The Reincarnation Of Benjamin Breeg

The following was found on http://www.benjaminbreeg.co.uk/ :

"Benjamin Breeg

Benjamin Breeg was born in London on September 3rd, 1939. After the deaths of his parents in a house fire in September, 1947, Breeg was sent to an orphanage in the East End. The cause of the fatal fire, to this day, remains unexplained. Breeg himself was present in the house at the time but escaped unharmed.

He was a bright child but very solitary, prompting one of his carers at the orphanage to state: "He has the demeanour of a child who seems to bear more weight upon his shoulders than any person should. What goes on behind his eyes makes one wonder what's troubling him." As well as his academic interests, Breeg also became interested in The Bible and expressed a desire to join the clergy.

Breeg was fostered by three families between 1947 and 1950 but each time, he was returned to the orphanage, unable to settle in any of the new homes that had offered to raise him.It was on his tenth birthday in 1949, that he began to experience nightmares that he himself later described as "the most vile and tortuous I have ever endured." Despite this, he went on to develop incredible talent as an artist and produced a large number of drawings, sketches and paintings. However, none of these survive and are believed to have been destroyed by Breeg himself. To this day, no one knows why. The subjects of these paintings, however, supposedly caused great consternation and distress among those who Breeg allowed to view them.

The verdict of one close friend who saw some of Breeg's work is as follows: "He says he paints what he sees. If this is true, I can only thank God I have no window into his mind."

Breeg's first job on leaving the orphanage, in 1954, was at a local Undertakers, where he was given the task of engraving headstones. His interest in the Bible had by now turned into what a colleague deemed to be "obsessive". He lived alone and little is known about his life between 1955 and 1959 other than that his interest in joining the clergy diminished. His obsession with the Bible, however, did not.

Breeg travelled widely between 1960 and 1970, visiting many different countries. Living for two years in Haiti before travelling to Eastern Europe where he lived between 1966 and 1969. He was forced to flee from Romania in 1969 following local Police investigations. He returned to England in March 1971. Upon his return, he was offered a position with the International Institute of Paranormal Investigation which he accepted.

Breeg wrote four books between 1971 and 1977. None of these, as far as can be ascertained, remain in print. All, however, concern the sights and cultures Breeg experienced while travelling. The emphasis in all four volumes is on the Occult practices of the countries visited.

Benjamin Breeg disappeared from his home on June 18th, 1978. All efforts to locate him proved unsuccessful."

Yup that site with the story and such is just a gimmick. But I also feel this is a song about Eddie. When asked if they would ever make a song about Eddie, Steve replied something like "if we can ever make a story worthy of Eddie". And I think this is very worthy to be Eddie's story, plus after decades, its about damn time Eddie got his own song.

I think this song is about reincarnation and war, or the reincarnation of soldiers in general.

Let me tell you 'bout my life, Let me tell you 'bout my dreams, Let me tell you 'bout the thing that happen, all is real to me. Let me tell you of my hope, of my need to reach the sky, Let me take you on an awkward journey, let me tell you why. Let me tell you why

• The narrator is explaining his experience in a past life in which he re-lives in his dreams.

"Why should these curses be laid upon me, I won't be forgiven 'til I can break free, What did I do to deserve all this guilt, Pay for my sins, for the sale of my soul."

"Demons are trapped all inside my head, My hopes of god, reach for heaven from hell, My sins are many, my guilt is too heavy, The question of knowing of how then what I know?"

"I'm able to see things, things that I don't wanna see, The lies of a thousand souls weigh heavy down on me."

• The narrator doesn't understand why his curse of reincarnation is being laid upon him again: he has died prematurely before and he will die again. He doesn't understand why he has to keep dying, reliving the previous death and in turn die again in this life. He could have possibly been an officer or commander in a past life as the lyrics state "The lies of a thousand souls weigh heavy down on me." So 1000 men; he had some intricate role to play with their death. As the grave states 1939 (and someone else mentioned in a comment) was the date of the day war was declared on Germany by Britain.

"I know they're crying for help reaching out The burden of them will take me down as well The sin of a thousand souls knocked out in vain Reincarnation of me live again."

Someone to save me, Something to save me from myself To bring salvation To exorcise this hell Someone to save me, Something to save me from myself To bring Salvation To exorcise this hell

Something to save me from my hell Our destination away from this nightmare Someone to save me Something to save me from myself To bring salvation To exorcise this hell

• He is foreseeing the future; the thousands of new soldiers that are about to die in the new war. He is reincarnated in his new life to his old position as officer/commander and will again have to send what he sees to be more men to their deaths; including what could be his own.

such a good song, iron maiden is back bitch's

great song! i heard it is about the previous frontman in maidens earlier day, Paul Di Annio (i think thats how you spell it). Yes, Maiden's back bitch !!

Di'anno? impossible, this is their new single

I've found noting about a Benjamin Breeg, but a Benjamin Briggs ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Benjamin_Briggs ) It seems to have some match point.

For those who dont want to search on wiki, Briggs was the cpt of a ship called the Mary Celeste. he had to ship a cargo of 1700 barrels of industrial alcohol. A ship who was following it, the Dei Gratia, finaly concluded that the ship was drifting. No distress signal, no life on board, every ship's paper gone exept for the captain's logbook. The lifeboat was gone and 9 barrels where empty. Some says that the captain saw the barrels empty and tought that the ship could explode if the gas was to enter in contact with fire. This is only speculation, and the fact is that the life boat was never found and this case still remain a mystery.

Maybe that Harris searched information about this man with the name «benjamin breeg» instead of «benjamin briggs». He felt stupid of something like that and decided to keep the name?

anyway... can't wait anymore for the rest of this album!!!

yes, and the author of the website, "A. Breeg" goes on to talk about the coinicedence of his name used in the song.

But i found out that this website domain was created Jun 14th of 2006, which was the same time the tracklist and first single were announced. It seems odd that, supposedly, this A. Breeg cleaned out her grandma's house and discovered this mysterious "Benjamin Breeg" who had been missing for almost 30 years on the day "The Reincarnation of Benjamin Breeg" was announced as the new single off of "A Matter of Life and Death." It could be something put out by the band or by some Maiden-fan. It just seems way to odd for it to be legit.

...also, the story said that Benjamin Breeg disappeared in 1978 which would be the year Paul Di'Anno joined the band. I only found this interesting because some rumors are that this song is about him.

off the topic of who benjamin breeg is though, this song kicks ass. I can't wait for the album this september.

I too have some problems believing this Benjamin story is true... Why would he open the site when the song is out? seems a bit strange.... If you go on Maiden website, there is an interview, here is the end:

«EH: One last question. Who is Benjamin Breeg?

(Loads of laughter from Jan and Nicko)

NM: We are not the two people to ask. You need to talk to Steve……………… »

so look like it will be harder than i tough t find it...