The Educated Fool

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How good is The Educated Fool on a scale of 1-10?

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This is an odd one. It's not bad but just seems bland. Like they're going through the motions with this one. I can sense more power in this song than what is actually presented. It's definitely a case of an OK song being dragged down by a bad performance. Everyone sounds bored. The drums might as well be done by a computer, Blaze gives a soulless performance, it just doesn't seem to go anywhere.
The chorus is also one of my least favorites in the Maiden catalog.

5
 
The album starts to become a chore here I think. This song has some nice heavy riffs in place but it all feels so laboured. And the chorus is a dirge despite the odd vocal harmonies. There's a decent instrumental and Jan pulls out a very good solo. But then...back to the chorus. Ugh

5
 
I don't want to penalize this track. There's a ton to love. And when I was younger I liked it more. But it is missing a spark, a certain je ne sais quois, and it has been almost a decade since I sought it out on my own to consider. 6/10.
 
Hands down Steve's most absurdly terrible lyric contribution. What a garbage pile of garbage. I'd give it 1/10, but the solos and instrumental bridge are solid.
 
It's absolutely the phrasing, but also the word choice. He's trying to deliver a poignant message, which simply isn't possible with 15 "really's" or "just's" per song.
 
2/10

The Educated Fool is another song with decent musical passages but terrible lyrics. Harris throws in a ludicrous amount of useless words just to fit his melody, the number of “just’s” and “really’s” in the lyrics are staggering. Here’s some of my favorite lines:

“Could this just be that life’s just begun?"
“Seems that somebody’s just opened the door to the book of life…or is it death?”
“I want to feel what life’s like respond, I want to meet my father beyond.”

That last one literally makes no sense, it’s just a forced rhyme. The solos are good and its interesting to hear a chorus with tons of layered vocal harmonies, but overall the song is a dud.
 
This is a fairly strong song from Virtual XI, and I'd give it a 7 were it not for one small, minor, itty-bitty thing.

"Time WEEELL flow
And I WEEELL follow
Time WEEELL go
But I WEEELL follow."

This is the closest so far that I've to saying something is downright awful. As it is, that goddamn chorus sounds just laughably bad. The way 'will' is pronounced sounds like they got a fool himself to sing it, educated or not, and it brings the song down to a 6/10, possibly a 5. Wow. Just wow.
 
Given some time, I've decided that The Educated Fool is the single 'worst' Maiden song, period. It's not terrible, but it's nothing special. The chorus is horrid. Revised vote to 4/10.
 
This is just brilliant. By far the most fabulous lyrics on the album, and the second-best track overall (after "The Clansman"). Davey and Jan really stand out here, more so than in the rest of the album. Blaze also sounds excellent, especially in the chorus, which I just love. A strong 9.
 
Nice moody opening, and then Blaze shits all over it with his sleepy, out-of-key soft delivery again. More awkward lyrics, like "as I'm walking down into, on my own into the valley of life"...huh? Then we get some terrible delivery on "never felt this way BEFORRRRE!", "or is it DEATH?", and "is there ever any way OUUUUT?".

I guess the "I want to live my life on my own" part is the pre-chorus, but it's sad and flat, and the vocal delivery sounds like some kind of ironic punk affectation again, but it's just Blaze sucking at his job. (Seriously, I hear the singer of the Dead Milkmen in my head when Blaze "sings" this part.)

Just when you think it's hit bottom, we get the terrible "time will flow" section, which I guess is supposed to be the chorus. These awful vocal harmonies sound somewhere between a local TV ad jingle and a 5th grade choir performance. (On the plus side, they don't have the bleating goat quality of the "Virus" chorus.)

The instrumental interlude isn't very interesting, but it bookends a pretty good solo section before returning to the sucky pre-chorus and the even worse chorus. Blaze manages to get in one last off-key warble during the soft outro, and then our penance is paid.

The opening and the solo section are the only things elevating this song to a 3/10. Terrible.
 
Someone on another forum posted this Serbian turbo folk song saying it's ripping off The Educated Fool. I'm not hearing it, but that's probably because I never listened to The Educated Fool that much. Anyone else hearing it?

 
Nothing even remotely similar. If anything, I'd say the melody starting at 2:55 is similar to "The Clansman" (0:28), but not even then it's not similar enough to qualify for a ripoff.
 
Oooh I expected much worse when you said turbo folk. The arrangement is actually not half bad
 
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