Curious fact about Maiden's songs titles

[Kalata]

Still Life is still a better album title than Food for Thought.

Piece Of Mind is a perfect title for an album of any genre... (especially for heavy metal) IMO.

 

[Whooten]

Only one song mentions cuddling.

 

[srfc]

When the wild wind blows implies a tea cosy

It also implies cuddling in the same verse! "they're in the shelter feeling snug"

 

[Kalata]

Here are the Maiden songs which are featured in Behind The Beast documentary (from En Vivo! DVD):

Spoiler

Satellite 15... The Final Frontier
El Dorado
Coming Home
The Talisman
When The Wild Wind Blows

Rainmaker
No More Lies
Montségur
New Frontier
Journeyman

The Wicker Man
Ghost Of The Navigator
Brave New World
Blood Brothers
The Fallen Angel
The Nomad
Out Of The Silent Planet

Afraid To Shoot Strangers
Childhood's End
Fear Of The Dark

No Prayer For The Dying
Mother Russia

2 Minutes To Midnight

Flight Of Icarus
The Trooper
To Tame A Land

Hallowed Be Thy Name

Wrathchild
Genghis Khan

Strange World
Iron Maiden

 

[Kalata]

No Prayer For the Dying - 0 times

Dance of Death - 0 times

''No Prayer For The Dying'' and ''Senjutsu'' are the only title tracks in which the title is not part of the lyrics... (in some form)

in ''Dance Of Death'' - '''Til I dance with the dead''.

 

[Marcus90]

So cool. Hard to mach it.

 

[Kalata]

My ranking of Maiden's album & song titles:

Spoiler

ALBUM TITLES:

1.Somewhere In Time
2.Piece Of Mind
3.The Book Of Souls
4.Brave New World
5.The Final Frontier
6.The Number Of The Beast
7.Fear Of The Dark
8.Dance Of Death
9.Iron Maiden
10.Powerslave
11.Seventh Son Of A Seventh Son
12.No Prayer For The Dying
13.A Matter Of Life And Death
14.Virtual XI
15.Killers
16.The X Factor
17.Senjutsu
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
SONGS TITLES:

1980 - Sanctuary, POTO, Transylvania, Iron Maiden, Prowler, Strange World, Remember Tomorrow, Running Free, CTH
1981 - Purgatory, Prodigal Son, Innocent Exile, Drifter, Killers, MITRM, The Ides Of March, Genghis Khan, Another Life, Wrathchild
1982 - TNOTB, COTD, The Prisoner, Invaders, RTTH, HBTN, 22AA, Gangland
1983 - FOI, WED, The Trooper, SAS, QFF, TTAL, Revelations, Still Life, DWYBO
1984 - ROTAM, The Duellists, 2MTM, Powerslave, Aces High, FOTB, BITV, Losfer Words (Big 'Orra)
1986 - CSIT, ATG, Wasted Years, SOM, Deja-Vu, HCW, SIASL, TLOTLDR
1988 - Infinite Dreams, The Prophecy, Moonchild, TETMD, OTGDY, SSOASS, CIPWM, The Clairvoyant
1990 - NPFTD, BYD... TTS, Fates Warning, Tailgunner, The Assassin, Holy Smoke, HIY, RSRD, Mother Russia, PENO
1992 - FOTD, The Fugitive, The Apparition, FHTE, FITK, BQOBD, Wasting Love, ATSS, JBMG, COM, Weekend Warrior, Childhood's End
1995 - LOTF, TEOD, JOH, The Aftermath, FOW, LFTT, SOTC, The Unbeliever, BOTWH, MOTE, 2 A.M.
1998 - Futureal, The Clansman, WTWC, TAATG, DLTTEOAS, TEF, LST, CEA
2000 - GOTN, BNW, TFA, OOTSP, DOM, TWM, The Mercenary, The Nomad, Blood Brothers, TTLBLAH
2003 - DOD, Journeyman, Rainmaker, GOT, Wildest Dreams, New Frontier, FITS, AOI, NML, Paschendale, Montségur
2006 - Lord Of Light, OOTS, The Legacy, TLD, BTATS, TROBB, Different World, The Pilgrim, FTGGOG, TCDR
2010 - IOA, S15... TFF, TMWWBK, The Talisman, Starblind, The Alchemist, WTWWB, Coming Home, El Dorado, Mother Of Mercy
2015 - SOTV, TBOS, EOTC, SOL, DOG, WTRRD, TOAC, IESF, TGU, TRATB, TMOS
2021 - TTM, DOTC, Darkest Hour, The Parchment, TWOTW, DOFP, HOE, LIALW, Stratego, Senjutsu

 

[Siddharth]

Transylvania had actual lyrics written by former vocalist Dennis Wilcock, who was big time into KISS and related horror-themed theatrics, hence the title of the song.

(an info I got from the forum itself)

 

[Ledges Bitten In Dust]

Maiden likes number 2, as it's the only number featured in song titles: 22 Acacia Avenue, 2 minutes to midnight, 2 AM

 

[Edington]

Here's a question for ya, how many Maiden song titles are completely unique, as in not taken from some form of media, history, common (or semi-common) phrase or location?

