Lord of the Flies

[Anonymous]

Here, you can read other visitors' comments on 'Lord Of The Flies' as well as post your own. Any contribution to the commentary will be much appreciated, may it be cultural references relevant to the song (links to related websites, interpretations that may have been overlooked in the Commentary, and the like) or personal essays related to the topic of the song. Just be aware that messages that are either off-topic or too wacky may be deleted.

 

[Uwe]

'lord Of The Flies'

This song has quite a different feel from the other long and slow paced songs, it's somewhat more upbeat, but also a bit more boring than the rest.

 

[Anonymous]

'lord Of The Flies'

I think Lord of the Flies is an awesome song, I realy like it, the music matches perfect the lyrics. My only problem is that the guitars sound too much flat. Like they had only a bit of distorsion and very much reverb. Anyway, the sound problems are a common issue on this album. I had once a bootleg live version (with Blaze; Bruce doesn't do this that well) and it was just UNBELEIVEBLE.

 

[jr123]

'lord Of The Flies'

Its a metaphor in relation to the book "Lord of the Flies" where kids were thrown into an island on their own, and how they developed a social entity similar to mans in the past . These kids in time lost their morals and started to lose touch with what we knew as humanity( stability and order). They became canniballistic animals with no regard for the thoughts and feelings of others; eventually leading to the death of two of these children who were considered outcasts. These two children symbolized "goodness" in the world, and they developed into a jesus type figure. The moral of the story is to show how easy evil can take over society and consume us as our Primal instincts come into play in the world. We disregard human life in the strive to save our own and in turn end up doing terrible things to innocent ppl who never deserve evil things. Well boys and girls thats my reading session for today, oh btw if you haven't read the book; Get it. It a very interesting read [!--emo&--][img src=\'style_emoticons/[#EMO_DIR#]/lol[1].gif\' border=\'0\' style=\'vertical-align:middle\' alt=\'lol[1].gif\' /][!--endemo--]

 

[jr123]

'lord Of The Flies'

The children developed a society similar to NAzi germany right before the war. Prejudace and evil governed the good, and in turn MILLIONS of innocent men and woman died because of it.

 

[Anonymous]

'lord Of The Flies'

I totally agree with whoever wrote the commentary for this album. I used to think the Blaze years were terrible until i actually bought them in order to complete the collection. Its been about 5 months and i now appreciate this album so much, and lord of the flies is the best song... Fortunes of war is good too, but something about this is just spot on. I also agree that the solo could stand to kick more ass.

 

[IronDuke]

'lord Of The Flies'

Lord of the FLies (the book) isn't really about Nazi Germany, as a previous poster indicated.

It's a microcosm of human nature. The strong prey upon the weak, man destroys the planet (kids burn the island), and eventually God saves us all (the Royal Navy - adults - see the smoke fromt eh huge fire and save the kids)

The song relates to the book in that it outlines how the characters felt the basic Strength through Fear instinct upon which most human crimes can be based (from bullying to mafia intimidation)

[a href=\'http://www.gerenser.com/lotf/\' target=\'_blank\']This explains the book better than I can[/a]

 

[national acrobat]

'lord Of The Flies'

Good song, and definitely one of my favourites on this album. 4.5 stars.

Quite an interesting book; had to read it at school, along with Rime of the Ancient Mariner (and a load of boring Shakespeare - yawn).

 

[Anonymous]

'lord Of The Flies'

[!--QuoteBegin-national acrobat+Aug 30 2005, 02:20 PM--][div class=\'quotetop\']QUOTE(national acrobat @ Aug 30 2005, 02:20 PM)[/div][div class=\'quotemain\'][!--QuoteEBegin--](and a load of boring Shakespeare - yawn)

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I'm seriously sorry that Shakespeare is still taught in a boring way.

 

[national acrobat]

'lord Of The Flies'

Maybe I put that badly - it's not so much that it was taught poorly, but more that I wasn't really interested in it. I've only ever read Macbeth and Romeo & Juliet, so maybe I should give some others a try. I've also seen a production of Romeo & Juliet, and didn't find that too interesting either - did enjoy the film though.

 

[Anonymous]

'lord Of The Flies'

[!--QuoteBegin-national acrobat+Aug 30 2005, 06:44 PM--][div class=\'quotetop\']QUOTE(national acrobat @ Aug 30 2005, 06:44 PM)[/div][div class=\'quotemain\'][!--QuoteEBegin--]but more that I wasn't really interested in it.

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Well, not everyone must be a die-hard Shakespeare fan. But there's a quality about him that kids could learn from. About general values like morality. It only needs to be presented in a fun way, because, believe it or not, those plays were originally written for fun [!--emo&--][img src=\'style_emoticons/[#EMO_DIR#]/smile.gif\' border=\'0\' style=\'vertical-align:middle\' alt=\'smile.gif\' /][!--endemo--]

First I though this post will have little to do with "Lord of the Flies". But you hit the nail on the head unwillingly. One of the problems today is the lack of interest in culture. I'm afraid society is turning into a salad of vegetables. In a few decades noone might know Shakespeare. That's why I liked Baz Luhrmann's MTV-ish version of Romeo and Juliet.

If we don't give culture to our kids, these lines might really apply to our great-grandchildern:

"I just want to feel like we're strong
We don't need a code of morality
I like all the mixed emotion and anger
It brings out the animal, the power you can feel
And feeling so high with this much adrenaline
Excited but scary to believe what we've become"

 

[national acrobat]

'lord Of The Flies'

[!--QuoteBegin-charlotte+Aug 30 2005, 07:13 PM--][div class=\'quotetop\']QUOTE(charlotte @ Aug 30 2005, 07:13 PM)[/div][div class=\'quotemain\'][!--QuoteEBegin--]But you hit the nail on the head unwillingly. One of the problems today is the lack of interest in culture. I'm afraid society is turning into a salad of vegetables. In a few decades noone might know Shakespeare.

