Iron Maiden - Monsters of Rock Festival, Donington Park, England, Aug. 20, 1988, during the ''Seventh Tour Of A Seventh Tour'' 1988.

Run To The Hills (Harris)

Bruce Dickinson:Vocals
Steve Harris:Bass
Dave Murray:Guitar
Adrian Smith:Guitar
Nicko McBrain:Drums

[Lyrics]

The white man came across the sea
He brought us pain and misery
He killed our tribes he killed our creed
He took our game for his own need
We fought him hard we fought him well
Out on the plains we gave him hell
But many came too much for Cree
Oh will we ever be set free?

Riding through dust clouds and barren wastes
Galloping hard on the plains
Chasing the redskins back to their holes
Fighting them at their own game
Murder for freedom the stab in the back
Women and children and cowards attack

Run to the hills, run for your lives
Run to the hills, run for your lives

Soldiers blue in the barren wastes
Hunting and killing the game
Raping the women and wasting the men
The only good Indians are tame
Selling them whisky and taking their gold
Enslaving the young and destroying the old

Run to the hills, run for your lives
Run to the hills, run for your lives
.......................................................

''This song is about the American Indians. It's written from both sides of the picture. The first part is from the side of the Indians. The second part is from the side of the soldiers. I wanted to try and get the feeling of galloping horses. But when you play this one, be careful not to let it run away with you.'' (Steve Harris)

Perhaps Maiden's most publicly recognisable song and their first big hit single, 'Run To The Hills' describes the Indian wars of the American west, first from the Indian's perspective and then from the white man's perspective. It is a fast-tempo song with a drum beat that is reminiscent of gallopping horses. Although it is a Maiden classic, it is a bit too short. Nevertheless, the song was critical in opening the way for Maiden's invasion of America.

In the lyrics, the sentence "the only good Indians are tame" probably refers to the infamous American saying "The only good Indian is a dead Indian". This mindless and absurd proverb is said to stem from the following anecdote that took place in January 1869, at old Fort Cobb, Indian Territory, now Oklahoma, shortly after Custer's fight with Black Kettle's band of Cheyennes: Old Toch-a-way (Turtle Dove), a chief of the Comanches, on being introduced to General Philip Sheridan (18311888), desired to impress the white man and managed to say in English "Me, Toch-a-way; me good Injun." The General, a known bigot and Indian hater, just smiled and answered: "The only good Indians I ever saw were dead.". Although Sheridan later denied having made such a statement, the sentence became quickly a saying that is still used nowadays, although the Indians that have not been physically killed now live in reservations where alcoholism caused mainly by unemployment and squalor contribute to kill an already dying culture. Who said that America was "the land of the free and home of the brave"?

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