HALLOWED
BE THY NAME
IRON MAIDEN
SONGWRITER: STEPHEN
PERCY HARRIS
COUNTRY: U. K.
ALBUM: THE NUMBER OF THE BEAST
LABEL: EMI RECORDS
GENRE: HEAVY METAL
YEAR: 1982
"Hallowed Be Thy Name"
is a song written by Steve Harris for the 1982 Iron Maiden album The Number of
the Beast. It has
been acclaimed as one of the greatest heavy metal songs of all time.
The 1993 live single is
taken from the 1993 album A Real Dead One. The song was recorded at Moscow's Olympic
Arena on 4 June 1993 during the Real Live Tour. Recordings from the same tour and
its predecessor, 1992's Fear of the Dark Tour, made up the single's B-sides. It
is the band's last single to feature vocalist Bruce Dickinson until 2000's
"The Wicker Man".
Iron Maiden are an English
heavy metal band formed in Leyton, East London, in 1975 by bassist and primary
songwriter Steve Harris. The band's discography has grown to thirty-eight
albums, including sixteen studio albums, twelve live albums, four EPs, and
seven compilations.
Pioneers of the new wave
of British heavy metal, Iron Maiden achieved initial success during the early
1980s. After several line-up changes, the band went on to release a series of
UK and US platinum and gold albums, including 1982's The Number of the Beast,
1983's Piece of Mind, 1984's Powerslave, 1985's live release Live After Death,
1986's Somewhere in Time and 1988's Seventh Son of a Seventh Son. Since the
return of lead vocalist Bruce Dickinson and guitarist Adrian Smith in 1999, the
band have undergone a resurgence in popularity, with their 2010 studio
offering, The Final Frontier, peaking at No.1 in 28 countries and receiving
widespread critical acclaim. Their sixteenth studio album, The Book of Souls,
was released on 4 September 2015 to similar success.
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
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 it really the end, not some crazy dream?
Somebody please tell me that I'm dreaming
It's not so 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 has he let me go?
As I walk all my life drifts before me
Though the end is near I'm still not sorry
Catch my soul, it's willing to fly away
Mark my words please believe my soul lives on
Please 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
Hallowed be thy name.