When the Wild Wind Blows

[Invader]

The Man Who Would Be King

From the first times I heard this song, I saw the references to the media as the couple's paranoia, not the media actually being like that.  This idea from paranoia mainly comes from the end result (mistaking the earthquake for the fallout) and it's probably false, but that's still what I think of whenever I listen to this song.

 

[Forostar]

The Man Who Would Be King

What you said, I saw that you, but reading this, I can imagine that it might mean more than just that.
Some media make things look worse than they are. I find FOX a good example, the way they scare people with their dreadful version of political decisions. In this case the couple what made (extra) paranoia by the media.

 

[mckindog]

The Man Who Would Be King

The first time I heard the song I immediately thought of an elderly couple I knew.
Nice folks, very passionate (in a non-confrontational way) about what's wrong with the world and what should be done to fix it.
Very left-wing in their views.
They'd plea for you to "do the right thing" and smile sadly when you pointed out a flaw in their logic or failed to take action.
My impression  was that they were probably very well-informed at one time and could kick some serious ass on the types of political and philosophical discussions that help make this forum what it is.
But at this point of their lives that edge and open-mindedness was gone.
And all that was left was the dogma of their worldview and the sad resignation that the planet was just not capable of fixing itself.
I could picture them locking themselves in the shelter and simply giving up.
And the song literally made the hair on my arm stand up and put a lump in my throat.

 

[Forostar]

The Man Who Would Be King

Weird. This song is surely not about someone feeling responsible for other people, nor judging other people.
I think it's more about: everyone for their own sake, purely ruled by fear (ruled by media).

 

[mckindog]

The Man Who Would Be King

What grabbed me was the "they only fill us with the stuff that they want" part of the song.
The couple I knew simply chose to reject anything they heard in the media that didn't fit their worldview because they didn't trust the media.
Hell, they didn't trust a lot that other people would tell them, saying they were simply believing the lies that are fed to us by the media.
Initially, I thought the couple in the song chose not to "believe all the the lying and the screens that are denying the moment of truth has begun."
Instead, they believed mankind was about to destroy itself and decided to avoid that mess by ending it all.

But this was before I saw the actual lyrics. Now I'm more inline with your view about the song.
I used to think:

Can’t believe all the lying,
All the screens are denying
That the moments of truth have begun
Can’t you see it on the T.V.?
Don’t believe them in the least bit
Now the days of our ending have begun

was the protagonist speaking.
Now I'm more inclined to think its the narrator.
Which spoils what initially gave me chills.

That said, this song still gives me chills — great story, great musical atmosphere.
I know it gets a lot of praise from some on this site, but I think that praise should be more unanimous.
For me, it's among the all-time Maiden tracks.
It has all the nuances of a great novel and could be Harris's crowning achievement.

 

[Forostar]

I surely agree that the atmosphere, the topic, the lyrics and especially the way Bruce sings them so fluently, are of the highest order.

There's one thing though, which I'll try to explain (and which was already mentioned by EW and some others).
It's about some of the instrumental segments: In my ears they honestly sound like recycled parts from Afraid to Shoot Strangers. I don't like the idea of Nicko thinking this is the greatest song Steve ever wrote, while he plus the whole band completely "forget" that song from which these ideas were taken. Even though these are small parts in the song, the associations with my favourite song from the nineties are big.
This is what makes this song less perfect for me.

 

[mckindog]

The Man Who Would Be King

Fair enough. The two songs certainly have similar textures and evoke similar emotional responses. 
That said, I don't mind bands lifting old ideas and twisting them into new settings.
I'm inclined to think most art builds off something that comes before.

 

[Forostar]

The Man Who Would Be King

I am not always consequent with that either, but I am not the biggest fan of Maiden doing this. Important: ATSS happens to be a dear song to me.

But I can surely understand that this re-using of parts is less or not important for people, and that this song is one of their favourites ever, due to all the other qualities.

 

[The Flash]

The Man Who Would Be King

When the Wild Wind Blows has amazing melodies, riffs. A lot of great moments but not arranged good enough. I mean this song feels incomplete to me.

 

[Mosh]

The Man Who Would Be King

you mean it just steadily goes and has no surprises or anything? It's supposed to be like that.

 

[Jonszat]

The Man Who Would Be King

Which bits remind you of ATSS, Foro?

