Iron Maiden - The Trooper

One of the greatest heavy metal songs of all time, Iron Maiden’s 1983 classic from the album Piece of Mind, written by bassist Steve Harris draws direct influence from Alfred Lord Tennyson’s The Charge of The Light Brigade. Both are based upon an infamous British charge on Russian forces which ended disastrously. This event took place during the Battle of Balaclava on October 25th 1854 in the Crimean War.

Both works capture the essence of war at its most tragic and most courageous.  A prominent feature of both the song and the poem feature a sort of sound of horses galloping, the poem using the meter, and the song using the rhythm of the guitars, drums, and bass.

Iron Maiden's take on the charge is bleaker than the poem, as the lyrics are written as a first person account of one of the troopers involved in the suicidal charge, whereas Tennyson's retelling is from a more strategic overall view, more like what the commanders who ordered the disastrous charge would have seen. Iron Maiden's version is more emotionally involving because of this first person take.

At 4 minutes, 12 seconds, the song is actually longer than the charge upon which it was based. The Trooper is one of Iron Maiden's most popular songs, and a crowd favorite at concerts. During a live show, before the song begins, singer Bruce Dickinson usually quotes one of the lines from the poem, "Into the valley of Death rode the six hundred. Cannon to right of them, Cannon to left of them, Cannon behind them Volleyed and thundered." Often, Dickinson will wear an army jacket and wave an enormous Union Jack to represent the British forces

The Trooper is an excellent take on a classic poem, and can link a younger generation to the Charge of The Light Brigade, both the historical event, and Tennyson's magnum opus.

Full Text- The Charge of The Light Brigade

Half a league, half a league,

Half a league onward,

All in the valley of Death

Rode the six hundred.

"Forward, the Light Brigade!

"Charge for the guns!" he said:

Into the valley of Death

Rode the six hundred.

Flash'd all their sabres bare,

Flash'd as they turn'd in air,

Sabring the gunners there,

Charging an army, while

All the world wonder'd:

Plunged in the battery-smoke

Right thro' the line they broke;

Cossack and Russian

Reel'd from the sabre stroke

Shatter'd and sunder'd.

Then they rode back, but not

Not the six hundred.

"Forward, the Light Brigade!"

Was there a man dismay'd?

Not tho' the soldier knew

Someone had blunder'd:

Their's not to make reply,

Their's not to reason why,

Their's but to do and die:

Into the valley of Death

Rode the six hundred.

Cannon to right of them,

Cannon to left of them,

Cannon behind them

Volley'd and thunder'd;

Storm'd at with shot and shell,

While horse and hero fell,

They that had fought so well

Came thro' the jaws of Death

Back from the mouth of Hell,

All that was left of them,

Left of six hundred.

Cannon to right of them,

Cannon to left of them,

Cannon in front of them

Volley'd and thunder'd;

Storm'd at with shot and shell,

Boldly they rode and well,

Into the jaws of Death,

Into the mouth of Hell

Rode the six hundred.

When can their glory fade? o the wild charge they made!

All the world wondered.

Honor the charge they made,

Honor the Light Brigade,

Noble six hundred.

Lyrics- The Trooper

You'll take my life but I'll take yours too

You'll fire you musket but I'll run you through

So when your waiting for the next attack

You'd better stand there's no turning back

The bugle sounds as the charge begins

But on this battlefield no one wins

The smell of acrid smoke and horses' breath

As you plunge into a certain death

The horse he sweats with fear we break to run

The mighty roar of the Russian guns

And as we race towards the human wall

The screams of pain as my comrades fall

We hurdle bodies that lay on the ground

And the Russians fire another round

We get so near yet so far away

We won't live to fight another day

We get so close near enough to fight

When a Russian gets me in his sights

He pulls the trigger and I feel the blow

A burst of rounds take my horse below

And as I lay there gazing at the sky

My body's numb and my throat is dry

And as I lay forgotten and alone

Without a tear I draw my parting groan

Youtube - Iron Maiden - The Trooper :

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d3Ak78uo0UA

References:

http://blog.warrennet.org/wordpress1/wp-content/uploads/2010/06/Poem-Light-Brigade-and-Trooper.pdf

www.ironmaiden.com/

http://www.maidenfans.com/ 

www.online-literature.com/tennyson/