Hallowed be Thy name - analysis

Analysis of the song "Hallowed Be Thy Name" by Iron Maiden, both in content and melodically.



“Hallowed be Thy Name” is a son written by Steve Harris, the bass player in the band Iron Maiden. The song was published the first time in the album “The Number of the Beast”, which was released 1982. The song is about a man who is sentenced to death at the gallows, and his thoughts in the final hours.


Content-based analysis

The song is about a person, who is obviously sentenced to death and don’t have much time left before the execution. Why he is to be executed one does not know. Most likely this is a story of some age, whereas hanging people as a punishment, and being visited by a priest, preparing him for death, isn’t so common nowadays.

The priest visits the cell and begins the preparation. We hear about the person looking through the bars at the outside world. He is thinking back at what have happened and what never will happen, in a world which has gone very wrong for him.

In the third verse we get to know the persons fear, as he realizes he is afraid of dying after all. He tries to convince himself to believe this is just a bad dream, but can’t. He though life is eternal, but now, facing his very own death, starts to doubt. He doesn’t understand his own fear, as he never has been afraid for dying before.

In the fifth verse he cries out: “If there’s a God then why has he let me die?” He is obviously wondering why this is happening and he is probably religious to a certain level.

In the sixth and seventh verse he changes mood, and suddenly becomes curtain of the afterlife and that his soul will never die. Through the final verses he talks about this life on earth, which now he clearly can see, is only an illusion.

Melodic analysis

The song starts off with a short instrumental introduction featuring different sorts of instruments, including guitar and church bells. There is no prelude, and they start right into the song immediately, as if something have been going on for a long time and we are just hearing about it afterwards. The pace seems almost as if it gets slower for each stroke, creating a special and somewhat depressive mood.

The vocal part quickly begins, following the same, slow pace. The first verse is rather special with its fire lines of text in 16 strokes.

Following, the first interlude arrives, increasing the pace and emphasizing the guitar and drums. The melody is mostly the same, but steadier. The vocal recounts the last two words in the first verse, followed by a change in pitch and a transition to a more intense melody, also consisting of a higher pace and volume. This symbolizes the person beginning to be more restless and nervous.

During the second and third verse the guitarists and drummer take use of syncopation making the rhythm quite choppy, and with particular stress at the start and end of each line. This rhythm repeats eight strokes, and we get used to it.

After the fifth verse there is another short interlude. The drums are now playing along constantly, and the sound becomes somewhat chaotic. This is probably a symbol on the person starting to panic, not being able to remain calm anymore.

The third interlude starts of similar to the first one, but slowly gets steadier, as if the guards approaches and take the person with them.

Through the sixth to ninth verse the instruments blend into one another creating a bit messy and complex sound. This is followed by a long instrumental section including a guitar solo, which turns into the melody from the first interlude again. I believe this section symbolizes the person’s death, and the final verse where he cries out: “Hallowed be Thy Name”, could be a sign of his soul surviving and moving on to a better life.

The song finishes with a decline in both pitch and pace.



The content of the song

I'm waiting in my cold cell, when the bell begins to chime.

Reflecting on my past life and it doesn't have much time.

'Cause at 5 o'clock they take me to the Gallows Pole,

The sands of time for me are running low...



Running low--ooohhh...yeah…

When the priest comes to read me the last rites,

I take a look through the bars at the last sights,

Of a world that has gone very wrong for me.



Can it be that there's some sort of error?

Hard to stop the surmounting terror.

Is this really the end, not some crazy dream?



Somebody please tell me that I'm dreaming,

It's not easy to stop from screaming,

But words escape me when I try to speak.

Tears flow but why am I crying?

After all I'm not afraid of dying.

Don't I believe that there never is an end?



As the guards march me out to the courtyard,

Somebody cries from a cell "God be with you".

If there's a God then why does he let me go?



As I walk my life drifts before me.

Though the end is near I'm not sorry.

Catch my soul, it's willing to fly away.



Mark my words believe my soul lives on.

Don't worry now that I have gone.

I've gone beyond to see the truth.



When you know that your time is close at hand,

Maybe then you'll begin to understand

Life down here is just a strange illusion.



Yeah, yeah, yeah...Hallowed be Thy name

Yeah, yeah, yeah...Hallowed be Thy name

Yeah..................................

Iron Maidens visit at our town, Trondheim

Part of Iron Maiden’s Somewhere Back In Time World Tour – 2008 / 2009

Two years ago, an obsessed Iron Maiden fan called Andreas, ran into our classroom shouting and waving. He had just heard; Iron Maiden was planning a world wide concert tour, called Somewhere Back In Time. And not only was Norway on the concert list, they were planning to play in our town, at our very football stadium. The date of the concert was soon released; 22nd of July, 2008. We quickly ordered tickets, as record sale were registered from all of Norway. No one could remember the last time Iron Maiden was in Norway, not to mention Trondheim.

