Elijah Braly

Song analysis
Seventh Son of a Seventh Son by Iron Maiden
Here they stand brothers them all
All the sons divided they'd fall
Here await the birth of the son
The seventh, the heavenly, the chosen one
Here the birth from an !nbro"en line
Born the healer the seventh, his time
#n"nowingly blessed and as his life !nfolds
Slowly !nveiling the $ower he holds
%&hor!s'(
Seventh son of a seventh son %) times(
Then they watch the $rogress he ma"es
The *ood and the evil which $ath will he ta"e
Both of them trying to mani$!late
The !se of his $owers before it's too late
%&hor!s'(
Today is born the seventh one
Born of woman the seventh son
And he in t!rn of a seventh son
He has the $ower to heal
He has the gift of the second sight
He is the chosen one
So it shall be written
So it shall be done
This song is a very interesting song for many reasons, and des$ite the lyrical length, this
song is act!ally a very long song This song s$awns from a legend that the seventh son of
a seventh son will achieve some sort of awesome $ower Movies li"e the !$coming
Seventh Son movie !se this legend to create their $rotagonist and the $rotagonist m!st
!se his $owers for good or evil If they $!t this song in the Seventh Son movie, instant
res$ect is given Iron maiden is a band that ma"es songs that have to do with the
s!$ernat!ral, e+am$les being ,ear of the -ar", .!mber of the Beast, &a!ght Somewhere
In Time, and /owerslave They are most famo!s for incor$orating synthesi0er in their
m!sic, which yo! can clearly hear in this song The $ict!re 1if yo! will2 this song $aints
is one that resembles mideval times, where control of the throne was cr!cial and bloody
The line 3All the sons, divided they fall4 is a big $art of that image, beca!se in mideval
times, it is very easy to imagine sons fighting over the throne, es$ecially in face of the
Seventh Son being born 3The chosen one4 line $oints to the legend being tr!e, and in
regards to the second line, if the legend were tr!e, then a divide for $ower and the forth
stan0a wo!ld be li"ely o!tcomes of the chosen one being born
There are sit!ations in the $ast where children have been ta"en advantage of or s!ch
when they show early $otential of $ower 5nce again, there have been co!ntless movies
abo!t that ha$$ening, not to mention in real life The line of 3slowly !nveiling the $ower
he holds4 co!ld im$ly that there was a str!ggle to ta"e advantage of the child, and the
fo!rth stan0a $roves that to be tr!e B!t in almost all movies abo!t talented children ends
1or at least shows2 the child finally reaching their tr!e $otential and ridding those who
have mani$!lated them from their lives The last line of the fo!rth stan0a ha$$ens to be
the only resolve in this song, with that being 3before it6s too late4 This im$lies that
altho!gh the child will be mani$!lated, it will finally reach its $otential 7ith this being
the only resolve, it6s really j!st s$ec!lation as to what will become of the child, or what
ha$$ens when his f!ll $ower is reached The last stan0a is j!st to solidify that the child
was born
This song6s analysis is really only historical and $o$!lar c!lt!re d!e to the lac" of
lyrics and the fact that this song is based off of legend instead of facts The way the m!sic
was com$osed was to give the listener a sense of something omino!s coming, which is
very m!ch in conte+t what the song is abo!t The last stan0a is sang li"e an
anno!ncement than act!al singing, which also ma"es sense since it reads li"e a decree of
some sort The song does not, however, so!nd li"e an egy$tian d!bbed song, which songs
li"e /owerslave do This song so!nds more li"e a f!t!ristic version of mideval times,
largely beca!se this alb!m so!nds almost e+actly li"e the alb!m &a!ght Somewhere In
Time, which is all abo!t being in the f!t!re The alb!m artwor" also loo"s li"e the f!t!re,
along with the famo!s 3Iron Maiden4 on the cover
My first choice of songs to $ic" for this assignment was a song called &lansman,
also by Iron Maiden It deals with being a native American 1altho!gh it doesn6t directly
say the character of that song is Indian, it6s $retty easy to ma"e that connection2 d!ring
the white invasion, and how his $eo$le will rise to ta"e bac" what is theirs It6s a far more
interesting song than Seventh Son, b!t it has fo!r times as many lyrics, and a whole lot
more connections can be made in that song 7ith &lansman being s!ch a long song, I
decided against it, and went with this As I was doing this song, I reali0ed that there
wasn6t a whole lot to go off of, and tho!ght of a better song, that being ,ear of the -ar",
which deals with being afraid of the dar" 1oh boy, wonder where that connection came
from2 /roblem is, I was already half8way done with this song, so if this analysis t!rns o!t
to be too short, I will do another on ,ear of the -ar" if that6s what yo! want