Compare "Wherever I May Roam" from the Black Album or "Whiplash" from Kill 'Em All. Both of these songs are quite positive about the touring experience.

However, these songs could also be interpreted as showing the evolution of Metallica's feelings about touring:

"Whiplash" from 1983 can be paraphrased as: "We love being on the road."
Relevant sample:
"The show is through, the metal is gone, it is time to hit the road
Another town, another gig, again we will explode
Hotel rooms and motorways, life out here is raw
But we will never stop, we will never quit cause we are Metallica"

"Wherever I May Roam" from 1991 can be paraphrased as "The road is tough, but I'm tougher."
Relevant sample:
"And the earth becomes my throne / I adapt to the unknown
Under wandering stars I've grown / By myself but not alone"

"Turn The Page" from 1999 can be paraphrased as "This shit is sometimes too much."
Relevant sample:
"When you're riding sixteen hours and there's nothing much to do
You don't feel much like ridin', you just wish the trip was through"

So does Metallica have any right to complain?
Number of Metallica concerts in the last decade, according to [a href=\'http://www.metallicaworld.co.uk/metallica_tour_dates.htm\' target=\'_blank\']this page[/a]: 522.
Number of Maiden concerts in the last decade, according to [a href=\'http://www.maidenfans.com/imc/?link=tours&url=index&lang=eng\' target=\'_blank\']Maverick's Commentary[/a]: 520.

If Maiden (who are older) can do this without bitching, then Metallica should too. [!--emo&:D--][img src=\'style_emoticons/[#EMO_DIR#]/biggrin.gif\' border=\'0\' style=\'vertical-align:middle\' alt=\'biggrin.gif\' /][!--endemo--]
 
I really really like Turn the Page, it's just a really great song. Whereas Wildest Dreams tends to annoy me.

They're not bitching, just showing the other side of touring, the endless travelling, the stares etc.
 
I like Wildest Dreams. I had never heard of Maiden intill the consert in 2003.
When i heard Wildest Dreams they proved to me that they are still good. And they are the best.
 
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