"Stranger in a Strange Land" is a song 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 ...

, released as the second single from their sixth studio album, '' Somewhere in Time'' (1986). The song is unrelated to

Robert A. Heinlein Robert Anson Heinlein ( ; July 7, 1907 – May 8, 1988) was an American science fiction author, aeronautical engineer, and naval officer. Sometimes called the "dean of science fiction writers", he was among the first to emphasize scientific acc ...

's novel by the same name.

Synopsis

The lyrics are about an

Arctic The Arctic (; . ) is the polar regions of Earth, polar region of Earth that surrounds the North Pole, lying within the Arctic Circle. The Arctic region, from the IERS Reference Meridian travelling east, consists of parts of northern Norway ( ...

explorer Exploration is the process of exploring, an activity which has some Expectation (epistemic), expectation of Discovery (observation), discovery. Organised exploration is largely a human activity, but exploratory activity is common to most organis ...

who dies and is frozen in the ice. After a hundred years his body is found preserved by other people exploring the area.

Adrian Smith Adrian Smith may refer to: * Adrian Smith (basketball) (born 1936), American basketball player *Adrian Smith (architect) (born 1944), American architect *Sir Adrian Smith (statistician) (born 1946), English statistician and academic *Adrian Smith (m ...

was inspired to write about this song after talking to an explorer who had a similar experience while discovering the frozen body of

Franklin Expedition Franklin's lost expedition was a failed British voyage of Arctic exploration led by Captain (Royal Navy), Captain Sir John Franklin that departed England in 1845 aboard two ships, and , and was assigned to traverse the last unnavigated sec ...

participant John Torrington. The guitar solo in "Stranger in a Strange Land" is played by Smith. In a 2020 interview with eonmusic, the guitarist said that it was one of the first Iron Maiden songs that gave him "space to play in", citing its mid-paced tempo as the reason why; "a lot of the Maiden stuff up until then had been very fast, and aggressive, and heavy, but that actually allowed me a little bit of space to stretch out a bit", he said. The song is one of only five Iron Maiden songs to fade out; the others being "The Prophecy" from ''

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 ...

'', "Hell on Earth" from '' Senjutsu'', "

Women in Uniform "Women in Uniform" is a 1978 song by the Australian band Skyhooks; it was written by the band's bass guitar player, Greg Macainsh. It was released in February 1978 as the lead single from their fourth studio album, '' Guilty Until Proven Insan ...

", a single included on some pressings of '' Killers'', and "Kill Me Ce Soir", the

B-side The A-side and B-side are the two sides of phonograph record, vinyl records and Compact cassette, cassettes, and the terms have often been printed on the labels of two-sided music recordings. The A-side of a Single (music), single usually ...

to the 12" single '' Holy Smoke'' released in 1990. The lyrics "brave new world" were also present in Iron Maiden's 2000 studio release, ''

Brave New World ''Brave New World'' is a dystopian novel by English author Aldous Huxley, written in 1931, and published in 1932. Largely set in a futuristic World State, whose citizens are environmentally engineered into an intelligence-based social hier ...

''.

Cover details

Eddie's appearance on the single cover is an homage to the

Clint Eastwood Clinton Eastwood Jr. (born May 31, 1930) is an American actor and film director. After achieving success in the Western (genre), Western TV series ''Rawhide (TV series), Rawhide'', Eastwood rose to international fame with his role as the "Ma ...

character "

Man with No Name The Man with No Name () is the antihero character portrayed by Clint Eastwood in Sergio Leone's "''Dollars Trilogy''" of Italian Spaghetti Western films: '' A Fistful of Dollars'' (1964), '' For a Few Dollars More'' (1965), and '' The Good, t ...

", although it can also be seen as a mixture of

Rick Deckard Richard Deckard is a fictional character and the protagonist of Philip K. Dick's 1968 novel '' Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?''. Harrison Ford portrayed the character in the 1982 film adaptation, ''Blade Runner'', and reprised his role in ...

from ''

Blade Runner ''Blade Runner'' is a 1982 science fiction film directed by Ridley Scott from a screenplay by Hampton Fancher and David Peoples. Starring Harrison Ford, Rutger Hauer, Sean Young, and Edward James Olmos, it is an adaptation of Philip K. Di ...

'' and the "Man with No Name". This version of Eddie would later be used in the Camp Chaos music video for "

Run to the Hills "Run to the Hills" is a song by the English heavy metal band Iron Maiden. It was released as their sixth single and the first from the band's third studio album, '' The Number of the Beast'' (1982). It is their first single with Bruce Dickinson ...

". * In the top-right corner of the cover (slightly right of Eddie's lit match), the time on the clock appears as "11:58". This is a reference to an earlier Iron Maiden single, "

2 Minutes to Midnight "2 Minutes to Midnight" is a song by the English heavy metal band Iron Maiden, featured on their fifth studio album, '' Powerslave'' (1984). It was released as the band's tenth single, and first from the album on 6 August 1984. It rose to num ...

