The Wicker Man (song)
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| "The Wicker Man" | ||
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| Single by Iron Maiden | ||
| from the album Brave New World | ||
| B-side(s) | Standard edition "Futureal (live)" "Man on the Edge (live)" Limited edition "Man on the Edge (live)" "Powerslave (live)" "Killers (live)" "Futureal (live)" |
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| Released | April 2000 | |
| Format | CD single | |
| Recorded | 1999/2000 | |
| Genre | Heavy metal | |
| Length | 4:35 | |
| Label | EMI | |
| Writer(s) | Adrian Smith Steve Harris Bruce Dickinson |
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| Chart positions | ||
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| Iron Maiden singles chronology | ||
| "Futureal" (1998) |
"The Wicker Man" (2000) |
"Out of the Silent Planet" (2000) |
"The Wicker Man" was the first single from Iron Maiden's album Brave New World, released in April 2000. It was co-written by Adrian Smith, Bruce Dickinson and Steve Harris. It was co-produced by Kevin Shirley and Harris. It is based on the British cult film of the same name
The radio version of the song differs from the album track, with the line "Your time will come" followed by the line "Thy will be done."
Cover art was by Mark Wilkinson, after a piece by the famed artist Derek Riggs was rejected [1].
Contents |
[edit] Track listing
[edit] Standard edition
- "The Wicker Man" (Adrian Smith, Steve Harris, Bruce Dickinson) – 4:35
- "Futureal (live)" (Harris, Blaze Bayley) – 2:58
- "Man on the Edge (live)" (Bayley, Janick Gers) – 4:37
- "The Wicker Man (video)" (Smith, Dickinson, Harris) – 4:35
[edit] Limited edition
A limited edition of "The Wicker Man" was also released. The limited edition contained 2 CDs and a double-faced poster, as well as a selection of live songs recorded during the Ed Hunter Tour. The European release of the single also contained a beermat.
[edit] Disc one
- "The Wicker Man" (Smith, Dickinson, Harris) – 4:35
- "Man on the Edge (live)" (Bayley, Janick Gers) – 4:37
- "Powerslave" (live) (Dickinson) – 7:11
- "The Wicker Man (video)" (Smith, Dickinson, Harris) – 4:35
[edit] Disc two
- "The Wicker Man" (Smith, Dickinson, Harris) – 4:35
- "Futureal (live)" (Harris, Bayley) – 2:58
- "Killers (live)" (Paul Di'Anno, Harris) – 4:28
- "Futureal (live video)" (Harris, Bayley) – 2:58
[edit] Musical analysis
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"The Wicker Man" was written primarily by Adrian Smith, with lyrics by Bruce Dickinson and some melody parts by Steve Harris. It is in an overall key of E minor. It is played at 190bpm.
[edit] Intro (bars 1-16)
The opening four bars of the song introduce the main chord pattern. It is mostly palm muting the open E-string in quavers. Accents are then added on the upbeat of beats 4, and 1, by playing the full E5 power chord, but an octave higher, at the 7th fret on the A-string. Note that the song actually starts on the fourth beat of an otherwise empty bar, playing muted strings on beat 4, and then an accented E5 powerchord on the upbeat.
After three bars of this rhythm, the last bar of the pattern moves down to a C5, and then up to a G5, again the chord changes are the quaver before the 1st and 3rd beats.
After playing this once, it repeats, with the other two Electric guitars, Bass guitar and drums all playing on the accented beats, until the 4th bar, where they play unison, except for the drums, which play a fill on the tom-toms, cymbols and snare drum.
The third and fourth time through this chord pattern in the intro, all three guitars play the main pattern and the bass plays an E all the way through, except for the fourth bar where it moves with the rest of the instruments, although down to the G, instead of up to it (i.e. the G at the 3rd fret on the E string, instead of 10th fret on the A string like the guitars). The drums play a hi-hat, bass and snare rhythm, with cymbols accenting the quaver after the instrumental accents.
[edit] Verses (bars 17-32 and 65-80)
This pattern is kept up during the verses, while the singer sings one line over every pattern, to a total of four lines. The vocal melody is very similar to the instruments rhythm, with accents in the same places and a driving rhythm.
[edit] Pre-chorus (bars 33-48 and 79-96)
The pre-chorus moves to D mixolydian. The three guitars play powerchords. The first two bars are simply a D5 chord with one guitar simply holding the chord, and the other two strumming it. On the second beat of the second bar this is slid upwards a tone, and the chord moves to C5 for a bar, again, just before the beat, before the fourth bar of the phrase moves back up to the G5 and drops down the scale in power chords back to a D5. The rhythm in this bar is 1+(2)+(3)+(4)+ (numbers in brackets indicate a rest), which hints at returning to the beat, but doesn't.
This then repeats three times, varying the fourth bar of the phrase each time. The 2nd variation moves down to a G5 chord on the first beat, then back up to a C5 on the third beat, before returning to the D5 chord on upbeat into the next bar to repeat again, and the fourth variation is the same, but moves from the G5 up a 5th to the D5 instead to facilitate the key change back into E minor for the chorus. The 3rd variation is exactly the same as the first.
[edit] Choruses (bars 49-64, 93-112 and 161-192)
The chorus is the first part of the song on the beat. The drum rhythm changes significantly for this part. The basic rhythm becomes: hi-hat on the 1st, 2nd, 3rd and 4th beats of each bar, snare drum on the 3rd beat and the bass drum playing quavers. The strumming pattern on the guitar also changes, becoming 1+2+3+(4+). This is played on all guitars, except the bass which plays that rhythm with variations.