Here's my findings, I'll exclude all of the "The X" titles, as none of them use any unique words.

• Iron Maiden - Strange World, Remember Tomorrow, Charlotte the Harlot
• Killers - Innocent Exile, Drifter, Wrathchild
• The Number of the Beast - Children of the Damned, Run to the Hills, Gangland - Not 100% on any of these. I know there's films named Children of the Corn and Village of the Damned, but am not aware of another Children of the Damned. Run for the Hills is a fairly well-known expression, not sure if "to" was used much before this song. I can vaguely remember another song called Gangland, though I'm not sure whose song it was or when it might've been released.
• Piece of Mind - Flight of Icarus, Sun and Steel, To Tame A Land
• Powerslave - Powerslave, Aces High, Flash of the Blade, Back in the Village, Losfer Words (Big 'Orra)
• Somewhere in Time - Wasted Years, Sea of Madness, The Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner
• Seventh Son of a Seventh Son - Infinite Dreams, Can I Play With Madness?
• No Prayer for the Dying - No Prayer For The Dying, Bring Your Daughter to the Slaughter* (assuming you ignore Bruce's song coming first), Fates Warning, Hooks in You, Run Silent Run Deep, Public Enema Number One
• Fear of the Dark - Fear is the Key, Be Quick or Be Dead, Wasting Love, Afraid to Shoot Strangers, Judas Be My Guide, Chains of Misery
• The X Factor - Judgment of Heaven, Look for the Truth, Blood on the World's Hands
• Virtual XI - Futureal, The Angel and the Gambler, Don't Look to the Eyes of a Stranger, The Educated Fool
• Brave New World - Ghost of the Navigator, Dream of Mirrors, The Thin Line Between Love and Hate
• Dance of Death - Journeyman, Gates of Tomorrow, New Frontier, Face in the Sand, Age of Innocence, No More Lies
• A Matter of Life and Death - Lord Of Light, Out of the Shadows, The Reincarnation of Benjamin Breeg, Different World, For the Greater Good of God
• The Final Frontier - Starblind
• The Book of Souls - The Book of Souls, When the River Runs Deep
• Senjutsu - Senjutsu, Lost in a Lost World, Death of the Celts

Admittedly some of these are debatable, as I doubt Maiden were the first to use some of these words in this specific order, but their song is the most well-known use.

 

[Diesel 11]

Children of the Damned

Children of the Damned - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

Drifter

Literally just a word.

Aces High

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aces_High_(music) - already used in music.

The Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner

Literally taken from the book and film of the same name.

Run Silent Run Deep

Also a film.

Journeyman

Also just a word.

Age of Innocence

Famous novel, also turned into a film.

Lord Of Light

Common nickname for Lucifer.

Senjutsu

Japanese word lol.

 

[Edington]

So I missed a couple, I copied and pasted a list of titles and expanded on it, Drifter and Journeyman shouldn't be on there.

Lord of Light I had a vague awareness of previously existing, the only other instance of it I could think of without Googling it was a line from If Eternity Should Fail, though I'd probably remember of a few more if I sat and thought about it.

Loneliness, Run Silent, AoI and Aces I was not aware of, thanks for pointing them out.

Senjutsu I thought was interesting, it is obviously a Japanese word that Steve didn't invent, but I understand it's a bit of a vague or loose translation? Maybe the translation is unique even if the word isn't. At any rate it's not a unique title anymore 'cause now I remember a tabletop game with the same name (no I'm not thinking of Stratego), which was released after the album.

 

[Siddharth]

One more fact I read somewhere is that the band's early guitarists Dave Sullivan and Terry Rance put a condition in front of Steve (who wanted Dave Murray back in the band) that they will play only if both are in the band without either getting replaced. As a result, Steve replaced both of them with Dave (Murray) and the song "Prodigal Son" (written way before their debut was recorded) was hence titled in a tongue in cheek manner for Murray returning in the band.

 

[Murder of Rue Morgue]

Despite being the band's second most prolific songwriter, and a stable composer of their singles since "Flight of Icarus", it took Adrian nine albums and 19 years in the band for one of his songs to finally be the title track of his tenth record with Iron Maiden (The Final Frontier).

For comparison, Janick did it with Dance of Death, his sixth album with the boys (14 years in the band).

Dave loses to both in terms of time served (roughly 23-24 years) and albums recorded (eleven) before his own "Brave New World" gave its name to the album it was released into. But he still managed to do it before both Janick and Adrian.
(If we don't consider "Still Life" the title track of Piece of Mind).

One more fact I read somewhere is that the band's early guitarists Dave Sullivan and Terry Rance put a condition in front of Steve (who wanted Dave Murray back in the band) that they will play only if both are in the band without either getting replaced. As a result, Steve replaced both of them with Dave (Murray) and the song "Prodigal Son" (written way before their debut was recorded) was hence titled in a tongue in cheek manner for Murray returning in the band.

If that's true, it further confirms that the parable's title is universally misinterpreted because too many people don't know what "prodigal" actually means.