"Stranger in a Strange Land" is a song by the English heavy metal band

Iron Maiden Iron Maiden are an English heavy metal band formed in Leyton, East London, in 1975 by bassist and primary songwriter Steve Harris. While fluid in the early years of the band, the lineup for most of the band's history has consisted of Harri ...

, released as the second single from their sixth studio album, '' Somewhere in Time'' (1986). The song is unrelated to

Robert A. Heinlein Robert Anson Heinlein (; July 7, 1907 – May 8, 1988) was an American science fiction author, aeronautical engineer, and naval officer. Sometimes called the "dean of science fiction writers", he was among the first to emphasize scientific accu ...

's novel by the same name.

Synopsis

The lyrics are about an

Arctic The Arctic ( or ) is a polar regions of Earth, polar region located at the northernmost part of Earth. The Arctic consists of the Arctic Ocean, adjacent seas, and parts of Canada (Yukon, Northwest Territories, Nunavut), Danish Realm (Greenla ...

explorer Exploration refers to the historical practice of discovering remote lands. It is studied by geographers and historians. Two major eras of exploration occurred in human history: one of convergence, and one of divergence. The first, covering most ...

who dies and is frozen in the ice. After a hundred years his body is found preserved by other people exploring there.

Adrian Smith Adrian Frederick "H" Smith (born 27 February 1957) is an English guitarist best known as a member of heavy metal band Iron Maiden, for whom he also writes songs and performs backing vocals both live and in the studio. Smith grew up in London ...

was inspired to write about this song after talking to an explorer who had a similar experience of discovering a frozen body. The guitar solo in "Stranger in a Strange Land" is played by Smith. In a 2020 interview with eonmusic, the guitarist said that it was one of the first Iron Maiden songs that gave him "space to play in", citing its mid-paced tempo as the reason why; "a lot of the Maiden stuff up until then had been very fast, and aggressive, and heavy, but that actually allowed me a little bit of space to stretch out a bit", he said. The song is one of only five Iron Maiden songs to

fade out Fade out, Fade-out or Fadeout may refer to: Technical engineering * Fade-out or fade, a gradual decrease in sound volume * Fade (lighting) or fade-out, a gradual decrease in intensity of a stage lighting source * Dissolve (filmmaking) or fade-o ...

; the others being "The Prophecy" from ''

Seventh Son of a Seventh Son ''Seventh Son of a Seventh Son'' is the seventh studio album by English heavy metal band Iron Maiden. It was released on 11 April 1988 in the United Kingdom by EMI Records and in the United States by Capitol Records. Like '' The Number of the ...

'', "Hell on Earth" from '' Senjutsu'', "

Women in Uniform "Women in Uniform" is a 1978 song by the Australian band Skyhooks; it was written by the band's bass guitar player, Greg Macainsh. It was released in February 1978 as the lead single from their fourth studio album, '' Guilty Until Proven Insane' ...

", a single included on some pressings of '' Killers'', and "Kill Me Ce Soir", a 1990

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 ...

. The lyrics "brave new world" were also present in Iron Maiden's 2000 studio release, ''

Brave New World ''Brave New World'' is a dystopian novel by English author Aldous Huxley, written in 1931 and published in 1932. Largely set in a futuristic World State, whose citizens are environmentally engineered into an intelligence-based social hierarch ...

''.

Cover details

Eddie Eddie or Eddy may refer to: Science and technology *Eddy (fluid dynamics), the swirling of a fluid and the reverse current created when the fluid flows past an obstacle * Eddie (text editor), a text editor originally for BeOS and now ported to Lin ...

's appearance on the single cover is an homage to the

Clint Eastwood Clinton Eastwood Jr. (born May 31, 1930) is an American actor and film director. After achieving success in the Western TV series '' Rawhide'', he rose to international fame with his role as the "Man with No Name" in Sergio Leone's "''Doll ...

character "

Man with No Name The Man with No Name ( it, Uomo senza nome) is the antihero character portrayed by Clint Eastwood in Sergio Leone's "''Dollars Trilogy''" of Italian Spaghetti Western films: ''A Fistful of Dollars'' (1964), '' For a Few Dollars More'' (1965), ...

", although it can also be seen as a mixture of

Rick Deckard Rick Deckard is a fictional character and the protagonist of Philip K. Dick's 1968 novel ''Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?''. Harrison Ford portrayed the character in the 1982 film adaptation, ''Blade Runner'', and reprised his role in th ...

from ''

Blade Runner ''Blade Runner'' is a 1982 science fiction film directed by Ridley Scott, and written by Hampton Fancher and David Peoples. Starring Harrison Ford, Rutger Hauer, Sean Young, and Edward James Olmos, it is an adaptation of Philip K. Dick' ...

'' and the "Man with No Name". This version of Eddie would later be used in the Camp Chaos music video for "

Run to the Hills "Run to the Hills" is a song by the English heavy metal band Iron Maiden. It was released as their sixth single and the first from the band's third studio album, '' The Number of the Beast'' (1982). It is their first single with Bruce Dickinson ...

". * In the top-right corner of the cover (slightly right of Eddie's lit match), the time on the clock appears as "11:58". This is a reference to an earlier Iron Maiden single, "

2 Minutes to Midnight "2 Minutes to Midnight" is a song by the British heavy metal band Iron Maiden, featured on their fifth studio album, ''Powerslave'' (1984). It was released as the band's tenth single, and first from the album on 6 August 1984. It rose to numb ...

