Gotta tell you a story
On a cold winter's night
You'll be sailing for glory
Before you know what is right

So come over here now
I got a vision for you
It's my personal snake oil
It's just something I do

I'm the jester with no tears
And I'm playing on your fears
I'm a trickster smiling underneath this mask of love and death
The eternal lie I've told
About the pyramids of gold
I've got you hooked at every turn, your money's left to burn

(Hahahaha)

You'll be wanting a contract, ha
You'll be waiting a while
I'd like to give you my contact
But that isn't my style

Well you only get one chance
And it's too good to miss
If I didn't lie to you
Then I wouldn't exist

Greed, lust and angry pride
It's the same old, same old ride
The smoke and mirrors visions that you see are just like me
I'm a clever banker's face
With just a letter out of place
I know someone just like you knows someone just like me

El Dorado, come and play
El Dorado, step this way
Take a ticket for the ride
El Dorado streets of gold
See my ship is oversold
You got one last chance to try

So gone is the glory
And gone is the gold
Well if you knew the story
How come it has to be told

Well you can say I'm a devil
And I wouldn't say no
But out here on the dark side
Hey, on with the show

So now my tale is told
Big and bad and twice as bold
This ship of fools is sinking as the cracks begin to grow
There is no easy way
For an honest man today
Which is something you should think of as my lifeboat sails away

El Dorado, come and play
El Dorado, step this way
Take a ticket for the ride
El Dorado streets of gold
See my ship is oversold
You got one last chance to try

El Dorado, come and play
El Dorado, step this way
Take a ticket for the ride
El Dorado streets of gold
See my ship is oversold
You got one last chance to try


Lyrics submitted by Lurxie, edited by spart20012, MaxwellBlack, Operations666

El Dorado Lyrics as written by Bruce Dickinson Adrian Frederick Smith

Lyrics © BMG Rights Management, Universal Music Publishing Group, Word Collections Publishing

Lyrics powered by LyricFind

El Dorado song meanings
Add Your Thoughts

18 Comments

sort form View by:
  • +3
    General Comment

    its about the old pre/columbian myth of eldorado, the city made of gold, that many conquistadores looked for, also is related to old pirate stories like treasure island,where people were convinced to pay for a discovery trip to find a treasure but it turned out to be a scam at the end....hey its iron maiden and its heavy metal,so it relates to lots of things,youknowwhatImean

    ricardolon January 26, 2012   Link
  • +1
    General Comment

    I don't really have anything to say in the way of analysing the lyrics, but Bruce said:

    "It has a cynical lyric about the economic crap that's been happening. It seemed a bit like a perfect storm; people were borrowing money like crazy. I thought, 'This is really going to screw people up' and sure enough, we're all in deep doo-doo! And that's what El Dorado is about, it's about selling somebody the myth that 'The streets are paved with gold' and them asking, 'Where do I sign up?'."

    So, I guess that's what it's about.

    ellaellaellaon June 18, 2010   Link
  • +1
    General Comment

    This does seem to be about the economic crash and the greed that led to it. I have not been swept away by this song but I am still on the edge of my seat awaiting The Final Frontier.

    Kotuku33on June 27, 2010   Link
  • 0
    General Comment

    I'm gonna go out on a limb and say it's about El Dorado. . . Man, I can't wait for The Final Frontier! One of the tracks, again, bears the same name as a Bruce Dickinson song unfortunately. That's two for the people keeping tab. ;D

    Seeing Maiden June 19th, one day before my birthday.(:

    star tripperon June 08, 2010   Link
  • 0
    General Comment

    I like this song. I'm not going to say that I love it, because Maiden has definitely had better songs, but it's not bad by any means. Instrumentally, it's all Maiden. I like how the lyrics flow with the song, not all of their songs seem to do well at that.

    My only issue with this song is Bruce's voice. He's not letting it out as much as normal; he seems to be holding back a lot, especially if you compare this song to one like "Out of the Shadows".

    4t0utl3m0nd3on June 09, 2010   Link
  • 0
    Song Meaning

    Does anyone think it's about religion (eternal lie etc...)???

    Xiastison June 10, 2010   Link
  • 0
    My Interpretation

    I think it is about how people get trapped in get-rich-quick scams and end up with nothing. It's about greed and how people let themselves get fooled because of it. From wikipedia: "the name of El Dorado came to be used metaphorically of any place where wealth could be rapidly acquired".

    shinacoon June 12, 2010   Link
  • 0
    My Opinion

    Great song! I'm seeing them on July 7th in Montreal, at the Bell Center. It's surely going to be such a gooood show!

