When the Wild Wind Blows

How good is When the Wild Wind Blows on a scale of 1-10?

  • Total voters
    13
The Man Who Would Be King

Galvanise_ said:
Yeah. The first time I listen to a Maiden album, I have a little routine of turning it up loud, turning off the lights and laying down on the floor. I find I get absorbed into the album better that way. When Bruce came in singing higher when the distortion kicked in, jeez, that was awesome. There is only one song that got a shiver down my spine in the same way this song did, and that was some of the soloing in Paschendale. Brilliant.
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You and I must have something huge in common, then, because like I said that single moment when he begins to sing higher and the pace picks up is exactly what I was praying he'd do when I had listened to the demo!  He did, and to me it made the song. 

Also, the only other time I really got this connected feeling to the band, with chills up my spine as it were, was in Paschendale, from the point that the hawk squeaks to the last guitar solo.
 
The Man Who Would Be King

So, I downloaded a leak. And this song is my favourite so far. It's just incredible from start to finish.
 
The Man Who Would Be King

I *knew* you'd love this song. Especially since, as I have said, there are some similarities to TXF and VXI.
 
The Man Who Would Be King

Yeah, and it's got some great vocal melodies. And great lyrics too.
 
The Man Who Would Be King

The thing I don't like about the song is that after the quite intro, it loads you right away with Bruce's powerful, belting it out singing, but then the 2nd and 3rd vocal parts have his simpler, kind of boring singing. I wish it was mixed up a bit more. Also, that Afraid To Shoot Strangers type harmonic part repeats too many times. On the last one, I'm kind of bored with it. At the same time, it doesn't stop me from listening the the full song because I still love it quite a bit.
 
The Man Who Would Be King

After listening to the album for three times in a row now, I just have to say two things:

1. Am I the only one who was reminded of the Scorpions' "Make it real" at the beginning / end of WTWWB? (just the melody line, of course)
2. Haven't had so many goosebumps in a loooong time... :edmetal:
 
The Man Who Would Be King

Of all the emotions I have experienced over the 27 years of listening to IM, I can say I have never got physically choked up from any of their songs. Until now. This part puts a lump in my throat every time I hear it:

"He sees the picture on the wall, it's falling down
Upside down
He sees a teardrop from his wife roll down her face,
Saying Grace
Remember times they had, they flash right through his mind
Left behind
Of a lifetime spent together long ago
Will be gone"

Incredible. God I love this album!
 
The Man Who Would Be King

Rivet_Head said:
Of all the emotions I have experienced over the 27 years of listening to IM, I can say I have never got physically choked up from any of their songs. Until now. This part puts a lump in my throat every time I hear it:

"He sees the picture on the wall, it's falling down
Upside down
He sees a teardrop from his wife roll down her face,
Saying Grace
Remember times they had, they flash right through his mind
Left behind
Of a lifetime spent together long ago
Will be gone"

Incredible. God I love this album!
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Absolutely right. The first time I heard this song, I was dealing with the surprise that it wasn't what I was expecting, based on the reviews. However, and the song sank in, this section of the song began to hit me hardfer everytime. Both the music and the vocals brilliantly convey the mood of this part of the story.....a sad resignation of what is to come.
I have a question about the story in WTWWB....but to ask the question, I have to give away much of the story in the animated film, which is different in some ways to Maiden's song. So I've used the spoiler text below, so I don't give away the storyline of the animated film, for those who don't want to know it...

One thing I don't understand, though....so Maiden's version of the story is different than the animated movie. In the movie, the couple live for several weeks or longer after the bomb goes off, and make several mistakes...drinking radiated rain water, sweeping up radiated dust so they breathe it in....and at the end the camera slowly backs away and fades to black as they lay in their shelter and we know that they die from the radiation poisoning.

However, in Maiden's version, it appears that the song concentrates on the preparation for what they know is coming....and then right at the end, an earthquake happens and they think it's the bomb, so they drink their poison instead of enduring the suffering they are told will happen after.

Ok...so then...why did they go through all that preparation for surviving after the blast, if they were just going to drink the poison as they thought the bomb was hitting anyway?

Anyone care to share a thought on that?
 
The Man Who Would Be King

The pill was their own version of the "nuclear option". Maybe it was their backup plan if things got real nasty? They wanted to do the right thing and prepare for life after the apocalypse but freaked out at the last moment and decided it wasnt worth the horror..
 
The Man Who Would Be King

I'd like to quote Forostar in a very interesting point:
Forostar said:
It's been 18 years. 18 years since Harris decided that his own penned epic is strong enough to close the album.
Just looking at this astonishing list of Harris-songs from the Dickinson era, gives me the chills:

1. Hallowed Be Thy Name (1982)
2. To Tame A Land (1983)
3. Rime Of The Ancient mariner (1984)
4. Alexander The Great (1986)
5. Mother Russia (1990)
6. Fear Of The Dark (1992)
7. When The Wild Wind Blows (2010)
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And he was right! And even though I said what I said about WTWWB, after even more listens, I'm sort of starting to hear it the way others are and see why this song is so amazing.

I know I'm repeating this from the main TFF thread, but since this is the thread for the song itself, I thought it was a point worth stating twice. :)
 
The Man Who Would Be King

Rivet_Head said:
The pill was their own version of the "nuclear option". Maybe it was their backup plan if things got real nasty? They wanted to do the right thing and prepare for life after the apocalypse but freaked out at the last moment and decided it wasnt worth the horror..
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That's the only thing I could think of also...and is a good working theory on the story. It just seems a strange decision after having gone through so much preparation. Then again...in a moment of absolute panic...regardless of any preparation, I don't think any of us really knows how we will react, until that exact moment.
 
The Man Who Would Be King

Nah, I think it was a plan…I think they intended to end themselves. They moved the stuff out by way of habit…maybe they intended others to find it?
 
The Man Who Would Be King

LooseCannon said:
Nah, I think it was a plan…I think they intended to end themselves. They moved the stuff out by way of habit…maybe they intended others to find it?
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Where do you get that idea? Why would they want to commit suicide?
 
The Man Who Would Be King

To avoid ending their long, happy lives amidst the horrors of nuclear holocaust?
 
The Man Who Would Be King

LooseCannon said:
To avoid ending their long, happy lives amidst the horrors of nuclear holocaust?
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Yeah, but only right at the end when they panicked, or when it seemed imminent. They wouldn't have spent so much of the song describing the preparations and setting up the shelter if they were planning to kill themselves all along. Plus, the twist is so plainly described in the outro that I think if they were planning it, it would have been included in the outro.
 
The Man Who Would Be King

I'm thinking it was either just in case, or it was some type of rat poison they may have had lying around.
 
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