Brave New World

Actually this song is about the novel "Brave New World" by Aldeous Huxley, as the title suggests. Dickinson, iirc, also said in an interview with Rock Hard Magazin (rockhard.de) once that the phrase "Dying Swans twisted wings.." merely tries to create a feeling of senseless disgrace of beauty to lead into the song and the overall theme.

The Verses: "Lost my love, lost my life In this garden of fear"

I think this line refers to the Love of the Savage to a girl who looks innocent to him. This love dies when he discovers that she want's to have sex with him, as usual in the Brave New World society, on a basis of pure lust, which is immoral to him.

"I have seen many things In a lifetime alone Mother love is no more Bring this savage back home "

The Savage, he himself a child of the Brave New World born by his mother in the wilderness where she got lost on a holiday trip, has seen a lot of life and of misery and mistakes of civilization. His mother dies shortly after the Savage and his mother arrive at "Brave New World" (which is not it's real name though) and she immediately falls back into usual behaviour of BNW, especially taking drugs to drop out of the cruel real life.

"Wilderness house of pain Makes no sense of it all Close my mind dull this brain Messiah before his fall What you see is not real Those who know will not tell All is lost sold your soul In this brave new world"

The Savage soon discovers the real wilderness is civilization. He is considered some sort of messias, but his mind rebels against this thought. He also gets the impression that there is some sort of elite cast ruling the world knowing the truth about it's flaws but willingly accepting it.

"Dragon Kings Dying Queens Where is salvation now Lost my life lost my dreams Rip the bones from my flesh Silent screams laughing here Dying to tell you the truth You are planned you are damned In this Brave new world "

The Savage flees and finds shelter in a forgotten lighthouse(?), where he discovers pain as a way out of his misery. When he is found he commits suicide, hence "Dying to tell you the truth"

I think the music of the song fits to the book, the theme is woven into the music and makes it a melancholy masterpiece.

i am a high school english teacher and use maiden's BNW while teaching huxley's dystopian masterpiece... the songs sets up tone, mood, and theme well as a precusor to the novel... then we come back to it at the end and tie it all back together...

necrox... i share your views and use similar ideas when dicussing the song...

cheers

This.....this is a beautiful song. Showed that Maiden or Bruce hadnt lost their touch at all. Lyrics are amazing aswell, mystical, special.

I won't lie. I created an account just so I could post a comment about this song.

I found the lyrics on another website and ended up buying the cd because I loved them so much. Brave New World and Thin Line Between Love And Hate remain my two single favourite songs on the album (among my favourites of all time).

I was just listening to it today and every line spoke of my own life. Granted, Necrox was probably right as to Iron Maiden's interpretation, but I very much see myself and my life in it, from the queens to the swans to the messiah before his fall. I've lost my love and I've lost my life, I'm nothing but a savage but I'll keep going. I just hope someone (maybe me) can help me find my way back home.

I just wish I could thank Iron Maiden personally for writing this "for me". It's amazing when you can find a song that can be interpreted in several ways, even more amazing when one way fits your own life so well, and this is one of those songs. I'm glad of it.

Hmm, I've listened to this song, and once i get intrigued by a song, I have to learn to play it on guitar, once that happens I need to understand the lyrics; so bear with me as a pull this out of my ass.

