Steve Harris

• Introduction• Steve Harris is the

bassist/songwriter of Iron Maiden. Steve’s early life was very average. His later life was good with some sorrow. His band has a lot of rock history. Steve Harris’s lyrics are unlike other rock bands song lyrics.

Early Life

• Steve Harris (who’s birth name is Stephen Percy Harris) was born march 12 1956 in London, England. He had a very average early life with a mother and father. He had dreamed of playing drums or being a professional football player ( “His first ambition in life before music was to become a professional footballer” http://wikipedia.org

Adulthood

• (“As a person Steve is one of the few people you meet you can trust totally” http://www.ironmaiden.com/) Before he did any work with music he used to work as an architectural draftsman, in the mid 1970’s he used to be a youth team player for West Ham United. Steve Harris’s first band was called Gypsy’s Kiss; after he quit he joined a band called Smiler. But because they didn’t appreciate his playing style so they made him quit, after that he formed Iron Maiden. (“Steve is the kind of guy you would be glad to know even if he had never formed iron maiden” http://www.metal-rules) While on an Iron maiden tour his dad died so he wrote a song dedicated to him called blood brothers. Steve Harris has two sons George and Stanley, four daughters Lauren, Kerry, Faye and Maise, an Ex- wife Lorraine and a current wife Emma.

Rock History

• Steve Harris’s band Iron Maiden was formed by himself in 1975 after he quit Smiler. His band has 15 studio albums, 11 live albums, 4 EP’s and 6 compilations. Iron Maiden has been a band for over 30 years and has had close to 2000 live performances. Steve and Bruce are the only remaining members from when the band was formed. The band has a mascot named Eddie, who’s a zombie and has been on every Iron Maiden shirt, album cover and backdrop for Iron Maiden. He also has a bass that makes his sound really unique; it is called the Lado unicorn. He uses a technique called galloping that makes him extremely fast passed. When Bruce quit Iron Maiden for a short amount of time Steve Harris almost ended Iron Maiden.

Poetry• Steve Harris’s lyrics are unlike a lot of other rock

bands writing style. While a lot of rock bands songs are about not following the rules, doing whatever you want and rebellion Steve’s are nowhere close to about those topics. His are normally about mythology, history and books or movies. He writes the lyrics in a way you would feel like you are the people he was talking about in the song. The song Flight of Icarus is about the Greek mythological flight of Icarus who heeds his fathers warning flies to close to the sun and falls to his death. The song 2 minutes to midnight is about when in September 1953 at 23:58 the closest the doomsday clock ever got to midnight the United States and the Soviet Union both tested H-bombs on that area. The song the Trooper is about the battle of Balaclava during the Crimean war in 1854. The line in the second section talks about how they all plunged into certain death but the song makes you feel like you’re in the war. The last section talks about how he gets shot laying forgotten and a lone as he draws his parting groan.

Conclusion

• In my opinion Steve Harris is an amazing poet. He had an easy early life an average adulthood has a lot of rock history and has lyrics unlike other rock bands. Anyone who likes good rock music should listen to Iron Maiden.

Translation

My PoemThe bugle sounds the charge begins

8 The high speed chase has just begun

But on this battlefield no one wins

9 The cops and burglars fire their guns

The smell of acrid smoke and horses breath

10

One of the cops is skimmed the thief’s they run

As I plunge into certain death

8 The power blinks, the TVs gone

Works Cited

• http://www.ironmaiden,com/index.php?categoryid=14&p2_articeid=329

• http://www.metal-rules.com/interveiews/SteveHarris.htm

• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steve_Harris_(musician)

Authors page

• I love manga I have probably have spent over 200 dollars on it I also use a lot of my free time playing video games. I love reading I can finish almost any book in 1 or 2 days if its really good. I also draw a lot I am really good at it and have a ton of art supplies shoved in my desk.