2 Minutes To Midnight

Indeed about the Cold War. Actually, the "2 minutes" refers to an actual system the U.S. used to determine how close they were to nuclear war, Midnight being the start of the nuclear holocaust. I don't believe the clock ever reached as close as two minutes though. Great song nonetheless. I love the guitar solos.

It's about the Doomsday Clock, which as has been previously mentioned, refers to a system used to determine how close the world is to nuclear war.

thebulletin.org/doomsday_clock/history.htm

The song does indeed refer to the Doomsday Clock of the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists. The clock reached 2 minutes to midnight during the Cold War in 1953 when the US and the Soviet Union tested thermonuclear devices within nine months of each other.

According to the clock this is the closest the human race has come to destruction through nuclear war since the clock's introduction in 1947. Currently the clock is at 7 minutes to midnight.

I love the part about "The Golden Goose is on the loose, and never out of season" I'm pretty sure this is about how the american public were constantly told that the threat of a nuclear strike was an ever present possibility, the golden goose being this kind of unseen, almost mythical threat.

I don't know much about the cold war. what i got from this song was it being about all countries who make war. particularly the US and other western countries and the war in iraq. i know this song was probably written long before. but this is my meaning for this song.

Ok. heres why: "Kill for gain or shoot to maim"

Oil is gain

"But we don't need a reason"

Saddam hussain hiding WMDs or is he?? obviously they dont need a reason

"The Golden Goose is on the loose"

IRONxxxMAIDEN 44 said the golden goose was a term for capitalism. hence western countries...

"And never out of season"

The U.S. always seems to be sticking their noses in

"Some blackened pride still burns inside This shell of bloody treason" & "Go to war again, blood is freedom's stain"

Pride for "Freedom and Liberty", which is being treasoned against by enforcing it on other nations. Its not freedom if its being enforced.

"Here's my gun for a barrel of fun For the love of living death." & "The glamour, the fortune..." As a culture we idolise and glorify violence and war. look at console games (not that i'm complaining i love FPS games) but we've made war seem fun (barrel of fun).

"The blind men shout let the creatures out We'll show the unbelievers" & "As the madmen play on words and make us all dance to their song,"

People have been decieved into blind patriotism, believing that anything apart from democracy is evil. (just for the record the US isn't a democracy)

"We oil the jaws of the war machine and feed it with our babies" =ppl sending their children off to war (ne'er to return)

theres lots of other links as well. like i said, this is just my interpretation of the song, the cold war stuff's prolly more on the line although a lot of this can also tie in with that.

I think it's more about war in general and politics of war.

The napalm is referencing vietnam

Belsen feast references WW2 (Belsen was a concentration camp)

And I don't think anything is talking about Saddam and WMD, considering this song came out in late 80's, Saddam was still our friend and any WMD he had, he got from us and we didn't care :)

This song IS about the cold war. We were 2 minutes from midnight (a nuclear holocaust). The unborn in the womb was the action of launching. Killing it would be to give in and fire.

this song is so great, iron maiden is the best metal band ever.

This song rocks, at first I didn't like it but now I think it kicks ass. It's obviously about dictators and their regimes, i.e. Iraq, Iran, Saudi Arabia, etc. Great lyrics, great song, Iron Maiden kicks ass.

yeh the video is about russian commie rulers and such