"Stranger in a Strange Land" | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|
Single by Iron Maiden | ||||
from the album Somewhere in Time | ||||
B-side |
| |||
Released | 10 November 1986 [1] | |||
Recorded | 1986 | |||
Studio | ||||
Genre | Heavy metal | |||
Length | 5:42 | |||
Label | ||||
Songwriter(s) | Adrian Smith | |||
Producer(s) | Martin Birch | |||
Iron Maiden singles chronology | ||||
|
"Stranger in a Strange Land" is a song by the English heavy metal band Iron Maiden, released as the second single from their sixth studio album, Somewhere in Time (1986). The song is unrelated to Robert A. Heinlein's novel by the same name. [2]
The lyrics are about an Arctic explorer who dies and is frozen in the ice. After a hundred years his body is found preserved by other people exploring there. [3] Adrian Smith was inspired to write about this song after talking to an explorer who had a similar experience while discovering the frozen body of Franklin Expedition participant John Torrington. [4]
The guitar solo in "Stranger in a Strange Land" is played by Smith. In a 2020 interview with eonmusic, the guitarist said that it was one of the first Iron Maiden songs that gave him "space to play in", citing its mid-paced tempo as the reason why; "a lot of the Maiden stuff up until then had been very fast, and aggressive, and heavy, but that actually allowed me a little bit of space to stretch out a bit", he said. [5]
The song is one of only five Iron Maiden songs to fade out; the others being "The Prophecy" from Seventh Son of a Seventh Son , "Hell on Earth" from Senjutsu , "Women in Uniform", a single included on some pressings of Killers , and "Kill Me Ce Soir", the B-side to the 12" single Holy Smoke released in 1990. The lyrics "brave new world" were also present in Iron Maiden's 2000 studio release, Brave New World .
Eddie's appearance on the single cover is an homage to the Clint Eastwood character "Man with No Name", although it can also be seen as a mixture of Rick Deckard from Blade Runner and the "Man with No Name". This version of Eddie would later be used in the Camp Chaos music video for "Run to the Hills".
The B-sides to this single, "That Girl" and "Juanita", were both played during The Entire Population of Hackney secret gig on 19 December 1985, with Andy Barnett on lead vocals on "That Girl" and Adrian Smith on "Juanita". This is probably where the idea came from to play them as B-sides, especially with Adrian's large presence on this single and the Somewhere in Time album.
"That Girl" was written by Merv Goldsworthy, Pete Jupp and Andy Barnett in an early line-up of the band FM and was one of the demo tracks which secured them a record deal with CBS in 1984. [6] The song was eventually released by both Iron Maiden and FM in 1986. By then the brothers Steve and Chris Overland had joined FM and some parts of the original song (mainly choruses) had been rewritten for its inclusion on FM's debut album Indiscreet , [7] released just three weeks prior to Iron Maiden's Somewhere In Time which featured a cover of the original arrangement. On this Iron Maiden version the first guitar solo is played by Dave Murray, while the ending guitar solo is played by Adrian Smith.
"Juanita" was originally played by Barnett's band, Marshall Fury, in the early 1980s, and it was written by Steve Barnacle and Derek O'Neil. Marshall Fury never recorded a studio version of the song.
'7" single
No. | Title | Writer(s) | Length |
---|---|---|---|
1. | "Stranger in a Strange Land" | Adrian Smith | 5:42 |
No. | Title | Writer(s) | Length |
---|---|---|---|
1. | "That Girl" (FM cover) | Merv Goldsworthy, Pete Jupp, Andy Barnett | 5:02 |
No. | Title | Writer(s) | Length |
---|---|---|---|
1. | "Stranger in a Strange Land" | Smith | 5:42 |
No. | Title | Writer(s) | Length |
---|---|---|---|
1. | "That Girl" (FM cover) | Goldsworthy, Jupp, Barnett | 5:02 |
2. | "Juanita" (Marshall Fury cover) | Steve Barnacle, Derek O'Neil | 3:45 |
Personnel as listed in the album's liner notes are: [8] [9]
Single | Chart (1986) | Peak position | Album |
---|---|---|---|
"Stranger in a Strange Land" | Irish Singles Chart | 18 [11] | Somewhere in Time |
UK Singles Chart | 22 [12] | ||
Single | Chart (1990) | Peak position | Album |
"Wasted Years/ Stranger in a Strange Land" | UK Albums Chart [note 1] | 9 [13] | — |
Maiden England is a live video by the band Iron Maiden during their Seventh Son of a Seventh Son world tour, which was dubbed Seventh Tour of a Seventh Tour.
Somewhere in Time is the sixth studio album by English heavy metal band Iron Maiden. It was released on 29 September 1986 in the United Kingdom by EMI Records and in the United States by Capitol Records. It was the band's first album to feature guitar synthesisers.