The chord progression changes as well. It becomes |E5 |C5 |G5 |A5 |E5 |G5* |C5 |G5 A5 |. The G5 marked * is played an octave higher than the other G5's. In last bar of that eight bar series, the rhythm guitars play G5 on the 1st beat, rest for the second and fourth beats, and the A5 on the 3rd beat. The rhythm is supplemented by a repeating melody, which follows the 1+2+3+(4+) rhythm, playing the notes: B-A-B-A-B-G above middle C. This is played every bar, except for the fourth bar of each phrase which alters the second A to a high C. This line forms harmonies with the chords, and stays the same over each chord to create different harmonies.
The vocal melody goes higher in pitch than the verses, and appears to slow down to half time. Each syllable in the chorus takes two beats. Each line goes over 4 bars, starting on the 3rd beat of each E5 bar. It uses a simple rhythm, a simple lyric ("Your time will come" is repeated for the chorus) and a simple melody to make it as easy as possible for a live audience to sing along.
[edit] Guitar solo (bars 113-160)
The guitar solo is played by Adrian Smith. It lasts 48 bars.
[edit] Bars 1-16 and 33-48 of solo (113-128 and 149-160)
This section is an 8 bar interlude that is played twice. The full 16 bars are played at the start and end of the solo.
The rhythm part is very similar to the main chord pattern. It is identical in stressing the off beats just before the 1st and 2nd beats on an E5 chord for the first two bars. However, it then moved down to the 6th (C5) in the offbeat before the 3rd bar, and then down to the 3rd (G5) for on the offbeat before the fourth bar. This phrase is then repeated, except that in the fourth bar the chord moves from the G5 up a 5th to D5 a quaver before the 3rd beat.
The melody over this section is simple. It plays an E note over the first two bars, with a short run up the first three notes on the Em scale (E-F#-G) before returning on one of the accented offbeats just before the start of bar 2. The second half of the figure, over the C5 and G5 chords, plays entirely in quavers. It runs up the first 6 notes of the E minor scale going 3 notes up, then dropping a third, and repeating this starting first on F#, then G, then A. Once it hits the C it runs back down the scale to E, skipping the F# on the way and hitting the E note to start the next phrase on the offbeat before the start of the 5th bar.
The second phrase starts the same way as the third. Over the last two bars, however, it plays a phrase on the top E string. This phrase uses the open E as a note it returns to, as it moves up the Em scale on that string starting at the 12th fret, but with descending notes: E-D-F#-E. On the 8th bar it ascends from the high E up to the A above it in quavers and then returns to that E.
This eight bar section is played twice. Note that, by finishing on the E above high E instead of below that, this section doesn't feel properly resolved, and drives into the next section, whether it be a repeat, the main part of the solo, or the last chorus.
[edit] Bars 17-32 of solo (129-148)
[edit] Rhythm guitar
The rhythm played here is an expansion the chorus rhythm, with an extra strum played: the upbeat into each bar. The chords go: |:B5 |A5 |G5 |A5 |B5 |A5 |G5 |C5 :|
This chord progression is played twice.
[edit] Bars 17-24
The first phrase (bars 17-20) introduces the first phrase of the main section of the solo. It keeps returning to the B note, emphasizing it and setting it down as the root note. The overall key here is B phrygian. However, this piece is hinting at changing key suddenly, by finishing this phrase on an Eb.
The second phrase uses a generally descending run, which sporadically shifts upwards to aim at hitting the Eb an octave lower, again hinting at suddenly changing key.
[edit] Bars 25-28
This part of the piece has moved into Eb jazz scale (Eb-F#-G-A-B-C-D-Eb). It is played very fast, at quaver triplets at the slowest. Bar 25 is a box shape that doesn't resolve, but the triplet rhythm in the last two beats drives it into the bar 26. Bar 26 is a downward run: (F#-Eb-B-A-F#-Eb) played twice in triplets. This drives it further into bar 27. Bar 27 repeats bar 25, except that it moves upwards on the last beat, a triplet: Eb-F#-A. Still the rhythm drives through and bar 28 indiciates another key change by only playing 2 notes: a B on two ocatves, and a G. This hints at a key change into G major or B phrygian.
It is worth noting that this section is played with wah-wah and a high pace. This masks the exact pitches of the notes, so it is the rhythm which is important here. The way the feel slows and accelerates as it switches between duplet and triplet quaver feel in bars 25 and 27, and the driving sense behind it is most important part and not the exact pitches.
[edit] Bars 29-32
This is the climax of the guitar solo. The key changes back into the overall key of E minor and is simply a run in triplet quavers near the top of the guitar, from high E to the C above it and the D below it. The run often returns to the A note, but the root is most definitely the E, and the key is definitely Em, except in the first beat, where the run uses G# instead of G.
The climax finishes in the last bar, where the run moves all the way down to the high B, and then the guitarist hits a low G and slides down and back into the phrase at bar 33 of the solo, to take the song back into the chorus.
[edit] Outro (bars 181-196)
The outro stays, from the chorus, on the beat. It has a crotchet strum pattern instead of a quaver one to give a half time feel and uses a different chord progression: |E5 |C5 |G5 |D5 |. This is played through four times with a lyricless, swooping vocal melody sung over the top. The melody is a rhythmic variation on what was sung in the chorus. After this is done twice through, a one of the guitars breaks from the rhythm and plays in unison with the vocals instead, up to the final chord, which is a D5. The D5 is left hanging, is it should resolve to an E5. The vocals then drop down to playing D, leaving the final chord Dsus4. This is an unusual way to finish a song and doesn't really resolve it, but leaves it hanging instead.
[edit] Credits
- Bruce Dickinson – vocals
- Dave Murray – guitar
- Janick Gers – guitar
- Adrian Smith – guitar, backing vocals
- Steve Harris – bass guitar, backing vocals
- Nicko McBrain – drums
