Iron Maiden - Estadio Chile, Santiago, Chile, Ian. 15, 2001, during the '' Brave New World Tour '' 2000-2002.
2 Minutes To Midnight (Smith, Dickinson)
Bruce Dickinson:Vocals
Steve Harris:Bass
Janick Gers:Guitar
Dave Murray:Guitar
Adrian Smith:Guitar
Nicko McBrain:Drums
[Lyrics]
Kill for gain or shoot to maim but we don't need a reason
The Golden Goose is on the loose and never out of season
Blackened pride still burns inside this shell of bloody treason
Here's my gun for a barrel of fun for the love of living death
The killer's breed or the demon's seed
The glamour, the fortune, the pain
Go to war again, blood is freedom's stain
But don't you pray for my soul anymore
2 minutes to midnight, the hands that threaten doom
2 minutes to midnight, to kill the unborn in the womb
The blind men shout let the creatures out, we'll show the unbelievers
The napalm screams of human flames, of a prime-time Belsen feast... YEAH!
As the reasons for the carnage cut their meat and lick the gravy
We oil the jaws of the war machine and feed it with our babies
The killer's breed or the demon's seed
The glamour, the fortune, the pain
Go to war again, blood is freedom's stain
But don't you pray for my soul anymore
2 minutes to midnight...
The body bags and little rags of children torn in two
And the jellied brains of those who remain to put the finger right on you
As the madmen play on words and make us all dance to their song
To the tune of starving millions, to make a better kind of gun
The killer's breed or the demon's seed
The glamour, the fortune, the pain
Go to war again, blood is freedom's stain
But don't you pray for my soul anymore
2 minutes to midnight...
Midnight... midnight... it's all night
Midnight... midnight... all night!
.......................................
'2 Minutes To Midnight' is a song from Iron Maiden's album ''Powerslave'',released in 1984.
''About the politics of war and destruction, '2 Minutes To Midnight' makes a meaningful statement about the morality of warmongers and politicians.
As the madmen play on words
And make us all dance to their song
To the tune of starving millions
To make a better kind of gun
The most vivid images are summoned here to highlight the horrors of this world, and the "prime-time Belsen feast" probably refers to those terrible pictures that show up at almost every news bulletin on TV. Bergen-Belsen was one of the most horrifying concentration camps in Nazi Germany (although it is obvious that the sheer existence of such places was an insult to Mankind in itself) and the reference to such terrible events happening in "prime-time" seems to indicate that, although such things are still taking place nowadays in one form or another, they have become some sort of a show and no one pays much attention anymore. In retrospect, this is somehow reminiscent of the verses "you watch the world exploding every single night" in the song 'The Wicker Man' or of "withered hands, withered bodies, begging for salvation" in 'Out Of The Silent Planet', both song from the 2000 album ironically titled Brave New World.
The title of the song refers to the Doomsday Clock, one of the most chilling and best known symbols of the nuclear age, representing how close humanity is to the brink of nuclear holocaust (midnight). The clock reached 2 minutes to midnight in September 1953, after the Soviets successfully detonated an awesomely powerful thermonuclear device. Today the clock stands at 7 minutes to midnight after little progress was made on global nuclear disarmament. In 2002, the United States rejected a series of arms control treaties and announced it will withdraw from the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty. Moreover, terrorists seek to acquire and use nuclear and biological weapons. Bad news for mankind indeed!''
'Powerslave' is the fifth studio album by the English heavy metal band Iron Maiden, released on September 2, 1984 on EMI in Europe and it's sister label Capitol Records in the US (it was re-released by Sanctuary/Columbia Records in the US in 2002). It is notable for its Egyptian theme displayed in the album art, as well in the title track's musical style. It contains a musical re-telling of Samuel Taylor Coleridge's "Rime of the Ancient Mariner", which uses pieces of the original poem as lyrics, and is the longest song Iron Maiden have ever recorded at a length of 13 minutes and 38 seconds.
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