SA3 "Two Minutes to Midnight" - Iron Maiden

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
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
For 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
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 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
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.

Midnight
Midnight
Midnight
It's all night

Midnight
Midnight
Midnight
It's all night

Midnight... all night!

       Iron Maiden are an English heavy metal band that formed in 1975. They, along with bands like Judas Priest and Black Sabbath, are one of the pioneers of heavy metal. The band’s success started in the early 1980s. Most bands earn their success through advertisements and the radio, but Iron Maiden has earned most of their fans without the help of either. One thing they are known for is their mascot, Eddie, who has appeared on almost every album cover and has been seen in live shows often. Iron Maiden, in their song “Two Minutes to Midnight,” uses allusions to war, puns, and paraprosdokian to address the many issues of war.

       Iron Maiden has written several songs about World War II in the past. They have covered topics about soldiers, fighter jets, and more, but none of them are as powerful as this song. “Two Minutes to Midnight” discusses what is wrong about war in general and nuclear warfare. “Blood is freedom's stain…2 minutes to midnight/ To kill the unborn in the womb.” They call blood “freedom’s stain” to show how freedom cannot be won, or maintained, without bloodshed. The “2 minutes to midnight” part refers to the Doomsday Clock used by the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists and the day that the U.S. and the Soviet Union tested thermonuclear devices within nine months of each other in 1953. Both are horrible, bloodshed and use of nuclear weaponry, and both are connected to World War II.

       Although the band went for a more serious song, they included a little pun; “Here’s my gun for a barrel of fun.” It is a very simplistic pun, but it’s meaning holds true to war as well. The excerpt would seem to be about a soldier, but it is more inclusive to leaders; soldiers, generally, do not find enjoyment in war, but who is to say if any of the people who send them out to die do not find happiness in doing so? As System of a Down said, “Why don’t presidents fight the war/ why do they always send the poor…you depend on our protection.” Leaders, especially during wartime, use their armies as pawns to fulfill a set goal, and Iron Maiden makes the anatomy of guns and a common expression to create a humorous pun related to the subject.

       Paraprosdokian, a more rare term, was also used in this song; “We oil the jaws of the war machine and feed it with our babies.” The latter part of this quote is surprising for obvious reasons; people nourish and encourage the men and women who fight in wars to keep the order, but at the same time the people who they are encouraging to help keep the order are their own sons and daughters. People help the war effort by paying for it with their money and with their children.

       Although they are mostly known for aiding in the start of heavy metal, Iron Maiden knows how to write songs that reach out to people. The meaning of the words Dickinson sings, to some, does not sound like a war-protest song on the surface, but contain a deeper meaning. The meanings of the lyrics do not reach out to everyone nor do they reach out to everyone in the same way, but they hold a strong significance nonetheless.