After weeks of pestering, niggling, pleading and outright abuse, I’ve been persuaded to let the venerable SMT Editor Brian Sims loose on Songs About Security.
And you can imagine my shock and surprise when he told me he’d selected an Iron Maiden track. “But that’s crazy!” I thought. “I would never have predicted such a turn of events!”
Anyway – here’s Brian…
“I am not a number, I am a Free Man!”
“Anthony has had to keep me in check over this Songs About Security strand, I can tell you. As a massive music fan, I’ve been itching to have one of my faves on the site.
“In the wake of the Urban Cookie Collective’s ‘The Key, The Secret’, chosen by our recently-married and lovely marketing executive Jo Hudson, I thought we needed a change of pace. I well remember said Collective’s efforts because that track was played ad nauseum over the PA at my beloved West Ham United’s Upton Park when it first arrived on the scene…. but I digress.
“With me being a confirmed ‘Metal Head’ (and, no, I don’t mean that I visit the dentist on a regular basis) what better choice than “a wee ditty” (as they say in Glasgow) from my favourite band… the one and only Iron Maiden!
Metal decorating
“My colleagues at i4s Headquarters know all about my musical leanings. They couldn’t fail to… There’s a huge Maiden flag on the wall by my desk depicting the front cover of their classic single ‘The Trooper’, two model Eddies (the band’s mascot) on my desk, calendars, mugs, magnets all over the PC… It’s Maiden Heaven, people… although there’s also a huge amount of stuff on show devoted to Marillion, a sublime group tussling with Bruce Dickinson and the Boys for the Best Band Ever accolade as far as I’m concerned.
“Having seen Maiden in concert 47 times now (yes, that’s 47 times!), I know one or two of their songs. My mate Andy Rotherham (a member of the Web UK, Marillion’s fan club) suggested that I opt for ‘Running Free’ as my choice today. Then Martin Jakubski, the superlative lead singer of excellent tribute band Maiden Scotland and a great friend of mine, suggested ‘The Prisoner’… Great call, Martin!
“This track is taken from Maiden’s seminal 1982 opus ‘The Number of the Beast’, and features commentary from the old and much-loved TV series of the same name starring Patrick McGoohan. The video we’ve chosen here was originally featured on the brilliant ‘Maiden England’ DVD shot in the late 80s on the Seventh Tour of a Seventh Tour (for which I had front row tickets having queued all night!)
“Anyway, dust down the air guitar and give your neck muscles some much-needed exercise. You know it makes sense. Say it with me… ‘Maiden! Maiden! Maiden!’
Happy moshing, folks!”
