Charlotte the Harlot

How good is Charlotte the Harlot on a scale of 1-10?

  • Total voters
    14
Well I feel that Charlotte goes into the same category as Sanctuary. Filler. However I love the clean part in the middle.

6/10
 
This is one song that has great potential, feels like great early Maiden, and yet it just falls short. It's weak. It pains me to give it a low rating because pretty much everyone else did it too, but I'm sorry. 6/10
 
Could have been a good song, but it isn't. Average Maiden is more like it. If average Maiden were a 5/10, which isn't the case. Average Maiden is 10/10. So below average Maiden. Yeah, that's it.
 
Ok song, nothing particularly great or terrible about it. You can clearly date it back to the first album, it has that kind of feel. 6/10
 
Great offering from Mister Murray. Approaches a subject matter worth discussing, and Charlotte became such a classic character in Iron Maiden's history that it's impossible not to feel something about this song. Musically, it's catchy (less than "Running Free", but catchy enough to get "Charlotte the harlot, show me your legs / Charlotte the harlot, take me to bed / Charlotte the harlot , let me see blood / Charlotte the harlot, let me see love" stuck in your head for quite some time), although it's a bit inconsistent in tone. For that, it gets a 7.
 
7/10
It's definitely not a song I skip, and when actually listening to it, it's a bit more interesting than you would guess just from the lyrics. Still, it's one of the weaker ones from this album.
 
An odd, off-rhythm major-key intro gives way to a decent verse and a dumb, but sort of catchy chorus. An off-rhythm break leads back into the verse and chorus, then a nice softer interlude with a pretty good vocal from Paul.

The guitars come back in and build up to a couple of serviceable but uninspired solos, then we're back to the verse and chorus, and a reprise of the awkward intro.

There are some good nuggets here, but some odd and weak ones too. 6/10.
 
A fun song, but not one of the band's best. They'd perfect the prostitution song two albums later.

5/10. The definition of an average song. Fun when it comes on but nothing you seek out.
 
A decent opening leads into a slaughterhouse of a verse, with Di'Anno slurring things together over a vocal line that truly takes no prisoners. The chorus is only slightly better, and Paul still sounds like he's had one too many at the pub. I'd rather listen to the "CHARLAAAAAY" live version because at least it's funny. The song's bridge has some really shitty lyrics too, and as a whole, this is a cringefest. Merely decent music doesn't save this from being one of the worst songs in Maiden's discography. 1
 
Great song with a very raw feel. The middle part, the slow part is very very good and DiAnno sings it with great conviction. Lyrics are a bit naive maybe or let’s say they may come as if written by a very young person, who is less skilled in writing lyrics. Deters a bit, still a solid fuckin 8.
 
Who was Charlotte The Harlot? Did she really exist?

"The guys don't know her - Steve, Dave and so on. When Doug Sampson and I were in the band, we knew her, because she comes from a place called Wolfenstone in East London and she truly used to live at Acacia Avenue. And she was an old lady - everyone knows her; her name was Charlotte. But she was about fifty when I was twelve years old. All the guys were going around her house and I was asking my mom about her (laughs) I think that Maiden boys heard the story and used it." (Paul Di'Anno for Heavy Metal Pages (Poland) – April 2003)

"Yep, it's true. Her real name is High Hill Lil and she's basically an old prostitute. Well, actually she was more of a slut, ha ha! I mean, if you turned up to her house with some booze or some speed you were more or less guaranteed a lay. She was a legend in Walthamstow, everyone knew her... She was about 45 but a real rock out bitch... She'd take any guy from 15 upwards, ha ha! The song says that she lived on Acacia Avenue but it's actually Markhouse Road, just before you go into Leyton 'cause that's the area where I lived." (Paul Di'Anno for Shan Siva of battlehelm.com – September 2007)

"Charlotte was a real person who was not a prostitute but a girl who was a bit free and easy with whom she went with." (Dennis Wilcock for IM77 – Maiden 77 Facebook Page - August 21, 2014)

"A handsome whore's d'oeuvre based on a Richard close to the Maiden camp who they're pledged never to identify." (Garry Bushell – Running Free: The Official Story Of Iron Maiden – 1984)

"… We've been asked many questions about it but we can't say too much about it, whether she's a real person or whether she was called Charlotte or not. So… Just leave it at that I think." (Steve Harris - Classic Albums - The Number Of The Beast Documentary – December 2001)

"This is a song inspired by a colleague of Mr Wilcock. The Music was written by Mr Murray." (Claim made by Dennis Wilcock's Lawyer in a lawsuit presented against Steve Harris & Dave Murray - 2018)

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Song with a happy feel. The bass work is great, fun chorus and the verses are not bad. The calm middle part is interesting idea. Good solos and fun twin-lead guitar harmonies. Overall, this is not a bad/average song. It has its charm. 6/10
 
Here’s the problem with Paul: he’s an unimaginative vocalist with noticeable restrictions on his voice. The way he sings these lyrics just makes you bob up and down with the music without going anywhere interesting vocally. And he kinda slurs shit together at points too. Foreshadowing for the infamous live performance years later. But the music here is pretty fun and that makes up for things. I enjoy this song, a lot of it is good if flawed. But the bridge should’ve been cut out entirely, so I’m rounding down the score because there’s too much here to criticize than there is to praise. 6/10
 
A song with the same drawbacks as Prowler, only even worse. I hate the lyrics. I'm not a fan of some of the riffs and melodies. The middle section is the most interesting part of the song and could've been so much better with a different subject matter.

It's a pattern that repeats a lot throughout this album: Wasted potential. I get that they were young lads in the late 70's, early 80's making music. It was a different time. It's too juvenile for my tastes though, so a 4. And that's being generous I guess.
 
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