The Number of the Beast

[gor]

the 666 pound story is PR BS. You can tell if you read the first official IM bio, where the car accident was supposed to involve two ordinary passenger cars, Birch's and another guys. The other car was later replaced with the much more exciting bus full of nuns. The bill, however, was 666 in both cases.

 

[Raven]

the 666 pound story is PR BS. You can tell if you read the first official IM bio, where the car accident was supposed to involve two ordinary passenger cars, Birch's and another guys. The other car was later replaced with the much more exciting bus full of nuns. The bill, however, was 666 in both cases.

That's certainly believeable, but it's also quite likely that it just happened to come to £666, as (when you think about it), 666 is (roughly) 2/3 of a 1000, and so it does pop up in random mathematical places from time to time.

Anyway, I quite like this song.  It has that lovely intro, brilliant raging atmosphere, and some class solos.  Great scram by Bruce, and brilliant lyrics.  I'm not sure if this is in the commentary-I think it might be-but the lyrics have quite a big parallel with Tam O'Shanter by Robert Burns, which is just another argument you can throw at anybody who tries the old 'Satanism' claim.  But, if that fails, you can always show them the video, although they will probably remind you that any Satanic band worth their salt will always idolise Godzilla and Wolfman Yes, it's overplayed, but a great song nonetheless.  4 stars.

 

[gor]

That's certainly believeable, but it's also quite likely that it just happened to come to £666, as (when you think about it), 666 is (roughly) 2/3 of a 1000, and so it does pop up in random mathematical places from time to time.

Anyway, I quite like this song.  It has that lovely intro, brilliant raging atmosphere, and some class solos.  Great scram by Bruce, and brilliant lyrics.  I'm not sure if this is in the commentary-I think it might be-but the lyrics have quite a big parallel with Tam O'Shanter by Robert Burns, which is just another argument you can throw at anybody who tries the old 'Satanism' claim.  But, if that fails, you can always show them the video, although they will probably remind you that any Satanic band worth their salt will always idolise Godzilla and Wolfman Yes, it's overplayed, but a great song nonetheless.  4 stars.

Yes but spicing the story up after some years with a bus of nuns certainly makes the story smell. I know that Tam O' Shanter has been mentioned as a source of inspiration by Steve, but I honestly can't see any parallels with NOB's lyrics

 

[Raven]

Yes but spicing the story up after some years with a bus of nuns certainly makes the story smell. I know that Tam O' Shanter has been mentioned as a source of inspiration by Steve, but I honestly can't see any parallels with NOB's lyrics

Well, it's more a paraphrasing of the story than an actual parallel.  In Tam O'Shanter, Tam is heading home for a night out 'with the lads' when he stops and sees a Witches' sabbat in a local graveyard.  The difference in NotB is that the narrator eventually gets caught up in the ritual, whereas Tam narrowly escapes in Burns' poem.  It's mostly the first two verses (especially the first) that contain the parallels.

 

[gor]

Thank you for the insight. It was hard for me to make sense of the poem...

 

[Raven]

Thank you for the insight. It was hard for me to make sense of the poem...

Don't worry, I think the only people who can understand it are the scots.  Ever read 'Ode to a mouse'?  It has about as many words translated (in school poetry books) as something like Homer or Virgil in their original languages, and Burns is writing in 'English'!

 

[Yax]

noun: The part of speech that is used to name a person, place, thing, quality, or action and can function as the subject or object of a verb, the object of a preposition, or an appositive.

nun: A woman who belongs to a religious order or congregation devoted to active service or meditation, living under vows of poverty, chastity, and obedience.

Oh! Sorry about that...

 

[SD93]

A similiar thing to the £666 thing happened to mke once.I was looking on ebay for maiden albums and saw the amount they had was 666.

 

[Genghis Khan]

The most important task is at hand.  I'm a post short of 666 posts.  Naturally I've decided to post something that resembles intelligence on the only thread suitable for this monumental occasion.

I still remember one of my earliest experiences with this song and the lasting effect it has on me.  I was at my first Maiden concert back in 2003 during Give Me Ed... Til I'm Dead Tour.  When The Number of the Beast started with the famous passage from the Bible, I was ready to sing from beginning to end and sing I did.  Unlike most Maiden songs, I never felt that I needed to look up or read the lyrics to this Iron Maiden song.  Oh, how wrong I was.  Throughout the show, screaming my lungs out, I got the attention of a guy in front of me.  He kept looking back at me probably because he thought I was pretty damn passionate for a newbie.  During one part of this song, he gave me a weird look, like I sang a wrong song or something. What could have been wrong?  The lyrics went "I'm coming back!  I will attack!"  Right?  As it turns out, I later found out I was wrong.  The lyrics can get a little aggressive, especially with a live crowd supporting the band.  That's my excuse.  Who can blame me?

