"Flight Of Icarus" as written by Bruce Dickinson and Adrian Frederick Smith....
As the sun breaks, above the ground,
An old man stands on the hill,
As the ground warms, to the first rays of light
A birdsong shatters the still.
His eyes are ablaze,
See the madman in his gaze.
Fly, on your way, like an eagle,
Fly as high as the sun,
On your way, like an eagle,
Fly and touch the sun.
Now the crowd breaks and a young boy appears
Looks the old man in the eye
As he spreads his wings and shouts at the crowd
In the name of God my father I fly.
His eyes seem so glazed
As he flies on the wings of a dream,
Now he knows his father betrayed
Now his wings turn to ashes to ashes his grave.
Fly, on your way, like an eagle,
Fly as high as the sun,
On your way, like an eagle,
Fly as high as the sun.
An old man stands on the hill,
As the ground warms, to the first rays of light
A birdsong shatters the still.
His eyes are ablaze,
See the madman in his gaze.
Fly, on your way, like an eagle,
Fly as high as the sun,
On your way, like an eagle,
Fly and touch the sun.
Now the crowd breaks and a young boy appears
Looks the old man in the eye
As he spreads his wings and shouts at the crowd
In the name of God my father I fly.
His eyes seem so glazed
As he flies on the wings of a dream,
Now he knows his father betrayed
Now his wings turn to ashes to ashes his grave.
Fly, on your way, like an eagle,
Fly as high as the sun,
On your way, like an eagle,
Fly as high as the sun.
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there was a king and his wife in greek mythology. for some reason the gods made the wife have sex with a bull and she became pregant and gave birth to the minotaur. The king wanted the minotaur sealed away forever so he had his most brilliant advisor built a labrynth (maze) to keep the minotaur in. Once it was completed the advisor and his son Icarus were sealed inside with the minotaur so that nobody would ever know the way out or in. The advisor builts wings out of feathers, held together by wax. Icarus puts them on and flies out of the labyrinth. Once he flies out he become excited and continues to fly higher, to the horror of his father and the onlookers at the nearby town his wings melt and he drops into the sea and dies.
Like I said, its a great song.
THE MYTH
Poseidon gave King Minos a bull to sacrifice. But King Minos was greedy, and kept the bull for himself. So Poseidon punished him by making Minos' wife lust for (want to have sex with) the bull. The bull got her pregnant, and her baby was half-man, half-bull (the Minotaur). King Minos was horrified and ordered the Minotaur to be locked in a labyrinth constructed by Daedelus (Icarus' father, a very intelligent architect and inventor). When Daedelus finished the Labyrinth the Minotaur was locked inside, and Daedelus and his son Icarus were locked in a tower on a hill, to make sure no one knew the way in or out. King Minos controlled land and water around the tower, so Daedelus took the only route of escape left to him - the air. He created wings for himself and his son from feathers, thread and wax. Before they took flight, he cautioned Icarus - "If you fly too low, your wings will clog with the damp and you will crash. If you fly too high the sun will melt the wax and you will fall." He made Icarus promise that he wouldn't fly too high or low. Then they fastened the wings to their backs, and together they flew away. But Icarus was caught up in the excitement of flying, and began to soar higher and higher. He flew close to the sun ("Fly as high as the sun,"), and the wax holding his wings together melted. He plummeted to his death into what is now known as the Icarian Sea.
THE SONG
1st verse, Daedelus is standing on the hill, getting ready to take off.
Chorus (about Icarus flying too high to the sun on wings like an eagles)
2nd verse, Icarus gets ready to fly.
3rd verse, Icarus loves flying (too much), then the line "Now he knows his father (is) betrayed" he flys too high, betraying his promise to his father. His wings fail (the myth says the wax melts, the song says they burn up) and he dies.
Chorus
END
There, that should clear things up. Fairly straightforward song.