Months passed by and finally the day of all days was here; concert day. We prepared ourselves the whole day. Some of us went to a pharmacy buying ear plugs, while most of us were at Andreas’ place, digging Iron Maiden music from early in the morning several hours to late afternoon. The time had come to go to the stadium.

We got there a bit late, considering the amount of time we had just spent waiting for the concert to start. I have never seen that many people at the football stadium, not even at the series final, and the entries were dangerously overcrowded. Mainly due to this, and some bad planning made us miss the first part of the first warm-up band. Shortly after the warm-up band Avenged Sevenfold took the stage, followed by a awful, way-to-long break before the Iron Maiden themselves was to play.

Finally they arrived! They started off playing the best song ever made (at least that what Jan thinks); Aces High. We had all brought ear plugs, but agreed not to take then on while the best songs were being played. After the concert we all realized none of us had used them…

As the concert continued to grow they played some of our favorite songs; “Fear of The Dark”, “The Trooper” and “Run to the Hills”. Furthermore they played other song such as “2 Minutes to Midnight”, “Wasted Years”, “The Number of The Beast”, “Powerslave” and “Iron Maiden” (Yes, the song is called the same as the band, and also their first album; Iron Maiden).

At the end they decided to play a few extra songs; "Moonchild", "The Clairvoyant" and last but not least "Hallowed Be Thy Name". In addition they made some great blasts and explosions using fireworks, and we all got to see Eddie, the band’s mascot who is always present at the bands concerts, and occurs on numerous album arts.

They continued on with a great show; the mood was indescribable, the most tens, but still so very relaxed mood we had ever witnessed nor participated in. Everyone were excited, the lights flashing dizzily in every color of the rainbow, the crowd was screaming, the special effects were astonishing, and at last but not least; some of the damn best music ever made was being played, live on-stage. The only disappointment I remember was the outdated audio system. The volume was just a little too high, which was good, but the speakers could cope with the amount of decibels streaming out of the amplifiers, and the sound turned distorted and too sharp without enough bass.

Apart from this minor setback the concert was a winner, and all things considered the best concert all of us had been to, not too surprising considering the fact that this was the only “real” concert any of us had been to.

http://www.ironmaiden.com/index.php?categoryid=15

The era of three guitarists

Since 1999 Iron Maiden has had three guitarists: Dave Murray, Adrian Smith and Janick Gers. The band has released three albums since 1999: “Brave New World” (2000), “Dance of Death” (2003) and “A Matter of Life and Death” (2006). Iron Maiden is one of very few bands with three guitarists and this has created many opportunities in the creation of music. This is one of the reasons why Iron Maiden has an own sound. In many songs all three guitars play at the same time and create a polyphony effect.

A good example of this distinctive sound: Dance of death (Link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YweqyZzL0uM)

Analysis of the song ”Blood Brothers”

The song was written by Steve Harris as a tribute to his deceased father and is a song consisting of various parts. This is a very typical Iron Maiden song with its constant change between calm, harmonic parts and rough metal parts. The vocals and the melody is one unit, made to fit with each other.

The song has a calm start with a slow bass and a very melodic guitar playing on top which make a nice foundation to the first part of the lyrics. Then the melody changes its pattern into a more staccato version of the first part, when the second part of the lyrics kicks in. Afterwards it transforms into a more open melody and the main chorus. The song continues repeated two times then it goes into another slow part and into the first guitar solo. After the solo the song goes into a bridge and another solo before the song ends in the same way as the intro.

The song is about how life can be changed in a split of a second and how we humans misuse our life’s to destroy each other through wars and conflicts. Instead of protecting what is precious. Steve Harris write of how we can lose they we care about in an instant and how he misses his father, which appears during the chorus: “We're blood brothers, we're blood brothers, we’re blood brothers, we're blood brothers”.

Link to the song: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qbcm8Ao9Vfg

Link to lyrics: http://www.lyricsfreak.com/i/iron+maiden/blood+brothers_20067944.html

Music style and Rhythm

Iron Maidens music style has changed a lot through the years. The faster, more punk inspired metal, which Iron Maiden started with, changed to a more serious tone in their 7^th studio album “Seventh Son of a Seventh Son”. The following two albums went back to the more traditional Maiden with some elements taken from ¨”Seventh Son of a Seventh Son” With the switch of lead singers (Bruce Dickinson for Blaze Bayley) and guitarists (Adrian Smith for Janick Gers), Iron Maiden decided to try some new tunes. Their music style became more “experimental” with a synthesizer and a different rhythm. In this period of time Iron Maiden didn’t reach huge success. Even though the music wasn’t affected, people didn’t seem to like the fact that Bruce Dickinson and Adrian Smith left the band.

