"Infinite Dreams" is a live single released in 1989 by the English heavy metal band

Iron Maiden Iron Maiden are an English Heavy metal music, heavy metal band formed in Leyton, East London, in 1975 by bassist and primary songwriter Steve Harris (musician), Steve Harris. Although fluid in the early years of the band, the line-up for most ...

. It is the only single to be released in sync with a home video; 1989's '' Maiden England''. The performance was recorded in

Birmingham Birmingham ( ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands (county), West Midlands, within the wider West Midlands (region), West Midlands region, in England. It is the Lis ...

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

in 1988 towards the end of the massive world tour to support the album where the song originally appeared, being ''

Seventh Son of a Seventh Son The seventh son of a seventh son is a concept from folklore regarding special powers given to, or held by, such a son. To qualify as "the seventh son of a seventh son" one must be the seventh male child born in an unbroken line with no female sibli ...

''. It was the band's final single to feature "

The Trooper "The Trooper" is a song by the English Heavy metal music, heavy metal band Iron Maiden, released as the second single on 20 June 1983 from the band's fourth studio album, ''Piece of Mind'' (1983). It was one of only a few Iron Maiden songs to ac ...

"-era lineup for an entire decade until 2000's single " The Wicker Man" with guitarist Adrian Smith leaving the band in January 1990 after he did not approve of the direction the band were aiming for on their next album '' No Prayer for the Dying''.

Synopsis

The song is about how the character of the song sees disturbing visions about afterlife and other mystic things in his dreams, but is scared about if he will ever be able to wake up again. It starts with a soft guitar solo, which is then joined by Bruce Dickinson's singing as well as the rest of the band. The song starts out quite peaceful, but gets progressively heavier towards the song's climax and the following final verse. Steve Harris has explained, "I do have nightmares, but usually only when we’re writing an album. Then your mind just gets so overactive with all these ideas flying about inside that it’s difficult to sleep. That’s what 'Infinite Dreams' is about".

Track listing

;7" single ;12" single

Personnel

Production credits are adapted from the 7 inch vinyl cover. ;Iron Maiden * Bruce Dickinson –

vocals Singing is the art of creating music with the voice. It is the oldest form of musical expression, and the human voice can be considered the first musical instrument. The definition of singing varies across sources. Some sources define sing ...

* Dave Murray –

guitar The guitar is a stringed musical instrument that is usually fretted (with Fretless guitar, some exceptions) and typically has six or Twelve-string guitar, twelve strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming ...

* Adrian Smith – guitar * Steve Harris –

bass guitar The bass guitar (), also known as the electric bass guitar, electric bass, or simply the bass, is the lowest-pitched member of the guitar family. It is similar in appearance and construction to an Electric guitar, electric but with a longer nec ...

* Nicko McBrain –

drums The drum is a member of the percussion instrument, percussion group of musical instruments. In the Hornbostel–Sachs classification system, it is a membranophones, membranophone. Drums consist of at least one Acoustic membrane, membrane, c ...

;Production * Martin Birch – producer,

engineer Engineers, as practitioners of engineering, are professionals who Invention, invent, design, build, maintain and test machines, complex systems, structures, gadgets and materials. They aim to fulfill functional objectives and requirements while ...

, mixing *

Derek Riggs Derek Riggs (born 13 February 1958) is a contemporary British artist best known for creating the band Iron Maiden's mascot, "Eddie (mascot), Eddie". Career Born in Portsmouth, England, Riggs is a self-taught artist, both in his traditional pai ...

– cover illustration *George Bodnar –

photography Photography is the visual arts, art, application, and practice of creating images by recording light, either electronically by means of an image sensor, or chemically by means of a light-sensitive material such as photographic film. It is empl ...

Versions

Chart performance

Cover versions

"Infinite Dreams" was covered on the album ''Across The Seventh Sea'' by the acoustic tribute project Maiden uniteD, featuring vocalist

Damian Wilson Damian Wilson (born 11 October 1969) is an English singer-songwriter and musician. Wilson works in the progressive metal genre and was the lead singer of Headspace (band), Headspace and Threshold (band), Threshold. He sang and toured with ban ...

and

Apocalyptica Apocalyptica is a Finnish symphonic metal band from Helsinki, formed in 1993. The band is currently composed of three classically trained cellists Eicca Toppinen, Paavo Lötjönen, and Perttu Kivilaakso. Originally a Classical music, classical- ...

cellist Perttu Kivilaakso. It is also included on '' Covers All'' by

Waltari Waltari is a Finnish band from Helsinki known for combining numerous styles, from different metal subgenres such as progressive metal, alternative metal and extreme metal to non-metal styles such as hip hop, pop, industrial, techno, punk a ...

Notes

References

Iron Maiden songs 1988 songs 1989 singles Songs written by Steve Harris (musician) EMI Records singles {{Metal-song-stub