Historical themes in iron maiden songs (Part II): from the inquisition to the second world war

Abstract

This paper intends to deepen some of the ideas put forward in a previous study of ours, “Historical Characters and Facts in Iron Maiden Songs: a journey from Pre-History to the Second World War” (MELLER, 2005), and is a follow-up to “Historical Themes in Iron Maiden Songs (Part I): From the Cavemen to the Vikings” (RBEC, n.3, jan-jul 2013). Our aim is to demonstrate that the lyrics of this English band are an exception to the rule when it comes to Heavy Metal songs, which usually have Satanism, sex, drinking, and drug abuse as recurrent subject matters. Instead of dealing with these themes, Steve Harris, the main songwriter in Iron Maiden, invests in lyrics either inspired by literary works or based on historical themes. In fact, there are so many songs in the band’s discography with a historical approach that it is even possible to draw a timeline that stems from Pre-History and reaches World War II. While our analytical approach tends to focus on the lyrics, it will not ignore some aspects that are crucial to a better understanding of songs, namely the strictly musical elements (melody, harmony, rhythm, arrangement, etc.), and performance