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I might not be interested in Shakespeare, but that's not to say I'm not cultured. I much prefer classical literature, especially Latin history and poetry, to anything written in English including Shakespeare, Dickens etc.

 

[Anonymous]

'lord Of The Flies'

[!--QuoteBegin-national acrobat+Aug 31 2005, 02:27 PM--][div class=\'quotetop\']QUOTE(national acrobat @ Aug 31 2005, 02:27 PM)[/div][div class=\'quotemain\'][!--QuoteEBegin--]I might not be interested in Shakespeare, but that's not to say I'm not cultured.

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Sorry, I didn't mean to imply that [!--emo&--][img src=\'style_emoticons/[#EMO_DIR#]/smile.gif\' border=\'0\' style=\'vertical-align:middle\' alt=\'smile.gif\' /][!--endemo--]

[!--QuoteBegin-national acrobat+Aug 31 2005, 02:27 PM--][div class=\'quotetop\']QUOTE(national acrobat @ Aug 31 2005, 02:27 PM)[/div][div class=\'quotemain\'][!--QuoteEBegin--]I much prefer classical literature, especially Latin history and poetry

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I studied Classical Languages and Literature (my favourite is Catullus), but I also love the English classics.

 

[Anonymous]

'lord Of The Flies'

I find it very odd that "we are lord of the flies" is mentioned. I think this because in the book, Ralk dubs the pig on a pike, placed by Jack and the hunters, as Lord of The Flies. The only reason it is given that name by Simon is that because it's covered almost completely by large black flies, eating away at it's flesh. The Lord of the Flies becomes almost an evil figure in the book, which Simon makes real in his mind, and he talks to it.

The connection between the book and the song is very limited, and I think Steve took Golding's work, and merely used it as a diving board for an alternate meaning.

-Ohgar

 

[Anonymous]

'lord Of The Flies'

The commentary of 'Lord Of The Flies' has been re-worked. Comments? Contructive critism? Go ahead! [img src=\"style_emoticons/[#EMO_DIR#]/smile.gif\" style=\"vertical-align:middle\" emoid=\"\" border=\"0\" alt=\"smile.gif\" /]

 

[gor]

'lord Of The Flies'

Just want to point out one inherit mistake in the plot of the book: Piggy is shortsighted, short sighted people use lenses that have this shape )( . In other words, biconcave lenses. And biconcave lenses do not condence the sun's rays, they disperse them. So you can't use such lenses to light a fire...

 

[Anonymous]

Re: 'lord Of The Flies'

Very likely unrelated, but still somewhat interesting in this context: Reportedly, in Ethiopia, authorities had installed one of the world's first electric chairs at the end of the 19th century. Apparently, the chair used more electricity than had been assumed, and it went out of service immediately (don't know if somebody had actually been executed on it). The chair was then turned into the throne for Menelik II, the Ethiopian emperor.
While I've read this story in several slightly differing versions on the net, I haven't found any actually reliable source on it. I still think it's a nicely creepy thought

 

[Raven]

Re: 'lord Of The Flies'

Very likely unrelated, but still somewhat interesting in this context: Reportedly, in Ethiopia, authorities had installed one of the world's first electric chairs at the end of the 19th century. Apparently, the chair used more electricity than had been assumed, and it went out of service immediately (don't know if somebody had actually been executed on it). The chair was then turned into the throne for Menelik II, the Ethiopian emperor.
While I've read this story in several slightly differing versions on the net, I haven't found any actually reliable source on it. I still think it's a nicely creepy thought

Heh.  You can guess he must have felt uncomfortable sitting in it, especially if there was a thunderstorm

Whenever I first listened to tXF, LotF didn't really strike me as amazing.  I liked it, but I generally ignored it in favour of other Maiden songs.  Now, however, I can see that it's one of the best off tXF.  The intro, with all instruments playing different rythmns which fit together, gives an amazing sense of cohesion (moreso than the usual harmonies Maiden use).  The way it progresses into that main, dark riff picks up the pace in a way that will surprise most listeners at first-this main riff is so far removed from the almost upbeat intro that it seems to echo how isloated the boys on the island in Golding's novel are (N.B: I haven't read the book yet-our teacher chose to do Of Mice and Men instead). 

Blaze's voice shine on this.  His vocals have a certain low-yet-loud quality on this song, and this is one of the few songs on tXF that doesn't start off with him singing softly.  The power and emotion in his voice is only matched by the chorus of The Unbeliever, and he's aggressive to boot, without going overboard.  The lyrics are well-written, and clearly convey the animalism and primal instincts in us all, waiting for the right stressful conditions to emerge.  The solo slows things down nicely, just ready to plunge into that wonderful crowd shout and final refrain.  I've only heard it live on DotR, and I will admit it was far from perfect, but still a very good crowd-pleaser and one of the gems of the Bayley era (although that was littered with such masterpieces).  A 4.5 for me.

EDIT:...except for the fact that the vote options are buggered....

 

[____no5]

Re: 'Lord Of The Flies'

from The Fly (1793), Songs of Experience

...then am I
a happy fly,
If I live
Or if I die

 

[SD93]

Re: 'Lord Of The Flies'

Is lord of the flies a book worth buying and does anyone know which edition is better.