After two albums, Blaze Bayley left and there was a reunion. Bruce and Adrian rejoined and they did a huge comeback. With the release of “Brave New World” and “Dance of Death” they kept the more slowly and serious rhythm, but at the same time they added something that could be described as happiness. Their newest album “A Matter of Life and Death” changed the music style again. The bits of happiness disappeared and the rhythm sounded even more serious and progressive. “A Matter of life and Death” is said to be picking up from the roots of the album “Seventh Son of a Seventh Son”, which has a pretty much alike sound. Iron Maiden is due to release a new album in 2010, but which way they will go regarding the music style, no one knows.

The Number of the Beast

The album “The Number of the Beast”, released in 1982 was Iron Maidens third studio album. This was the first album with their current and most famous vocalist Bruce Dickinson. Where the two previously albums, which featured lead singer Paul Di’Anno, didn’t reach the whole way up, “The Number of the Beast” introduced the real Iron Maiden and sailed up to the top of the UK Albums Chart. “The Number of the Beast” is still one of the most acquainted albums in the heavy metal history.

The album featured 9 songs, including two singles; “The Number of the Beast” and “Run To The Hills”. The album had also other well known songs as “Children of the Damned” and “Hallowed be Thy Name”. The title song “The Number of the Beast” also gained attention from other people then fans. Some Christians meant that the song was satanic. Iron Maiden dismissed the accusation and said that the song and album wasn’t meant that way.

The music is referred to as heavy metal, but also includes factors of other genres such as punk. The album introduced Iron Maidens new sound and rhythm, and it wasn’t until many years and albums later they changed their music style.

Discography

Discography


Releases

Studio albums 14
Live albums 7
Compilation albums 5
Extended plays 4
Singles 40
Video albums 16
Music videos 36
Box sets 3


Studio albums

Year Album name Released
1980 Iron Maiden April the 14th, 1980
1981 Killers February the 2nd, 1981
1982 The Number of the Beast March the 29th, 1982
1983 Piece of Mind May the 16th, 1983
1984 Powerslave September the 3rd, 1984
1986 Somewhere in Time June the 29th, 1986
1988 Seventh Son of a Seventh Son April the 11th, 1988
1990 No Prayer for the Dying October the 1st, 1990
1992 Fear of the Dark May the 11th, 1992
1995 The X Factor October the 2nd, 1995
1998 Virtual XI March the 22nd, 1998
2000 Brave New World May the 29th, 2000
2003 Dance of Death September the 8th, 2003
2006 A Matter of Life and Death August the 28th, 2006


Live albums

Year Album name Released
1985 Live After Death October the 14th, 1985
1993 A Real Live One March the 22nd, 1993
A Real Dead One October the 18th, 1993
Live at Donington November the 8th, 1993
2002 Rock in Rio March the 25th, 2002
2005 Death on the Road August the 30th, 2005
2009 Flight 666 May the 25th, 2009

Biography

Iron Maiden is one of the best known heavy metal bands in history. The band is from Leyton in London and was formed in 1975 by Steve Harris, the bassist and lead songwriter. The band plays in the harmonic heavy metal genre. Therefore they have never had a mainstream appeal, but have still managed to sell over 70 million records worldwide.

In the beginning the band changed members rapidly and only Steve Harris and guitarist Dave Murray have been part of the band all along. Their first well known vocalist Paul Di'Anno was recruited after an audition in 1978 and soon after the band recorded their first demo. One of the tracks was an early version of “Prowler”. In 1980 the band released their first album “Iron Maiden” and reached number 4 on the UK album charts. Later that year in October Adrian Smith became their second guitarist.

From February 1981 to December the band went on their first world tour. The same year they dismissed vocalist Paul Di'Anno because of his cocaine usage. In September Bruce Dickinson became their lead singer after an audition. The following year they replaced their drummer Clive Burr with Nicko McBrain, who is their current drummer. After releasing their album “Powerslave” in 1984 the band went on their biggest world tour, “World Slavery Tour” with 193 gigs.

In 1989 both Adrian Smith and Bruce Dickinson began working on their own solo-projects and in 1990 Adrian Smith left the band and was replaced by Janick Gers. Later in 1993 also Bruce Dickinson left the band to work on his solo career. In 1994 the band auditioned many singers and chose Blaze Bayley as their lead singer. During his presence in the band they released two albums: “The X Factor” (1995) and “Virtual XI” (1998).

In 1999 Blaze Bayley left the band and at the same time both Bruce Dickinson and Adrian Smith rejoined the band. Resulting in the band having three guitarists and this has been their line up since. Afterwards the band has released three albums: “Brave New World” (2000), “Dance of Death” (2003) and “A Matter of Life and Death” (2006). Their latest world tour “Somewhere Back in Time World Tour” were in 2008 – 2009.