Description

Us pressing

This was the first single from Powerslave and it rose to number 11 in the UK Singles Chart and number 25 on Billboard Top Album Tracks. The song has references to the Doomsday Clock, the symbolic clock used by the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists. In September 1953 the clock reached 23:58, the closest it ever got to midnight. This occurred when the United States and Soviet Union tested H-bombs within nine months of one another. Despite popular belief, the song does not reference Cuban missile crisis, nor did the Doomsday Clock note any change related to it. In fact, at the time of the crisis, the clock was showing seven minutes to midnight. In 1984, when the song was recorded, the clock was showing three minutes to midnight. Rainbows Gold was written by British progressive rock band Beckett. According to Nicko McBrain commenting the single in ‘Listen With Nicko Part VI’, the members of Iron Maiden were friends with members of Beckett. The band’s manager, Rod Smallwood, commented this version: “This was originally done by a band called Beckett who the band liked a lot. Adrian used to do a cover of another of their songs ‘Rainclouds’ in his band ‘Evil Ways’. Beckett was from Newcastle and had a great singer called Terry Wilson Slesser (incidentally I was Beckett’s agent prior to meeting Maiden). The song’s lyrics are fairly surrealistic, featuring a lyric Catch your soul, he’s willing to fly away, which Steve Harris previously borrowed and slightly altered to Catch my soul, it’s willing to fly away in the song ‘Hallowed Be Thy Name’ on Iron Maiden’s 1982 album The Number Of The Beast.

Track listing:
1. 2 Minutes To Midnight
2. Rainbows Gold-Montrose cover