Can I Play with Madness

Infobox Single
Name = Can I Play with Madness


Artist = Iron Maiden
from Album = Seventh Son of a Seventh Son
B-side = "Black Bart Blues"
"Massacre"
Released = 20 March 1988
Format = CD Single
Vinyl record
Picture disc (cut-to-shape)
Recorded = 1987
Genre = Heavy metal
Length = 3:30
Label = EMI
Writer = Adrian Smith
Bruce Dickinson
Steve Harris
Producer =
Certification =
Chart position = * 3 (UK charts)
Last single = "Stranger in a Strange Land"
(1986)
This single = "Can I Play with Madness"
(1988)
Next single = "The Evil That Men Do"
(1988)

"Can I Play with Madness" was the sixteenth single released by Iron Maiden. Released in 1988, it is the first single from the "Seventh Son of a Seventh Son" album and hit number 3 in the UK charts. The song is about a young man who wants to learn the future from an old prophet with a crystal ball. The young man thinks he is going mad and seeks the old prophet to help him cope with his visions/nightmares. The prophet's advice is ignored by the young man and they become angry with each other. The song was originally a ballad named "On the Wings of Eagles", written by Adrian Smith.

Meaning

A young man seeks answers to the supernatural and goes to the prophet. The prophet looks at his crystal ball, but the young man sees nothing there ("... there's no vision there at all!"). The prophet looks at the young man and laughs, because the young man is "too blind to see" the vision. But more importantly, he's too blind to see what's really going on - in that he's being cheated and there really is no vision there.

Trivia

*The B-side "Black Bart Blues" is about the suit of armour that rode in the back lounge of Iron Maiden's tour buses (named Black Bart). Bruce Dickinson tells that he, his bandmates and their tour manager were driving in a Ford Thunderbird through Florida in 1983, when they passed a gas station with three suits of armour standing outside. So Bruce stopped the car and went to buy one of the three suits of armour that were on sale.
*"Massacre" is a cover of the Thin Lizzy song that comes from their "Johnny the Fox" album. The song's subject, the Charge of the Light Brigade, was also the subject of an earlier Iron Maiden song, "The Trooper".
*The guitar solos in "Can I Play With Madness" and "Massacre" are played by Adrian Smith.
*In the video the teacher discovers an underground lab. When he looks at a TV screen showing live footage of the band, Adrian Smith is shown playing left handed, suggesting a reversed image.
*The video of the song was set at Tintern Abbey and features Graham Chapman, this would be one of his last appearances on television before his death in October 1989 of cancer.
*The song has recently been used by Sony in advertisements for their line of HD-compatible television sets and DVD players. It is also used by Sony in the UK in the bumpers for their sponsorship of ITV's Formula One coverage.

Track listing

# "Can I Play with Madness" (Adrian Smith, Bruce Dickinson, Steve Harris) - 3:30
# "Black Bart Blues" (Harris, Dickinson) - 6:41
# "Massacre" (Phil Lynott, Scott Gorham, Brian Downey; Thin Lizzy cover) - 2:54

Versions

Credits

*Bruce Dickinson - vocals
*Dave Murray - guitar
*Adrian Smith - guitar, backing vocals
*Steve Harris - bass guitar, backing vocals
*Nicko McBrain - drums