Be Quick or Be Dead

Infobox Single
Name = Be Quick or Be Dead


Artist = Iron Maiden
from Album = Fear of the Dark
B-side = "Nodding Donkey Blues"
"Space Station #5"
"Bayswater Ain't a Bad Place to Be"
Genre = Heavy metal
Released = 13 April 1992
Recorded = 1992
Length = 3:25
Label = EMI
Writer = Bruce Dickinson
Janick Gers
Last single = "Bring Your Daughter...to the Slaughter"
(1990)
This single = "Be Quick or Be Dead"
(1992)
Next single = "From Here to Eternity"
(1992)

"Be Quick or Be Dead" is the first single from the Iron Maiden album "Fear of the Dark", released in 1992. The song is about several political scandals taking place at the time of its release, including the Robert Maxwell banking scandal, European stock market crashes, and the BCCI case. It was released a month prior to the album and reached #2 on the UK singles chart. It is characterised for its heavy guitar riff, that has influences of thrash and speed metal.

This single was also released as a very rare picture disc vinyl, which is pictured below:

The B-side features two official songs and one hidden track, including an original blues number ("Nodding Donkey Blues") and Montrose cover ("Space Station No. 5"), and the unlisted "Bayswater Ain't a Bad Place to Be". The last is a spoken word comedy piece by Bruce Dickinson (along with acoustic guitar accompaniment from Janick Gers) in which he imitates and makes fun of Maiden manager Rod Smallwood. A similar mockery of Smallwood was released before, as a B-side titled "Sheriff of Huddersfield", which was available in the Wasted Years single.

ong Structure

The song begins with the drums, then the other instruments join and play the main guitar riff, which was written by Janick Gers and is in G minor scale, as most of the song. The riff is played repeatedly until Bruce Dickinson joins with the lyrics. Through the verse, the guitars and bass play mainly G. Then there is a pre-chorus that is played in C and then the chorus, which features a guitar riff similar to the one of the intro and Bruce singing "Be Quick or Be Dead" repeatedly. Then the post chorus is played in G and F by the guitars as Dickinson sings "See what's ruling all our lives. See who's pulling strings".

Track listing

# "Be Quick or Be Dead" (Bruce Dickinson, Janick Gers) – 3:25
# "Nodding Donkey Blues" (Iron Maiden) – 3:18
# "Space Station #5" (Ronnie Montrose; Montrose cover) – 3:47
# "Bayswater Ain't a Bad Place to Be" (Dickinson, Gers) – 8:05 (unlisted) (UK release only)

Credits

*Bruce Dickinson – vocals
*Dave Murray – guitar
*Janick Gers – guitar, backing vocals
*Steve Harris – bass guitar, backing vocals
*Nicko McBrain – drums