But it did not matter. The attitude of this song is partially what keeps its lasting affect on the listener.  Being a tough song, the lyrics grab you and make you feel a little more evil.  Not too evil; just evil enough to anger the religious right. 

The first two verses give us the further impression of something ominous but not satanic.  The intro brings us to a screeching crescendo of guitars, drums and Bruce somewhere between 1:20 and 1:30 into the song.  Then the great rhymes and fast guitars, bass and drums kick into full gear.

The way the lyrics flow and rhyme is also partially responsible for its lasting affect.  The rhymes in the middle of the songs is what I'm refering to
specifically.  Since I never paid attention during poetry lessons and fell asleep most of the times, I could not tell you the type of rhyme involved here, nor do I care enough to look it up.  The emotions these rhymes invoke in me is more important to me.  For example, in the third verse "black" and "back", "see" and "me", "mist" and "twist" all rhyme in their respective sentences.  Not only does this give me the illusion of faster speed, but it emphasizes each and every verse henceforth.  The rhymes draws the listener in and one cannot help but sing along, even after a blunder occurs from a fan.

As far as the solos go, I think both are fantastic and fit the song well.  In other words, they do not feel forced or unneccesary.  I would rate Adrian's solo, which comes after Dave's, better because it feels more distorted and wilder (to me at least).  The solos mold into a police siren which under regular circumstances would seem cheesy and useless (e.g. hear Motley Crue's vehicle noises for a reference point) but fit both the lyrics and the guitars suitably.

Last but not least is the memorable and infamous chorus of "666, the number of the beast" which adds a special satisfaction when played at the right time, with an ultra loud, yet comprehensible, decibel level; for example, when you pull up next to a driver with a wide open window and sporting the "Prevent TRUTH decay, read the BIBLE" bumper sticker.

I love life's little ironies.  So for a guy who neither believes in God nor Satan, I wish myself a happy post number...

666

 

[LooseCannon]

Happy 666th!

All that reminds me of a concert review I once read of the Ed Huntour, where a guy said "The Number of the Beast song was stellar.  I sang along, except for the chorus which I can't sing 'cause of my religious views."

And I was thinking..."Your religion preaches that you can sing 'I'm coming back, I will return, I'll possess your body, and I'll make you burn', but not, 666 the number of the beast?"  Bollocks.  Religious douchebag.

 

[Genghis Khan]

Great anecdote LC!

It goes to show how literal-minded some people can be.  It makes me wonder how some people choose to follow a set path even if that path makes no sense in a new context.  Think for yourself!

 

[____no5]

    Well, time to celebrate my 666th post and where better than here !!
    My post will be more focused to the spoken introduction of the song (where the whole thing 666 begun anyway) and some informations about John's Revelations
    The book is believed to be written around 90 AC and so it's logically impossible John the Apostle and Revelations' John to be the same person
    As we've been learned in schools, back in time 'Arabic digits' 0-9 weren't in use, and the official numbers were the Roman : I, II, IV, XI MCV etc
    But still, Revelations was -for one reason- written in Greek so the real 666 appears originally as ΧΞς,
where Χ =600 Ξ=60 and ς=6

    Greeks were using the letters from their alphabet for numbers, so they could combine some meanings with simple mathematics functions, in their phrases -this tactic was used a lot by oracles, Anyway, for numbers 6, 90 and 900 they used some symbols instead of letters

    For 6 only they used ς -which is the minuscule of their S= Σ,
But attention, Σ= 200, to mean 6, one had to write ς

the cave where Revelations supposed to be written

the location of Patmos island on the map

    One remark of mine about the number 6 :
1+2+3=6
4+5+6=15, 1+5=6
7+8+9=24, 2+4=6

....and this thing goes endlessly !! well to achieve that someone has not break the order of numbers and has to start always from the number 1+3 x Y where Y the serial number of each « trilogy »
-for 1,2,3 this is 0 for 4,5,6 is 1 etc etc

    About the famous quote now : The second part of the spoken intro « let him... » exists on at least one other rock album, and this is from the Paris' based Aphrodite's Child
French here maybe already know Child's voice (Demis Roussos) while English speakers the harmonist (Vangelis)

    We read on the album cover :
Anyone who has intelligence may interpret
the number of the beast. It's a man number.
This number is 666

One remark here : This phrase exists only on the cover and not -sonically- somewhere in the album

the cover of Aphrodite's Child -666 Album, Paris-1970

Spoiler

COMMENTS ON THE SONG

Well, I'm glad to give you some useless  informations about some facts of the intro, but let's comment the song too : Awesome intro, with that rusty Bruce's voice which mesmerized a lot of us I guess
the intro, already creates a HUGE atmosphere -I, back in time couldn't understand everything -but yet it was terrifying

The song when the drums and bass begin to gallop is awesome too, straight to the bone, great chorus
solos, everything !!! and all these within 4 minutes

I don't like to see it live anymore -I'm tired of it! But yet is a PERFECT song 5 /5 easily
I would like to see Maiden returning to more dense forms of composing music and Beast's structure is just perfect

--------
ps : well it was my 666th post so I put some effort 

 

[Forostar]

Quite an extensive post happy 666-day!

