A Journey into Steve Harris's mind

A

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Syl, one of our eminent thinkers, has written a brilliant essay on [a href=\'http://www.maidenfans.com/imc/index.php?url=rants/rant25&link=features&lang=eng\' target=\'_blank\']Steve Harris's tortuous (tortured?) mind[/a]. Read it and leave your impressions here. [!--emo&:)--][img src=\'style_emoticons/[#EMO_DIR#]/smile.gif\' border=\'0\' style=\'vertical-align:middle\' alt=\'smile.gif\' /][!--endemo--]
 
I really liked the way syl pointed out the maturing of Steve's mind from a restless youth looking for himself to a more aged, wiser and introspective man. I have had similar thoughts every now and then.

One thing syl missed, in my opinion, is a more general aspect in Iron Maidens music that proves her point even more. Compare the lyrical themes present in the earlier Maiden albums to those of today.
The first two albums have got songs about serial killers, adventurous youths, prostitutes andd horror stories. They are all very intelligent, but comparing to the songs on the last four albums, you can safely say the band had less worries back then. It was enough back then to write about warriors, science fiction books or poems they'd admired; but these days, personal and emotional matters take much more overhand, and this reflects in the lyrics. A trip through Iron Maidens music is a trip through maturation in general.

Apart from that, the rant is really great. Excellently worded and with many very interesting and deep thoughts.
 
Syl has spent a lot of time writing and researching this I'm sure so I have to give him/her the upmost credit. There are some aspects of this rant that I do not agree with however. I think that Steve Harris did not intentionally leave clues about his mental state when writing these songs, it was sub-consciously on his mind when writing about situations other people could be in. (Infinite Dreams I think is not about Harris' thoughts but what Harris thinks the 7th Son is thinking).

I do agree however, that Steve has evolved over the past 30 years and his song writing and understanding of life is more mature than ever. The way he addresses themes is sagely and wise and through his music, Steve has found a way to sub-consciously communicate with people willing to interprete the deeper meanings.
 
@Maverick : Thank you for advertising for my rant. I might get more comments this way. But you forgot to mention that you kindly made the english translation.


@conorsdaman : it might not be very clear in my rant but I do agree with you that most of the time Steve doesn't write intentionally about himself except for the songs on the X Factor and a few other songs like Wildest Dreams. Having said that I'm pretty sure that he's aware of what he puts in his songs. I, myself, write poems from time to time and I never start with :" OK, today I'm going to write about my feelings". I write about whatever, space travel, desert lands, life in a big town. But when I read my poems again a few months later I always think " oh my God , this is about me again" and most of the time it's rather scary. Some people seldom think about life, death and themselves but other like Steve do. Therefore if it was unconscious at first in Harris's mind, he might read his lyrics with new eyes now. Of course I might be wrong and maybe he just doesn't give a shit of it.

@Perun : you're right about Iron Maiden' s general theme evolution but that involves the rest of the band as Steve is not the only on who write lyrics and my goal was to focus on Steve's evolution.
 
A brilliant piece of writing indeed. It has all three qualities that make a good text, in my opinion: insight, independent thinking and structure. Especially the last one is flawless in syl's paper.

Syl also applied a great research and context method. As for the result, I only have one remark: On Seventh Son, "Clairvoyant" is not the only song mentioning the possibility of reincarnation.

At the end of "Infinite Dreams", the word itself appears, even though only as a wish:

"I'd like to think that when I die
I'd get a chance, another time
And to return and live again
Reincarnate, play the game
Again and again and again"

This is however in no way intended to correct syl's paper, as it is complete and indeed remarkable [!--emo&B)--][img src=\'style_emoticons/[#EMO_DIR#]/cool.gif\' border=\'0\' style=\'vertical-align:middle\' alt=\'cool.gif\' /][!--endemo--]
 
It's a great essay. My hat is off to you, Syl. [!--emo&:D--][img src=\'style_emoticons/[#EMO_DIR#]/biggrin.gif\' border=\'0\' style=\'vertical-align:middle\' alt=\'biggrin.gif\' /][!--endemo--]
 
Well done syl! [!--emo&:)--][img src=\'style_emoticons/[#EMO_DIR#]/smile.gif\' border=\'0\' style=\'vertical-align:middle\' alt=\'smile.gif\' /][!--endemo--]
 
Jesus Christ, where to begin? Amazing essay and great subject matter. To add my two cents I'll say the following:
All (i think it's safe to generalize this) great artists/thinkers are tortured souls, Hemingway, Vangoh, Dali, Frida, Trotsky, etc. were tortured in one way or another or some tragic event, like in the case of Frida Kalo, was/is the source of their thoughts and work. The way they decide to deal with their problems is through their work until they are so miserable they kill themselves (Hemingway was also an alchoholic).
There is no doubt in my mind that Steve is tortured by something and expresses it through his works whether conciously or subconciously. All Writing teachers say the same thing, "write about what you know," usually your experiances and yourself. Bruce wrote about fencing... his hobby, so Stever writing about his fears and dreams is not so far fetched.
Thus I must conclude that from syl's rant it is not difficult to say that Steve is a great artists that expresses his vision and handles his inner demons rather well through his music.
 
"Chapeau" my friend ! [!--emo&B)--][img src=\'style_emoticons/[#EMO_DIR#]/cool.gif\' border=\'0\' style=\'vertical-align:middle\' alt=\'cool.gif\' /][!--endemo--]

Cheers
 
Now THAT was an "whoa" moment. Great stuff syl! Thank god there are these intelligent maiden fans out there that notice these kind of things. Im really a bit speechless right now, all I can think of is all those songs that have and might have some words that have a link to this subject. I bet these songs will sound even more better now after reading that.
Once again thank you!
 
Pretty much got it all in there syl. Nice one, I really enjoyed reading that. [!--emo&:)--][img src=\'style_emoticons/[#EMO_DIR#]/smile.gif\' border=\'0\' style=\'vertical-align:middle\' alt=\'smile.gif\' /][!--endemo--]
 
Well, although I used to think/see/hear the songs in he way Syl pointed out (The Unbeliver, for example) I must say that I never went THAT FAR !

It is a great rant ! Surely I will not hear the songs pointed in the essay like before...
 
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