22, Acacia Avenue

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How good is 22, Acacia Avenue on a scale of 1-10?

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A strong song discussing prostitution and keeping up the "Charlotte" storyline, 22 Acacia Avenue is better than its predecessor in every way. Adrian truly shines, and while the instrumental feels like a bit of a repeat of "Phantom of the Opera's", it's still pretty strong all together. Bruce songs great, too. 8
 
Live History

Bruce Dickinson Warm Up Tour – England (4); The Beast On The Road – UK & Europe (8); Scorpions – Blackout Tour – Europe (5); Rainbow – Straight Between The Eyes – USA (4); The Beast On The Road – North America (6); Scorpions – Blackout Tour – North America (5); Superfest XV (5); Chicago Fest V (6); Reading Festival ’82 (6); Judas Priest – World Vengeance Tour – USA (6); The Beast On The Road – Australia & Japan (7); World Piece Tour – UK & Europe (7); World Piece Tour – North America & Europe (2nd Leg) (8); World Slavery Tour 1984 – Europe (11); World Slavery Tour 1984 – UK (12 or 13); World Slavery Tour 1984 – Europe (2nd Leg) (11); World Slavery Tour 1984 – North America (December 15) (10); Seventh Tour Of A Seventh Tour – North America (Miami) (15); Charlotte & The Harlots Concert – UK (16); Donington ‘88 (16); Seventh Tour Of A Seventh Tour – Europe (2nd Leg) (Some venues) (16); The Holy Smokers Concert (5); Intercity Express Tour (6); No Prayer On The Road (6) & Give Me Ed… 'Til I'm Dead Tour – Europe (6).

The number besides the name of the tour is the place in the setlist

Trivia

Metallica's drummer, Lars Ulrich, used to always play a tape of this song whenever he travelled on an aeroplane!

1987 - Plymouth – As Maiden had plans to re-record some of their old songs to be released as B-sides in their next singles, they play a secret gig, where they dust off some of the songs. 'Prowler' & 'Charlotte The Harlot' were played at the secret gig, and ended up being released, but they also played '22 Acacia Avenue' at the gig.

Would you like to know more stuff like this for every Maiden song? Buy my ebook by subscribing here https://app.mailerlite.com/sites/stats/1651034
 
Amazing riff and opening to the song. Powerful drumming from Clive. Great verses, rhythm, screams. The chorus is great too. Both solos are quite good, especially the slow one by Dave. The part before the Adrian's (which is so effective) solo (i.e. the last verse) is awesome. Steve's bass playing is again top-notch. Great end to the song. Classic! 9/10
 
srfc said:
Yeah, the classic album dvd was shown on Sky Arts last week, and the lyrics have aged badly, and the dolly bird on stage was even worse, probably the all time low of Maiden.
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I wholeheartedly agree.

Great song from a musical point of view; cringeworthy lyrics. The latter might be the reason why the song has not been played live since 2003...
 
Yeah it's a shame, the "beat her mistreat her" verse in particular, I've always thought there was a kind of double meaning to that verse, one the narrator is an outright misogynst and the listener is supposed to be appalled by that verse or two it's outright misogyny and the listener is supposed to be getting some sort of voyeuristic thrill from the verse. I'm being charitable to Maiden as a Maiden fan and think the first meaning is what's intended, but I suspect most non-Maiden fans being exposed to it would think of the second one. Maiden underlining "coming" in the final lyric in the lyric sheet might also point to a less charitable interpretation of the lyrics.

In fairness to Maiden, for a song from 1982, at least there is a possibility of 2 interpretations. In the music of a lot of their peers at the time there would be absolutely no doubt that it was the second interpretation intended.

Everything musically is great, especially the groovy outro which reminds me of Suicide by Thin Lizzy.
 
I've gotten a bit more jaded towards this song. 8/10

I give it that more 'charitable' interpretation of the lyrics that the previous commenter mentioned, but it still bothers me, considering the rather patronizing tone: "don't you see you're doing this and that, ruining your life, etc.?". Well, bro, I'm sure if she had a better option for paying her bills, she wouldn't rather get 'mistreated and abused'. Also, and this is at no fault of the song itself, but I doubt that they themselves were at no point consumers of the same service they berate a fictional woman for providing, especially given Dave's insinuation of the song being based on a real experience with a prostitute. I like Dave a lot, by the way.

Anyways, it's definitely better than "Charlotte The Harlot", both musically and the way that it's sung, I think Bruce sounds like he's genuinely concerned for her at some points, in contrast to Di'Anno sounding a bit more condescending and resentful in "Charlotte". Overall "Charlotte" is a bit more of a predictable song. There's really not a boring moment in 22AA in comparison, even though it's somewhat on the longer side. I think if I choose to ignore some aspects of it, I overall really like it.
 
What a great track,definitely in my top 20, if not top 10. After all those years I've not been getting bored with it by any means.
Especially the live version from the Dortmund show where the whole band was on fire (so was Eddie;)).Dave Murray's little solo during the mid section is noteable.Where he normally tends to play an endless stream of notes (OK it's fluid and he has the most dexterous fingerwork of the three but I strongly prefer H,head&shoulders above the other two imho) he keeps it modest/reserved here,I love it,should do it more often.
Btw where some people claim Steve has a light right hand action (=touches the strings very lightly) in order to be able to play so fast for so long but I seriously doubt that when looking at his striking force in the shot towards the end of the song (5'50">)

 
22AA (along with ''The Man Of Sorrows'' and ''Senjutsu'') are the only songs in Maiden's discography for which we can say they end with a long solo.

Edit: one of the most effective endings of a Maiden song imo.
 
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This one is a bit proggier (weirdly enough for a song about prostition), with multiple parts and no rooting chorus. The first part is the best. Bruce acts like a wonderful, tempting jester and the explosions into faster, heavier music is great. We switch into a pacier beat as the lyrics switch from a pimp perspective to a… friend? of Charlotte’s. We do get a chorus here and it’s pretty good. Bruce is a lot more raw here than he’ll be on later albums, and he hasn’t yet mastered the art of Maiden vocal melodies yet. Some of his lines could be ironed out. The first solo hearkens back to “Phantom of the Opera” and is pretty great. The third part sees Charlotte’s friend becoming increasingly more demanding. Not a huge fan of the way it ends, but overall while some things hold it back, it is pretty great. 8/10
 
Some interesting thoughts. I found the lyrics to be quite frank and do right to a place like a brothel. Also narrator's arguments do great sense to me. Not cringeworthy in my opinion, or bad aged.
It is Charlotte that has totally unacceptable lyrics in my opinion. Dave's only baby.
 
____no5 said:
It's credited solely on Dave what makes you think that's not?
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In short, it's Dennis Willcock's lyrics with later cosmetic changes by (apparently) Steve.

Or, you can go and follow this entire thread if you have the time and patience for it

Here we go again...Iron Maiden sued over the rights of 6 songs

Metal band Iron Maiden sued for £2million for ‘stealing six of their biggest-selling hits’ Ex-singer Dennis Willcock says he wrote five and musician Terry Wilson-Slesser claims his lyrics for 70s group Beckett were used on a sixth track...
forum.maidenfans.com
 
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