"Back from the Edge" is the first and only single released to promote

Bruce Dickinson Paul Bruce Dickinson (born 7 August 1958) is an English singer who has been the lead vocalist of the heavy metal band Iron Maiden from 1981 to 1993 and 1999–present. He is known for his wide-ranging operatic vocal style and energetic stage ...

's third solo studio album, ''

Skunkworks Skunk Works is an official trademark for the Lockheed Martin Advanced Development Programs (formerly Lockheed Advanced Development Projects). Skunkworks or Skunk works may also refer to: * ''Skunkworks'' (album), alternative rock album by Bruce ...

'', released on 7 March 1996. The single peaked at number 68 on the

UK Singles Chart The UK Singles Chart (currently titled Official Singles Chart, with the upper section more commonly known as the Official UK Top 40) is compiled by the Official Charts Company (OCC), on behalf of the British record industry, listing the top-s ...

Track listing

# "Back From The Edge" (Bruce Dickinson/Alex Dickson) – 4:19 # "Rescue Day" – 4:11 # "God's Not Coming Back" – 2:19 # "Armchair Hero" – 2:43

"I'm in a Band with an Italian Drummer"

"I'm in a Band with an Italian Drummer" is an ironic/spoof

rock Rock most often refers to: * Rock (geology), a naturally occurring solid aggregate of minerals or mineraloids * Rock music, a genre of popular music Rock or Rocks may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * Rock, Caerphilly, a location in Wales ...

song, first issued as the

b-side The A-side and B-side are the two sides of phonograph records and cassettes; these terms have often been printed on the labels of two-sided music recordings. The A-side usually features a recording that its artist, producer, or record compan ...

of "Back from the Edge" (only on its 7-inch vinyl format), and subsequently released on the second disc of the 2001 '' The Best of Bruce Dickinson''

compilation album A compilation album comprises Album#Tracks, tracks, which may be previously released or unreleased, usually from several separate recordings by either one or several Performing arts#Performers, performers. If by one artist, then generally the tr ...

. It was written by bassist Chris Dale, who was in Dickinson's short-lived backing band for the ''Skunkworks'' album, also named Skunkworks. The song's instrumentation features funny breaks with many deliberately off-beat electronic drum machine effects, each occurring immediately after the line "...and when he plays his drums it sounds like this". The lyrics, which (unusually for Dickinson) are composed of rapped verses and sung choruses, are a jocular portrait of the band's drummer Alessandro Elena , who is "really Italian" - as a line in the lyrics defines him - and feature most of the clichés commonly associated with the way Italians are perceived outside of Italy, in the ''Italians Do It Better'' style. The song's end was spoken by the drummer in

Sicilian language Sicilian ( scn, sicilianu, link=no, ; it, siciliano) is a Romance language that is spoken on the island of Sicily and its satellite islands. A variant, ''Calabro-Sicilian'', is spoken in southern Calabria, where it is called Southern Calabro ...

, more specifically in the dialect of

Palermo Palermo ( , ; scn, Palermu , locally also or ) is a city in southern Italy, the capital (political), capital of both the autonomous area, autonomous region of Sicily and the Metropolitan City of Palermo, the city's surrounding metropolitan ...

, starting with a line in heavily inflected, "Italianized" English and then going straight into dialect. The speech features him complaining about his complete lack of understanding of what Dickinson is singing, all spiced up with "colourful" Italian and Sicilian-language expressions.

Credits

vocals Singing is the act of creating musical sounds with the voice. A person who sings is called a singer, artist or vocalist (in jazz and/or popular music). Singers perform music (arias, recitatives, songs, etc.) that can be sung with or without ...

* Alex Dickson -

Guitar The guitar is a fretted musical instrument that typically has six strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming or plucking the strings with the dominant hand, while simultaneously pressing selected stri ...

* Chris Dale -

Bass guitar The bass guitar, electric bass or simply bass (), is the lowest-pitched member of the string family. It is a plucked string instrument similar in appearance and construction to an electric or an acoustic guitar, but with a longer neck and ...

* Alessandro Elena -

drums A drum kit (also called a drum set, trap set, or simply drums) is a collection of drums, cymbals, and other Percussion instrument, auxiliary percussion instruments set up to be played by one person. The player (drummer) typically holds a pair o ...

Chart positions

References

{{authority control 1996 singles 1996 songs Bruce Dickinson songs Songs written by Bruce Dickinson EMI Records singles