". * Several cards can be seen falling from the table. One (orange background, next to red-coloured card) contains a picture of the

Grim Reaper The Grim Reaper is a popular personification of death in Western culture in the form of a hooded skeletal figure wearing a black robe and carrying a scythe.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 ...

" cover. * Just under one of the stacks of cards, on the edge of the table,

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 ...

' signature can be seen. * In the music video for a later song, " The Angel and the Gambler" (from ''

Virtual XI ''Virtual XI'' (pronounced "Virtual Eleven") is the eleventh studio album by English Heavy metal music, heavy metal band Iron Maiden, released on 23 March 1998. It is the band's second and final album with Blaze Bayley on vocals. It also marks t ...

''), then-singer

Blaze Bayley Blaze Bayley (born Bayley Alexander Cooke, 29 May 1963) is an English heavy metal singer. He was the lead singer of Wolfsbane from 1984 to 1994 (and currently since 2010, following reunions in 2007 and 2009). He was also the lead singer of I ...

is dressed up like this Eddie.

B-sides

The B-sides to this single, "That Girl" and "Juanita", were both played during ''

The Entire Population of Hackney The Entire Population of Hackney is the name used for a supergroup project featuring members of Iron Maiden, FM and Urchin that played two concerts in December 1985. It is also the name used for a bootleg recording of the first show. It is mo ...

'' secret gig on 19 December 1985, with Andy Barnett on lead vocals on "That Girl" and Adrian Smith on "Juanita". This is probably where the idea came from to play them as B-sides, especially with Adrian's large presence on this single and the ''Somewhere in Time'' album. "That Girl" was written by Merv Goldsworthy,

Pete Jupp FM are a British rock band (referred to as FM UK in North America to avoid confusion with the Canadian progressive rock band FM). They have released fourteen studio albums to date. Three of those, '' Indiscreet'', '' Tough It Out'' and 2015' ...

and Andy Barnett in an early line-up of the band FM and was one of the demo tracks which secured them a record deal with CBS in 1984. The song was eventually released by both Iron Maiden and FM in 1986. By then the brothers

Steve Steve is a masculine given name, usually a short form ( hypocorism) of Steven or Stephen. Notable people A–D * Steve Abbott (disambiguation), several people * Steve Abel (born 1970), New Zealand politician * Steve Adams (disambiguation) ...

and Chris Overland had joined FM and some parts of the original song (mainly choruses) had been rewritten for its inclusion on FM's debut album '' Indiscreet'', released just three weeks prior to Iron Maiden's ''Somewhere In Time'' which featured a cover of the original arrangement. On this Iron Maiden version the first guitar solo is played by Dave Murray, while the ending guitar solo is played by Adrian Smith. "Juanita" was originally played by Barnett's band, Marshall Fury, in the early 1980s, and it was written by Steve Barnacle and Derek O'Neil. Marshall Fury never recorded a studio version of the song.

Track listing

'7" single ;12" single

Personnel

Personnel as listed in the album's

liner notes Liner notes (also sleeve notes or album notes) are the writings found on the sleeves of LP record albums and in booklets that come inserted into the compact disc jewel case or cassette j-cards. Origin Liner notes are descended from the prog ...

are: *

Bruce Dickinson Paul Bruce Dickinson (born 7 August 1958) is an English singer who is best known as the lead vocalist of the heavy metal band Iron Maiden. Dickinson has performed in the band across two stints, from 1981 to 1993 and from 1999 to the present d ...

– vocals * Dave Murray –

guitar synthesiser A guitar synthesizer is any one of a number of musical systems that allow a guitarist to access synthesizer capabilities. Overview Today's guitar synths are direct descendants of 1970s devices from manufacturers (often in partnership) such as ...

– guitar synthesiser *

Steve Harris Steve Harris may refer to: * Steve Harris (musician) (born 1956), founder member and bassist of the band Iron Maiden * Steve Harris (actor) (born 1965), American film and TV actor * Steve Harris (basketball) (1963–2016), American basketball playe ...

– bass guitar *

Nicko McBrain Michael Henry "Nicko" McBrain (born 5 June 1952) is an English musician, best known as the drummer of the heavy metal band Iron Maiden since 1982. He is the third-longest serving member of the band, having appeared on each Iron Maiden album sin ...

– drums ;Production *

Martin Birch Martin Phillip Birch (27 December 19489 August 2020) was a British music producer and sound engineer. He became renowned for engineering and producing albums recorded predominantly by British rock and metal bands, including Deep Purple, Rainbow ...

– 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 *

– cover illustration *

Ross Halfin Ross William Halfin (born 11 August 1957) is a British rock music photographer. Since the late 1970s he has worked for some of the biggest acts in rock and heavy metal, including Led Zeppelin, AC/DC, Black Sabbath, The Who, Kiss, Metallica, Ir ...

– photography

Chart performance

Notes

References

{{Authority control 1986 singles 1986 songs Arctic in fiction Capitol Records singles EMI Records singles Iron Maiden songs Song recordings produced by Martin Birch Songs based on actual events Songs inspired by deaths Songs written by Adrian Smith