Tears Of A Clown

How good is Tears of a Clown on a scale of 1-10?


  • Total voters
    16
I like this, it could easily work as a pop song if it hadn't been played by Maiden, but the maiden live raw sound gives it a bit of an edge. 8/10
 
This was written prematurely. The entire premise of the song falls apart with the knowledge that Williams' suicide was thanks to Lewy Body rather than depression.
 
This was written prematurely. The entire premise of the song falls apart with the knowledge that Williams' suicide was thanks to Lewy Body rather than depression.
Inspiration was taken from what was known about Robin Williams’s death at the time, but it still holds up if you remove that context from it. Happy people are often sad. Just because the inspiration turned out to be different than originally perceived does not mean that the song is worse for that. Steve’s ability to write lyrics that can be divorced from the subject that inspired them is a great talent.
 
I really loved this song when the album first came out and was delighted that they played it live, although listening to it now it has definitely lost some of its shine with age. For one thing, the raw Maiden production style doesn't really do the song justice. I'm usually not one to complain about the production of Maiden albums, it is what it is and generally I think it works fine actually, but I really wish the guitars on this song had some more bite. They're really weak here and playing isn't really in sync which kinda creates this out of phase sound that brings down the song's energy for me. Lots of Accident of Birth vibes in the song which makes me wish for a slightly more polished sound.

That's pretty nitpicky though and on the whole I do think this song stands out among the shorter rockers of the album. The lyrics are great, definitely more focused than some of the other songs. The guitar solo tradeoff is also one of the album's best. I'm not as in love with this song as I was when the album came out but it's still a solid rocker. 7.
 
Back
Top