    VoiceOfTheSoulon June 18, 2010   Link
  • 0
    General Comment

    Bruce DOES sound amazing on this song. The amount of sneering "gotcha!" attitude he packs into these lyrics is unmatched by any Iron Maiden song yet. One of my own favorite songs to sing...considering I can actually reach its notes.

    Octavarium64on August 20, 2010   Link
  • 0
    Lyric Correction

    I'm not 100% sure on these corrections, but I think you got a few lyrics wrong.

    "We lost an envy pry", I hear "Greed, Lust, and Envy Pride" or "Green, Lust, and Envied Pride" And "See, the ship has almost sold" I think is "See the ship that's over sold" "It's my personal snake hole" is supposed to be "It's my personal snake oil"

    This one I'm really unsure of: "If you need a story, I'll come, it has to be told" I hear as "If you need a story how come it has to be told?"

    Vjrrdron September 01, 2010   Link

Add your thoughts

Log in now to tell us what you think this song means.

Don’t have an account? Create an account with SongMeanings to post comments, submit lyrics, and more. It’s super easy, we promise!

More Featured Meanings

Album art
Fast Car
Tracy Chapman
"Fast car" is kind of a continuation of Bruce Springsteen's "Born to Run." It has all the clawing your way to a better life, but in this case the protagonist never makes it with her love; in fact she is dragged back down by him. There is still an amazing amount of hope and will in the lyrics; and the lyrics themselve rank and easy five. If only music was stronger it would be one of those great radio songs that you hear once a week 20 years after it was released. The imagery is almost tear-jerking ("City lights lay out before us", "Speeds so fast felt like I was drunk"), and the idea of starting from nothing and just driving and working and denigrating yourself for a chance at being just above poverty, then losing in the end is just painful and inspiring at the same time.
Album art
The Night We Met
Lord Huron
This is a hauntingly beautiful song about introspection, specifically about looking back at a relationship that started bad and ended so poorly, that the narrator wants to go back to the very beginning and tell himself to not even travel down that road. I believe that the relationship started poorly because of the lines: "Take me back to the night we met:When the night was full of terrors: And your eyes were filled with tears: When you had not touched me yet" So, the first night was not a great start, but the narrator pursued the relationship and eventually both overcame the rough start to fall in love with each other: "I had all and then most of you" Like many relationships that turn sour, it was not a quick decline, but a gradual one where the narrator and their partner fall out of love and gradually grow apart "Some and now none of you" Losing someone who was once everything in your world, who you could confide in, tell your secrets to, share all the most intimate parts of your life, to being strangers with that person is probably one of the most painful experiences a person can go through. So Painful, the narrator wants to go back in time and tell himself to not even pursue the relationship. This was the perfect song for "13 Reasons Why"
Album art
No Surprises
Radiohead
Same ideas expressed in Fitter, Happier are expressed in this song. We're told to strive for some sort of ideal life, which includes getting a good job, being kind to everyone, finding a partner, getting married, having a couple kids, living in a quiet neighborhood in a nice big house, etc. But in Fitter, Happier the narrator(?) realizes that it's incredibly robotic to live this life. People are being used by those in power "like a pig in a cage on antibiotics"--being pacified with things like new phones and cool gadgets and houses while being sucked dry. On No Surprises, the narrator is realizing how this life is killing him slowly. In the video, his helmet is slowly filling up with water, drowning him. But he's so complacent with it. This is a good summary of the song. This boring, "perfect" life foisted upon us by some higher powers (not spiritual, but political, economic, etc. politicians and businessmen, perhaps) is not the way to live. But there is seemingly no way out but death. He'd rather die peacefully right now than live in this cage. While our lives are often shielded, we're in our own protective bubbles, or protective helmets like the one Thom wears, if we look a little harder we can see all the corruption, lies, manipulation, etc. that is going on in the world, often run by huge yet nearly invisible organizations, corporations, and 'leaders'. It's a very hopeless song because it reflects real life.
Album art
Amazing
Ed Sheeran
Ed Sheeran tells a story of unsuccessfully trying to feel “Amazing.” This track is about the being weighed down by emotional stress despite valiant attempts to find some positivity in the situation. This track was written by Ed Sheeran from the perspective of his friend. From the track, we see this person fall deeper into the negative thoughts and slide further down the path of mental torment with every lyric.
Album art
Page
Ed Sheeran
There aren’t many things that’ll hurt more than giving love a chance against your better judgement only to have your heart crushed yet again. Ed Sheeran tells such a story on “Page.” On this track, he is devastated to have lost his lover and even more saddened by the feeling that he may never move on from this.