Iron Maiden - The Trooper (Official Video)

Iron Maiden performing The Trooper live at Estadio Nacional, Santiago, Chile. April 10, 2011

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 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."

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 and 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.

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 won't live to fight another day.

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.

Songwriters: Stephen Percy Harris

The Trooper lyrics © Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC