What would be the quintessential Iron Maiden song? Would it be something from their classic era like “Number of the Beast” or “Run To The Hills?’ Or possibly a longer, more technical epic like “Rime of the Ancient Mariner?” Steve Harris sat down with the Scars and Guitars podcast to talk about songwriting and what he considers the ideal/most iconic Iron Maiden song.
He was asked by the interviewer which song from his career encapsulates his legacy as a musician. Harris at first, offered up a non-answer, turning it back on to the fans.
“That’s an odd one because there’s so many songs I’ve written. I don’t know how many I’ve written, but it’s got to be more than 150 songs at least over the years. It’s a really tough one to say. I don’t know. I think it’s probably something you would probably ask the fans.
I think when you ask people — we’d never really do that — but if you did ask people, I think you’d probably get 10 or 12 people saying 10 to 12 different songs. It’s just such a personalized thing, so it’s very difficult.”
After the interviewer offered up “Flight Of Icarus” as their choice, Steve pushed back because that song was written by Bruce Dickinson and Adrian Smith, not the whole band.
“Not really, because I think it would be better to choose a song that’s written by, say, three of us, or whatever because that song was written by Adrian and Bruce. It doesn’t really have the elements of my writing in there.”
Finally, Steve Harris offered up what he thought would be the song.
“I would probably pick something like ‘The Evil That Men Do,’ which is written by all three of us. We’re the main songwriters. David does write, too, but he’s not very prolific. Nicko doesn’t write, Janick joined a lot later, but he’s become quite a prolific writer. I still probably say ‘The Evil That Men Do.'”
That’s a pretty surprising answer from Steve Harris, but also one that makes sense. Iron Maiden is more than just one member, it’s a sum of all the members contributing to the songs and playing them live and on the records.
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Source: Scars and Guitars Podcast
