At the time of this song, 1984, the Science and Security Board of the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists had set the Doomsday Clock at 2 minutes to midnight. It was lowered to 4 minutes to midnight after the end of the Cold War. But after a year of the warmongering Biden administration provoking Russia in Ukraine, it was heightened to 100 seconds to midnight a year ago which it is still.
Kill for gain or shoot to maim
But we don’t need a reason
The golden goose is on the loose
And never out of season
Blackened pride still burns inside
This shell of bloody treason
Here’s my gun for a barrel of fun
For the love of living death
The killer’s breed or the demon’s seed
The glamour, the fortune, the pain
Go to war again, blood is freedom’s stain
Don’t you pray for my soul anymore
2 minutes to midnight
The hands that threaten doom
2 minutes to midnight
To kill the unborn in the womb
The blind men shout, “Let the creatures out!
We’ll show the unbelievers”
Napalm screams of human flames
For a prime-time Belsen feast, yeah
As the reasons for the carnage cut
Their meat and lick the gravy
We oil the jaws of the war machine
And feed it with our babies
The killer’s breed or the demon’s seed
The glamour, the fortune, the pain
Go to war again, blood is freedom’s stain
Don’t you pray for my soul anymore
2 minutes to midnight
The hands that threaten doom
2 minutes to midnight
To kill the unborn in the womb
The body bags and little rags
Of children torn in two
And the jellied brains of those who remain
To put the finger right on you
As the mad men play on words
And make us all dance to their song
To the tune of starving millions
To make a better kind of gun
The killer’s breed or the demon’s seed
The glamour, the fortune, the pain
Go to war again, blood is freedom’s stain
Don’t you pray for my soul anymore
I watched Bruce Dickinson sprint around the Manchester Nynex Arena in 2018 at the age of 60 and climb what can only be described as an assault course of climbing frames 10 to 15m above the stage. He did this for the full 60 minute set, all whilst singing in an operatic style at full volume. All I was thinking was that has to be some amazing cocaine he is on and then he jumped straight up in the air and kicked a Edward T Heads (their mascot) crotch which was some 6 feet above stage level. That blew my mind. 60 years old!
Apologies, it was 2007 and Dickinson was 49. No mean feat though. Video does not contain the kick but it did happen. Dickinson has operatic, martial arts and pilot training, not what you would expect from a metal front man.
Personally I always preferred the original iron Maiden with Paul Di’Anno singing. Dickinson was a late comer after they already had established themselves. The majority of their better work is from those first 2 albums, Iron Maiden and Killers. Prove me wrong.