Killers is the second studio album by English heavy metal band Iron Maiden. It was first released on 16 February 1981 in the United Kingdom by EMI Records and on 11 May in the United States by Harvest and Capitol Records. The album was their first with guitarist Adrian Smith, and their last with vocalist Paul Di'Anno, who was fired after problems with his stage performances arose due to his alcohol and cocaine use. Killers was also the first Iron Maiden album recorded with producer Martin Birch, who went on to produce their next eight albums until Fear of the Dark (1992).
A.S.a.P. were a rock band formed by guitarist and vocalist Adrian Smith of Iron Maiden. A.S.a.P. released an album in 1989 entitled Silver and Gold. A.S.a.P. stands for "Adrian Smith and Project", and the full name of the band is incorporated within the band logo, with each word written in tiny font underneath the corresponding letter in the abbreviation.
"Running Free" is the debut single by Iron Maiden, released on 8 February 1980 on the 7" 45 rpm vinyl record format. It was written by Steve Harris and Paul Di'Anno. The song appears as the third track on the band's debut album Iron Maiden. In 1985, a live version of the song was released as the first single from Live After Death. In 1990, the original single was reissued on CD and 12" vinyl as part of The First Ten Years box, in which it was combined with the band's next single, "Sanctuary". The 1985 live single was also released as part of this box set, combined with 1985's "Run to the Hills".
"Hallowed Be Thy Name" is the final track on Iron Maiden's 1982 album The Number of the Beast. The song was written by bassist Steve Harris and has been acclaimed as one of the greatest heavy metal songs of all time. It is also considered one of the band's signature songs.
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"Twilight Zone" is the fourth single by Iron Maiden, released on 2 March 1981 and is the lead single to the 1981 LP Killers. The song did not appear in the original album in February, but was included in the U.S. release in June and the international 1998 remaster. At the time of its release, it was the band's second-most successful single, peaking at No. 31 in the UK Singles Chart. It is the band's first single to feature guitarist Adrian Smith. In the 1990 box set, The First Ten Years, it is on the same CD and 12" vinyl as the previous single, "Women in Uniform".
"Flight of Icarus" is a song by the English heavy metal band Iron Maiden. It was their eighth single, the first from their fourth studio album, Piece of Mind (1983), and their first in the United States, where it was one of their few with substantial airplay, peaking at a personal best No. 8 on the Billboard Top Album Tracks chart. It was a lesser success in the UK, peaking at No. 11 on the UK Singles Chart.
"Wasted Years" is a song by the English heavy metal band Iron Maiden. It is the band's fourteenth single released and the first from their sixth studio album, Somewhere in Time (1986). Released in 1986, it was the first single solely written by guitarist Adrian Smith, who also sings backing vocals.
"The Evil That Men Do" is a song by the English heavy metal band Iron Maiden. It is the band's seventeenth single and the second from their seventh studio album, Seventh Son of a Seventh Son (1988). The single debuted at number six in the UK charts and quickly rose to number five. The single's B-sides are re-recordings of "Prowler" and "Charlotte the Harlot" which appear as tracks number one and seven/eight respectively on the band's debut album Iron Maiden.
"Infinite Dreams" is a live single released in 1989 by the English heavy metal band Iron Maiden. It is the only single to be released in sync with a home video; 1989's Maiden England. The performance was recorded in Birmingham, England in 1988 towards the end of the massive world tour to support the album where the song originally appeared, being Seventh Son of a Seventh Son. It was the band's final single to feature "The Trooper"-era lineup for an entire decade until 2000's single "The Wicker Man" with guitarist Adrian Smith leaving the band in January 1990 after he did not approve of the direction the band were aiming for on their next album No Prayer for the Dying.
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Indiscreet is the debut album from British hard rock band FM. Indiscreet was originally released in 1986 on the Portrait Records label, a sister label of Epic Records. The song "Frozen Heart" became a moderately successful single. The song "That Girl" was covered by Iron Maiden as a B-side to their single "Stranger in a Strange Land" following its inclusion in a live set by The Entire Population of Hackney. Written by Merv Goldsworthy, Pete Jupp and Andy Barnett in an early FM line-up, it was one of the demo songs which secured FM their record contract with Portrait/Epic in 1984. By the time Indiscreet was released FM had re-written parts of their song, while Iron Maiden's release three weeks later covered the original arrangement.
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In the summer of 1984...FM was formed... the band wrote six songs. By December of that same year FM had secured a recording contract with the CBS/Portrait label...
Maiden's version was the original arrangement we did in the "Andy Goes to Canada" line-up with Andy Barnett, Dave Lloyd and Dave Colwell before Steve and Chris were in the band. We rewrote the chorus early on after the Overlands came on board. It was one of the four songs that got us the CBS deal.
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