 

[____no5]

Thanks Foro !! I'm feeling like I have my birthday or something 

well, believers or not I think ALL Maidenfans have a special affection with this number

 

[national acrobat]

The age-old question has finally been answered!

On the official website, there's an advert for the new album, with the following subtitle:

Recognise the voice?
It's Barry Clayton who recorded the original intro to 'Number Of The Beast' !

 

[Deano]

Rev.13

[1] And I stood upon the sand of the sea, and saw a beast rise up out of the sea, having seven heads and ten horns, and upon his horns ten crowns, and upon his heads the name of blasphemy.
[2] And the beast which I saw was like unto a leopard, and his feet were as the feet of a bear, and his mouth as the mouth of a lion: and the dragon gave him his power, and his seat, and great authority.
[3] And I saw one of his heads as it were wounded to death; and his deadly wound was healed: and all the world wondered after the beast.
[4] And they worshipped the dragon which gave power unto the beast: and they worshipped the beast, saying, Who is like unto the beast? who is able to make war with him?
[5] And there was given unto him a mouth speaking great things and blasphemies; and power was given unto him to continue forty and two months.
[6] And he opened his mouth in blasphemy against God, to blaspheme his name, and his tabernacle, and them that dwell in heaven.
[7] And it was given unto him to make war with the saints, and to overcome them: and power was given him over all kindreds, and tongues, and nations.
[8] And all that dwell upon the earth shall worship him, whose names are not written in the book of life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world.
[9] If any man have an ear, let him hear.
[10] He that leadeth into captivity shall go into captivity: he that killeth with the sword must be killed with the sword. Here is the patience and the faith of the saints.
[11] And I beheld another beast coming up out of the earth; and he had two horns like a lamb, and he spake as a dragon.
[12] And he exerciseth all the power of the first beast before him, and causeth the earth and them which dwell therein to worship the first beast, whose deadly wound was healed.
[13] And he doeth great wonders, so that he maketh fire come down from heaven on the earth in the sight of men,
[14] And deceiveth them that dwell on the earth by the means of those miracles which he had power to do in the sight of the beast; saying to them that dwell on the earth, that they should make an image to the beast, which had the wound by a sword, and did live.
[15] And he had power to give life unto the image of the beast, that the image of the beast should both speak, and cause that as many as would not worship the image of the beast should be killed.
[16] And he causeth all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond, to receive a mark in their right hand, or in their foreheads:
[17] And that no man might buy or sell, save he that had the mark, or the name of the beast, or the number of his name.
[18] Here is wisdom. Let him that hath understanding count the number of the beast: for it is the number of a man; and his number is Six hundred threescore and six.

The Bible, God <<via John>>

Ladies and Gentlemen, friends and neighbors, let it be known that the end draweth near. We will bear witness.... or to rephrase, the end will be signaled through the WINDOWS:

VISTA - Service pack 6.6.6



Sacrifice is going on tonight!

 

[____no5]

happy six six six Dean 

And that no man might buy or sell, save he that had the mark, or the name of the beast, or the number of his name.

this is already happening =see barcodes

his number is Six hundred threescore and six.

so in ancient English score is 20, I think this has its roots from 60-based system
in French we still use this as for 90 for example we say =4 (times) twenty ten

 

[Forostar]

Bruce told in his last Friday Rock Show that when he had trouble doing the intro lines of this song, over and over again.. that Martin Birch told him about Dio recording his first lines of the song "Heaven and Hell". Dio also had to repeat the intro lines several times, by Martin's request. Martin told Dio to "sing those lines like your whole life is in them" (or something like that).

Bruce listened to this story, stopped trying to record these lines that day. And later that night he played that track a couple of times, and he listened to these lines and realized there's more than music alone. There's soul as well. It helped him to do the job.

 

[LooseCannon]

Daily Song: The Number of the Beast

Welcome to the Daily Vote Thread! Rules are here.

Remember, only a decent review will count towards the contest.

Today's song: The Number of the Beast

Yesterday's song remains open for voting! You can find it here.

---

I love this song. I know some people will say it has been overplayed; I adore it. I think it's one of the best rock tracks. Not every great Iron Maiden track has to be 7 minutes+. It really is better than CotD and 22 Acacia Avenue for me. 9/10.

 

[Invader]

Re: Daily Song: The Number of the Beast

It is overplayed, but I'll be damned if it didn't get me pumped this summer live, hearing the encore start with "Woe to you oh earth and sea".  It has awesome solos, a great riff, excellent Bruce scream... What's not to like?  That being said, it's still not quite among Maiden's best, and I'd give it 9.5 if I could.  But, a 9 it got, since 10 is only reserved for the really special ones.