 

[Forostar]

The Man Who Would Be King

In this clip:
5:03 - 5:43
6:03 - 6:23

(around a minute in total)

 

[Mosh]

The Man Who Would Be King

It kind of does sound like ATSS. But considering this song was probably written in the 90's a lot of their songs had melodies like that.

 

[Overlord]

The Man Who Would Be King

For me, the bonus three (and my least favourite three) are The Alchemist, Isle of Avalon and Starblind. WTWWB is my fave song off the album. I still love those 3 songs, but I they've never been able to move me as much as the rest of the album. Starblind is growing on me slowly, though. We'll see what happens in the future.

Get yourself in one of those finding God moods and open up the hubble space telescope web site to browse the amazing pictures while listening to Startblind. I guarantee  you'll think its the best moment in your life.

 

[Jupz]

The Man Who Would Be King

Get yourself in one of those finding God moods and open up the hubble space telescope web site to browse the amazing pictures while listening to Startblind. I guarantee  you'll think its the best moment in your life.

Haha ok, will do

 

[Mosh]

The Man Who Would Be King

what you should do is listen to each epic individually. That's what I did when the only I liked was IOA. Now I like every epic except the talisman. It might be because I don't like Janick's guitar tone and it dominates that song.

 

[Jupz]

The Man Who Would Be King

Well as I said Starblind is growing on me (as is Isle of Avalon, to a lesser extent). But I always liked The Talisman, TMWWBK and WTWWB.

 

[Chartwell]

The Man Who Would Be King

Heard this song and thought how odd and un-Maiden it was. Thought perhaps Maiden were losing their edge and wanted to go out with a whimper instead of a bang. Continued listening and the song began to grow on me, even through the first listening. The lyrics seemed to leap out, more precise and cutting than other Maiden songs, which perhaps are more poetic and lyrical. By the end, I was sold that this was an epic classic.

I must agree with the others on this thread who think this could be one of Maiden's best. I wholeheartedly concur - the time shift, the despondent tone but above all the utter Britishness conveyed is amazing. If a song is measured by its ability to convey emotion, this could be one of the best songs ever. The ending is heartbreaking, the tone is consistent and stoic, and jeez, it rocks. It eschews bombast for a tale plainly told with emotion.

I've gotta say, it was a religious experience seeing this live, and I hope they continue to play it for years to come. I know I will.

 

[Jupz]

The Man Who Would Be King

If a song is measured by its ability to convey emotion, this could be one of the best songs ever.

This! This song conveys so much emotion it is incredible.

 

[Chartwell]

The Man Who Would Be King

BTW, the references to the media and its role in hyping the "disaster" are classic. All one needs to do is turn on CNN or BBC and hear how the world is coming to an end due to anything we do... acid rain, global warming, overpopulation, etc. etc. These "real catastrophes" are always our fault, are always the worst thing in history, always spell the end of man until the next one comes along (remember "global cooling" from the 1970s and how we were in a new ice age?). And every time the media seizes on these with gusto and basically tells us that, like the protagonists in the song, the disaster would be avoided if we just committed suicide. Basically, that it's our own damn existence that's threatening the world and that if not for all the humans, the world would be a better place. I think the couple in this song take the media's hype to its logical end - if they're the problem and "caused" the end of the world, then the noblest thing is to remove themselves from that world.

Of course, it's all bollocks and part of the media's litany of lies. Which makes the ending even more bittersweet, that this couple actually believes the lies.

One last thing about this song - I've always loved the fact that Maiden really came of age during the 1980s and didn't succumb to the same kind of "oh life was so hard in Thatcher's England because they actually made us work" malaise that many of their punk (and British) contemporaries did. They always seemed to sing about timeless and grander themes than some kind of mommy complex, railing against their mother. But in this song, I think they revisit the tone of the 80s and the fear of nuclear holocaust and capture it PERFECTLY. They summon up the entire anxiety felt by those of us powerless against the bomb. The song is like a moving snapshot - you can see, feel, hear, and taste the world. It's like Terry Gilliam once said about his movie Brazil, it's a post-apocalyptic view of a pre-apocalyptic world.  I can really see why Maiden are so good at doing songs about literature, in as much as they and their lyrics ARE literature.