Iron Maiden - Pedreira Paulo Leminsk, Curitiba, Brazil, Dec. 6, 1998, during the '' Virtual XI World Tour'' 1998.
The Clansman (Harris)
Blaze Bayley:Vocals
Steve Harris:Bass
Janick Gers:Guitar
Dave Murray:Guitar
Nicko McBrain:Drums
[Lyrics]
Wake alone in the hills with the wind in your face
It feels good to be proud and be free and a race
That is part of a clan and to live on highlands
And the air that you breathe, so pure and so clean
When alone on the hills with the wind in your hair
With a longing to feel just to be free
It is the right to believe in the need to be free
It's a time when you die and without asking why
Can't you see what they do, they are grinding us down
They are taking our land that belongs to the clans
Not alone with a dream, just a want to be free
With a need to belong, I am a clansman
Freedom! Freedom!
Freedom! Freedom!
It's a time wrought with fear, it's a land wrought with change
If ancestors could hear what is happening now
They would turn in their graves, they would all be ashamed
That the land of the free has been written in chains
And I know what I want when the timing is right
And I'll take what is mine, I am the clansman
And I swear to defend and we'll fight to the end
And I swear that I'll never be taken alive
And I know that we'll stand and we'll fight for our land
And I swear that my bairns will be born free
And I know what I want when the timing is right
And I'll take what I want, I am the clansman
Freedom! Freedom!
Freedom! Freedom!
No, no we can't let them take anymore
No we can't let them take anymore, we're the land of the free (x4)
Freedom! Freedom!
Freedom! Freedom!
It is the right to believe in the need to be free
It's a time when you die and without asking why
Can't you see what they do, they are grinding us down
They are taking our land that belongs to the clans
Not alone with a dream, just a want to be free
With a need to belong, I am the clansman
And I know what I want when the timing is right
And I'll take what is mine, I am the clansman
Freedom! Freedom!
Freedom! Freedom!
And I know what I want when the timing is right
And I'll take what is mine, I am the clansman
...................................
'The Clansman' is a song from Iron Maiden's album ''Virtual XI '',released in 1998.
''Started as two separate ideas, then put them together and it worked! It's got a Celtic flavour to the music which is why I wrote the lyrics about the Scottish clans. They were inspired also by the Braveheart and Rob Roy films. '' (Steve Harris)
'The Clansman' is clearly inspired by the 1995 movie Braveheart starring and directed by Mel Gibson. Another film about the History of Scotland was also released the same year, namely Rob Roy, and Steve said it was an inspiration for the song as well. But, whereas William Wallace was a true hero of Scotland and contributed massively in the struggle against the English, Rob Roy although considered a hero too by many was nothing more than a crook, a thief and a double-agent, who never really did anything in the fight for the freedom of his country.
The song describes the struggle of the Scottish clans to free themselves of English oppression, and the ill-intentioned people who tried to see some analogies with the Ku-Klux-Klan in the lyrics are sorely mistaken. This is a song about freedom and resistance against an oppressor, and there is no hint of racism in it whatsoever and those who think there is are urged to re-read the lyrics! The chorus itself is especially reminiscent of William Wallace's final dying cry "Freedom!" in the movie (in reality, considering that the poor man had just had his bowels removed, it would have been nothing more than a whisper, if anything). This is an epic Harris song, equal to any of his past epics including 'Rime Of The Ancient Mariner' or 'To Tame A Land'. In fact, this song would be perfectly at home on any of the Maiden albums from the Golden Age.
'Virtual XI' (pronounced: Virtual Eleven) is the 11th studio album by British heavy metal band Iron Maiden. The album was released on March 23, 1998. It was the second and final Iron Maiden album recorded with vocalist Blaze Bayley. The album is slightly unusual in the Iron Maiden catalogue for its extensive keyboard use. For this album all the keyboard parts were performed by bandfounder / bassist Steve Harris whereas on previous albums the keyboard parts were handled by session musician Michael Kenney. The album also had a reduced songwriting input from Janick Gers compared to the previous Iron Maiden albums since he joined the band in 1990.
Just like the tour of The X Factor album, the tour for this album was cut short when Bayley suffered from an allergic reaction caused by certain elements used on the stage.