Iron Maiden - Pedreira Paulo Leminsk, Curitiba, Brazil, Dec. 6, 1998, during the '' Virtual XI World Tour'' 1998.
When Two Worlds Collide (Murray, Bayley, Harris)
Blaze Bayley:Vocals
Steve Harris:Bass
Janick Gers:Guitar
Dave Murray:Guitar
Nicko McBrain:Drums
[Lyrics]
My telescope looks out into the stars tonight
A little speck of light seems twice the size tonight
The calculations are so fine, can it be growing all the time?
Now I can't believe it's true and I don't know what to do
For the hundredth time I check the declination
Now the fear starts to grow even my computer shows
There are no errors in the calculations
Now it's happened, take no other view
Collision course, you must believe it's true
Now there's nothing left that we can do
When two worlds collide
The anger and the pain of all those who remain
Two worlds collide
Who will be left alive, no place to hide when two worlds collide
The anger, the pain, of those who remain when two worlds collide
When two worlds collide, so who will survive
There's no place to hide, when two worlds collide
Now it's happened, take no other view
Collision course, you must believe it's true
Now there's nothing left that we can do
When two worlds collide
The anger and the pain of all those who remain
Two worlds collide
Who will be left alive, no place to hide when two worlds collide
The anger, the pain, of those who remain when two worlds collide
When two worlds collide, so who will survive
There's no place to hide, when two worlds collide
When two worlds collide
The anger, the pain, of those who remain when two worlds collide
When two worlds collide, so who will survive
There's no place to hide, when two worlds collide
When two worlds collide, the anger the pain
When two worlds collide, when two worlds collide
...................................
'When Two Worlds Collide' is a song from Iron Maiden's album ''Virtual XI '',released in 1998.
''This was from an idea by Dave, who worked with Blaze and then I worked with both of them, adding parts to the music, part of the chorus melody line and arranging the song. Dave wrote most of the music and Blaze wrote the lyrics. '' (Steve Harris)
Taken at face value, this song is about the collision of worlds, such as perhaps an asteroid or comet colliding with the earth. It is a concept that has enjoyed a fair amount of publicity in the late 1990s, with the 1998 summer blockbusters Deep Impact and Armageddon drawing attention to the subject. Even though the lyrics could have been deeper, 'When Two Worlds Collide' is a good song with a good tune and some nice guitar riffs and solos.
Obviously, another interpretation comes to mind: that of the collision of two different cultural worlds. May it be the crusades, with Christian knights entering Jerusalem and meeting the world of Islam, or the first encounter of the Europeans with the North-American Indians, History is paved of such examples and the shock of these different cultures generally creates a lot of turmoil, with one civilisation trying to anihilate the other, leaving "the anger, the pain of those who remain.
'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.