Basically my point of view is that a "Brave New World" is a world where even though knowing the old world failed, it's still keeping march forward with so much courage. It's a world which you are brought in to and made into someones shall we say "guinea pig" to live in a setting where nothing is for sure. In this case Society is that someone who owns you, society and secrecy.You have no leisures nor rights to freedom, so looks have no importance, here everyone is the same: dying by the hand and ignorance of that which owns you. Separatism probably plays an elaborate schism too which explains the losing of love, and a mothers love. My vision of a new world as this also depicts science being a method of introducing life onto the world hence, mother love is just a myth. Home would probably be the rejoicing heavens, so "bring this savage back home" could be a plea for death. "Wilderness house of pain" since it's in my personal experience I'd say a house of pain would be a place where one could drug oneself to ease a pain; with wilderness attached to it, the drug usage could most likely be overwhelming. House of pain, a place to negate all your basic knowledge and everything you think is not, as to make "no sense of it at all". Once again the "close this mind dull this brain" is explaining the usage of drugs. "Messiah before his fall" to me means that this person didn't ever dream of drugging himself bu- omg... It is true. Back to the matter at hand. Leaving it as a last resort so his mind can't be changed he drugs himself and gets ready. Ok, so society is hiding something and that's what makes this place so unforgiving. People have no longer right over their life, basically their souls aren't theirs either. "Dragon kings, dying queens" Dragons; symbolizing either royalty and importance, high caste etiqutte, ferocious beings. Queens falling; all this means to me is that while leaders of society bathe in the pride of their work, women die inside for loss of their children. Proving this to be a sin, salvation is looked at as a far achievement "where is salvation now". Life is lost to inhumane reasons, and so dreams can only depict what is truly unruly impossible. (being as it is a dream can be achieved yet this setting is so harsh that hope can't stand a chance against oppression). "rip the bones from my flesh" comes to me as a statement of challenging sarcasm, like saying "you can take my life, my love, my freedom, well heck you can surely rip the bones from my flesh (ironic for I can't imagine bones being ripped from- flesh... it would be the other way around but this gives you the image of how far this society can go in to cruelty.)" "Silent screams-- laughing here" Screaming is a freedom, and so this society takes your right to this, covering it with laughs. "Dying to tell you the truth" I can imagine a rebel or a rumored crazy person screaming out the truth about the world, and so is sent to execution. "You are planned and you are damned in this brave new world" Your life is already decided for you, and you have no word in it, so you are damned for that reason. the last verse "dying swans twisted wings bring this salvage back home" (truly ironic just read) Ok so we have established that beauty here is not an issue nor a right, so our character is committing suicide OR just dying by the hands of secrecy society, and is letting out a last "prayer" bring this savage home... Heavens... So ok here let me pretend im the character.

(Dying, on the ground eyes closed)

So I've done all of what I could to escape this society and to help others know about this unreal reality. I tried to give the chance of precise knowledge of the world we live in... this brave new world? Brave it is and new too... but can it be called a world? Have I failed so miserably? Is there no other price? Yes there is... I've earned my right to faith. In this place I pray to be saved, to be taken to a place far yet so near.

-Flatline-

"Bring this savage back home" the last prayer. The earned right. The eternal prize.

Any comments? I probably will miss them here so, you can message me through myspace: myspace.com/spades91 or i can get your email at gunthora_spades@yahoo.com

Brilliant song. Necrox, you cleared this song up for me neatly. I scheme I should get hold of the novel, will make me appreciate this great song alot more. Iron Maiden was, is, and always will be a fantastic band

I remember I once had to write an essay about the novel as a school project. Within it, I did a comparation of Huxley´s Brave New World and Orwell´s 1984. Well, I tell you that BNW is thousand times more terrifying than any kind of dystopia ever could be. And the song has likewise chilling sound. It´s the Maiden at their best.

'Dying swans twisted wings' I think is a nod to souls, beautiful, who are on their own trajectory but spawned into the 'brave new world' find themselves in uninhabitable conditions, over time their wings are twisted and they no longer are able to inhabit some plane of reality they toiled to arrive at. Lost in a 'garden of fear', there is a far-off imprint of paradise in the mind, but no one is seeing straight, walking in the shadow worlds of others instills a peculiar sense of fear, splicing, anxiety, uncertainty over what is what. "Wilderness, house of pain" consolidates this, the shadow world is a world of confusion, conflicting impressions, futile inner conversations, which is the reality of the situation, has become a house of pain, miasmic. 'What you see, its not real, those who know will not tell', dying swan are among us but silent trying to ride out an ecstatic dream while so many are lost in Hades. "Silent screams laughing here, dying to tell you the truth" speaks of the same theme.

I think this song could be about the novel "Brave New World"; parts of it definitely make it seem that way.

why havent more ppl talked about this song its so beutiful