Never did I think that I’d feature music by a heavy metal band.  The genre does not inspire me, and perhaps that is a generational thing.  My father’s generation thought the performances of Elvis were disturbing, beyond the bounds of the conventions of popular music. 

Perhaps a form of music emanates from the zeitgeist, the spirit of an age?  As Elvis Presley was a harbinger of “the Age of Aquarius” – the rise of scientific rationalism, combined with the fall of religious influence, the increasing focus on human rights, the exponential growth of technology, plus the advent of flight and space travel (wikipedia), heavy metal heralds the metastasis of violence in a globalized system of capitalist commerce.

I am fascinated by one heavy metal tune in particular:  Only The Good Die Young, performed by Iron Maiden, an English Heavy metal band formed in Leyton, East London in 1975 by bassist and primary songwriter Steve Harris.  This is an acoustic version.  Listening is four minutes of time well spent.

Only The Good Die Young

By Iron Maiden

The demon in your mind will rape you in your bed at night
The wisdom of ages, the lies and outrages concealed

Time, it waits for no man
My future it is revealed
Time, it waits for no man
My fate is sealed

If I cancel tomorrow, the undead will thank me today
Fly in the face of your prophets, I mock your morality plays

The moon is red and bleeding
The sun is burned and black
The book of life is silent
No turning back

Only the good die young
All the evil seem to live forever
Only the good die young
All the evil seem to live forever
Only the good die young
Only the good die young

Mystery madman, a victim of cruel charade
Some innocent pawn in an endgame, one more stalemate

Is death another birthday?
A way to kiss your dreams goodbye?
Do the undead live within us and look through our eyes?

Walking on water are miracles all you can trust
Measure your coffin, does it measure up to your lust?

So I think I’ll leave you
With your bishops and your guilt
So until the next time
Have a good sin

Only the good die young
All the evil seem to live forever
Only the good die young
All the evil seem to live forever
Only the good die young
Only the good die young

Seven deadly sins
Seven ways to win
Seven holy paths to hell
Seven downward slopes
Seven bloodied hopes
Seven are your burning fires
Seven your desires

Writer(s): Harris, Dickinson

Is anything left unsaid by these lyric lines? 

Is this what we want, to be “victims of cruel charade?”