". * Several cards can be seen falling from the table. One (orange background, next to red-coloured card) contains a picture of the

Grim Reaper Death is frequently imagined as a personified force. In some mythologies, a character known as the Grim Reaper (usually depicted as a berobed skeleton wielding a scythe) causes the victim's death by coming to collect that person's soul. Other b ...

, like that on "

The Trooper "The Trooper" is a song by the English heavy metal band Iron Maiden. It was released as the second single on 20 June 1983 from the band's fourth studio album, ''Piece of Mind'' (1983). It was one of only a few songs to get much radio airplay in ...

" cover. * Just under one of the stacks of cards, on the edge of the table,

Derek Riggs Derek Riggs (born 13 February 1958) is a contemporary British artist best known for creating the band Iron Maiden's mascot, "Eddie". Career Born in Portsmouth, England, Riggs is a self-taught artist, both in his traditional painting and in his ...

' signature can be seen. * In the music video for a later song, "

The Angel and the Gambler "The Angel and the Gambler" is a single from the Iron Maiden album ''Virtual XI'', released in 1998. It preceded the release of ''Virtual XI'' by two weeks. Synopsis It is the first Iron Maiden single to feature a video as a B-side. It is also th ...

" (from ''

Virtual XI ''Virtual XI'' (pronounced "Virtual Eleven") is the eleventh studio album by English heavy metal band Iron Maiden, released on 23 March 1998. It is the band's second and final album with Blaze Bayley on vocals. It also marks the first album to ...

''), then-singer

Blaze Bayley Blaze Bayley (born Bayley Alexander Cooke, 29 May 1963) is an English heavy metal singer. He was the lead singer of Wolfsbane from 1984 to 1994 (and currently since 2010, following reunions in 2007 and 2009). He was also the lead singer of Ir ...

is dressed up like this Eddie.

B-sides

The B-sides to this single, "That Girl" and "Juanita", were both played during ''

The Entire Population of Hackney The Entire Population of Hackney is the name used for a project featuring members of Iron Maiden, FM and Urchin that played two concerts in 1985. It is also the name used for a bootleg recording of the first show. It is most notable for being th ...

'' secret gig on 19 December 1985, with Adrian Smith on vocals. This is probably where the idea came from to play them as B-sides, especially with Adrian's large presence on this single and the ''Somewhere in Time'' album. "That Girl" was written by Merv Goldsworthy,

Pete Jupp FM are a British rock band (referred to as FM UK in North America to avoid confusion with the Canadian progressive rock band FM). They have released thirteen studio albums to date. Three of those, '' Indiscreet'', '' Tough It Out'' and 2015's ...

and Andy Barnett in an early line-up of the band FM and was one of the demo tracks which secured them a record deal with CBS in 1984. The song was eventually released by both Iron Maiden and FM in 1986. By then the brothers

Steve ''yes'Steve is a masculine given name, usually a short form (hypocorism) of Steven or Stephen Notable people with the name include: steve jops * Steve Abbott (disambiguation), several people * Steve Adams (disambiguation), several people * Steve ...

and Chris Overland had joined FM and some parts of the original song (mainly choruses) had been rewritten for its inclusion on FM's debut album '' Indiscreet'', released just three weeks prior to Iron Maiden's ''Somewhere In Time'' which featured a cover of the original arrangement. On this Iron Maiden version the first guitar solo is played by Dave Murray, while the ending guitar solo is played by Adrian Smith. "Juanita" was originally played by Barnett's band, Marshall Fury, in the early 1980s, and it was written by Steve Barnacle and Derek O'Neil. Marshall Fury never recorded a studio version of the song.

Track listing

'7" single ;12" single

Personnel

Personnel as listed in the album's

liner notes Liner notes (also sleeve notes or album notes) are the writings found on the sleeves of LP record albums and in booklets that come inserted into the compact disc jewel case or the equivalent packaging for cassettes. Origin Liner notes are desce ...

are: *

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 ...

– lead vocals * Dave Murray – synthesized guitar *

– synthesized guitar * Steve Harris – bass guitar *

Nicko McBrain Michael Henry "Nicko" McBrain (born 5 June 1952) is an English musician, best known as the drummer of the heavy metal band Iron Maiden since 1982. Having played in small pub bands since 1966 from the age of 14, McBrain paid his bills after grad ...

– drums ;Production *

Martin Birch Martin Birch (27 December 19489 August 2020) was a British music producer and sound engineer. He became renowned for engineering and producing albums recorded predominantly by British rock bands, including Deep Purple, Rainbow, Fleetwood Mac, W ...

– producer,

engineer Engineers, as practitioners of engineering, are professionals who invent, design, analyze, build and test machines, complex systems, structures, gadgets and materials to fulfill functional objectives and requirements while considering the l ...

, mixing *

– cover illustration *

Ross Halfin Ross William Halfin (born 11 August 1957) is a British rock and roll photographer. Since the late 1970s he has worked for some of the biggest acts in rock and heavy metal, including Led Zeppelin, AC/DC, Black Sabbath, The Who, Kiss, Metallica, ...

– photography

Chart performance

Notes

References

{{Authority control 1986 singles 1986 songs Arctic in fiction Capitol Records singles EMI Records singles Iron Maiden songs Song recordings produced by Martin Birch Songs based on actual events Songs inspired by deaths Songs written by Adrian Smith