Chicago Music Exchange | 4 years ago

Mount up, riders! The CME House Band charges into Full Band Friday at a gallop, taking on "The Trooper," the second single from Iron Maiden's essential 1983 album, Piece of Mind, with a trio of Fender Road Worn '60s Stratocasters.

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More About "The Trooper" -
Written by bassist and founding-member Steve Harris, the song is based on the Charge of the Light Brigade at the Battle of Balaclava 1854, which took place during the Crimean War, and inspired by Lord Tennyson's 1854 poem of the same name.The track has been the subject of much praise since its release, with AllMusic describing it as "an all-time genre classic that boasts guitarists [Dave Murray] and [Adrian Smith's] most memorable harmonized lead riff, plus that trademark galloping rhythm," while Mick Wall comments that it is the song "which most Maiden fans from those days still recall first when you mention the Piece of Mind album." Despite the popularity of the song, it was the single's B-Side, a cover of Jethro Tull's "Cross-Eyed Mary", which managed to gain a substantial amount of airplay on US radio, becoming one of the band's few tracks, along with previous single "Flight of Icarus", to do so.

The single's accompanying music video included clips of a cavalry battle from the 1936 film The Charge of the Light Brigade, starring Errol Flynn and Olivia de Havilland, which the BBC refused to play unedited, deeming the footage too violent. The band's manager, Rod Smallwood, has since criticised the decision, stating, "Anyone would think we'd killed the horses ourselves instead of using an old Errol Flynn movie."

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Check out more Full Band Friday's:
"Big Legged Woman" Freddie King - https://youtu.be/ursDhvHMhRU
"Wanted Dead Or Alive" - Bon Jovi - https://youtu.be/VgZZfEGECbY
"Old Man" - Neil Young - https://youtu.be/nZmNxJTDe-k

Gear Used:
Fender Road Worn Stratocasters:
Candy Apple Red: https://bit.ly/3na635c
Daphne Blue: https://bit.ly/3vgLIy9
Vintage White: https://bit.ly/3t5Qvkg
Drum Co. 13/16/22 3pc. Copper Drum Kit Blackened Patina Duco: https://bit.ly/3tHVj0D

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Lyrics:
You'll take my life, but I'll take yours too
You'll fire your musket, but I'll run you through
So when you're waiting for the next attack
You'd better stand, there's no turning back
The bugle sounds, the charge begins
But on this battlefield, no one wins
The smell of acrid smoke and horses' breath
As I plunge on into certain death, oh, oh
The horse, he sweats with fear, we break to run
The mighty roar of the Russian guns
And as we race towards the human wall
The screams of pain as my comrades fall
We hurdle bodies that lay on the ground
And the Russians fire another round
We get so near, yet so far away
We were meant to fight another day, oh, oh
We get so close, near enough to fight
When a Russian gets me in his sights
He pulls the trigger and I feel the blow
A burst of rounds take my horse below
And as I lay there gazing at the sky
My body's numb and my throat is dry
And as I lay forgotten and alone
Without a tear, I draw my parting groan, oh, oh

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