“It’s a story about a bloke who’s not sure whether he’s died and been reborn, or whether he’s just been dreaming. Kind of like a bad hangover!”: The Iron Maiden anthem inspired by near-death experiences

Iron Maiden in 1986.

When Iron Maiden’s sixth studio album Somewhere In Time was released in 1986, singer Bruce Dickinson had a funny way of describing the frequently violent content of the band’s lyrics: “We always manage to get in a few massacres and carnage along the way,” Dickinson laughed.

During the making of Somewhere In Time, Dickinson had been suffering from mental and physical exhaustion following the band’s marathon World Slavery tour, in which 189 shows were performed in 331 days. As a result, the singer played no part in the songwriting for that album.