Trhoughout his career - both as a musician and a writer - Bruce has always been surrounded by two things - History and Literature.

HISTORY

Well, Bruce has a college degree in History. It was why - at least that's what I think - the Iron Maiden song called "Powerslave" is inspired by Egyptian History.

LITERATURE

Bruce has a close relationship with Literature. Yes, he's the author of two books: "The Adventures of Lord Iffy Boatrace" and "Missionary Position." This is only to show you that there is a relationship. However, books are another story. The objective here is to find literature within his musical work.

LET'S GO TO THE POINT!

To start with, we have a literary quotation in the song "Revelations" from the album "Piece of Mind" by Iron Maiden. It is from a book of English folk Hymns called "English Hymnal" by G.K. Chesterton. It shows some kind of appreciation of literature by Bruce.

Then, in the same album, we have a song called "Flight Of Icarus," written by Bruce and Adrian Smith. This song is aboua a Greek myth. It is about a youth who attempted to escape from Crete with wings of wax and feathers but flew so high that his wings melted from the heat of the sun, and he plunged to his death in the sea.

The use of a classic myth already shows some erudition and literature knowledge.

Personally I think that Bruce's appreciation for History and Literature somewhat "contaminated" his bandmates. (See "Alexander The Great" and "Rime Of The Ancient Mariner")

Sticking tp this idea, I decided to put here a link to the complete poem "The Rime Of The Ancient Mariner" by Samuel Taylor Coleridge (1798-1834).

THE RIME OF THE ANCIENT MARINER

Besides some religious references in the song called "Moonchild" in the album "Seventh Son Of A Seventh Son" - "Seven deadly sins (...)," "Seven holy paths to hell (...)," etc. -, which indicates at least that there was a research on the Bible, in this album we can find a little literary reference. This time it is about the most famous dramatist in the world: William Shakespeare. Look at this excerpt from his "Julius Ceasar," Act 3, Scene 2, 75-107:

Antony. Friends, Romans, countrymen,
lend me your ears;
I come to bury Caesar, not to praise him;
The evil that men do lives after them,
The good is oft interred with their bones,
So let it be with Caesar .... The noble Brutus
Hath told you Caesar was ambitious;
If it were so, it was a grievious fault,
And grieviously hath Caesar answered it ...

You see the fourth verse? Could this be only a coincidence?

Although there are many examples of literary influences in Bruce's career in Maiden, it was never as strong as in his solo career, mainly considering his last album, "The Chemical Wedding."

As you probably know, this album is completely based on alchemy. Bruce has done an extensive research on this theme. That's why I consider it a conceptual album.

While researching on alchemy, Bruce found William Blake's work, and he became a major influence as far as lyrics are concerned. Actually, you can find Blake everywhere, from the cover to the songs. At the end of some songs there are even spoken quotations of poems by William Blake (you can check them at the Lyrics section of the site). Check the poems out of which the excerpts are taken:

Complete poem out of which the excerpt spoken by Arthur Brown in the end of "Book Of Thel" was taken

Complete poem out of which the excerpt spoken by Arthur Brown in the end of "Jerusalem" was taken

Complete poem out of which the excerpt spoken by Arthur Brown in the end of "The Alchemist" was taken

The most interesting William Blake influence in my opinion is in the song called "Jerusalem." While I was doing my own research on Blake I found out that this song is an adaptation of one of Blake's poems. Check it out:

And did those feet in ancient time
Walk upon England's mountains green?
And was the holy Lamb of God
On England's pleasant pastures seen?
 
And did the Countenance Divine
Shine forth upon our clouded hills?
And was Jerusalem builded here
Among these dark Satanic Mills?
 
Bring me my Bow of burning gold:
Bring me my Arrows of desire:
Bring me my Spear: O clouds unfold!
Bring me my Chariot of fire.
 
I will not cease from Mental Fight,
Nor shall my Sword sleep in my hand
Till we have built Jerusalem
In England's green & pleasant Land.
 
"Would to God that all the Lord's people were Prophets."
Numbers, xi. ch., 29 v.

If you want to learn more about Blake's work, check the...

William Blake Archive


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© 1999 Carina Lucindo

 
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