music.wikisort.org - Composition

"Be Quick or Be Dead" is a song by English heavy metal band Iron Maiden, released as the first single from their ninth studio album, Fear of the Dark, on 13 April 1992. The single peaked at No. 2 on the UK Singles Chart and in Finland while reaching the top 10 in Denmark, Ireland, and Norway.

"Be Quick or Be Dead"
Single by Iron Maiden
from the album Fear of the Dark
B-side	"Nodding Donkey Blues" "Space Station #5" "Bayswater Ain't a Bad Place to Be"
Released	13 April 1992 (1992-04-13)[1]
Genre	Heavy metal
Length	3:24[2]
Label	EMI
Songwriter(s)	Bruce Dickinson, Janick Gers
Producer(s)	Martin Birch, Steve Harris
Iron Maiden singles chronology
"Bring Your Daughter... to the Slaughter" (1990) "Be Quick or Be Dead" (1992) "From Here to Eternity" (1992)

Synopsis

The song is about several political scandals taking place at the time of its release, including the Robert Maxwell banking scandal, European stock market crashes, and the BCCI case. It was released a month prior to the album and reached No. 2 on the UK Singles Chart. The song is faster and heavier than most Iron Maiden songs, and is the band's first single co-written by Janick Gers.

The B-side features two official songs and one hidden track, including an original blues number ("Nodding Donkey Blues") and Montrose cover ("Space Station No. 5"), and the unlisted "Bayswater Ain't a Bad Place to Be". The last is a spoken word comedy piece by Bruce Dickinson (along with acoustic guitar accompaniment from Janick Gers) in which he imitates and makes fun of Maiden manager Rod Smallwood. A similar mockery of Smallwood was released before, as a B-side titled "Sheriff of Huddersfield", which was available on the "Wasted Years" single.

Track listings

7-inch single

12-inch single

UK 12-inch single

CD single

UK CD single

French CD maxi-single

Personnel

Production credits are adapted from the 7 inch single and picture disc covers.[2][3]

Iron Maiden

• Bruce Dickinson – lead vocals
• Dave Murray – guitar
• Janick Gers – guitar
• Steve Harris – bass guitar, producer
• Nicko McBrain – drums

Production

• Martin Birch – producer
• Derek Riggs – sleeve illustration
• Mike Prior – photography
• George Chin – photography

Charts

Chart (1992)	Peak position
Australia (ARIA)[4]	47
Belgium (Ultratop 50 Flanders)[5]	47
Denmark (IFPI)[6]	5
Europe (Eurochart Hot 100)[7]	12
Finland (Suomen virallinen lista)[8]	2
Germany (Official German Charts)[9]	32
Ireland (IRMA)[10]	10
Netherlands (Dutch Top 40)[11]	27
Netherlands (Single Top 100)[12]	26
New Zealand (Recorded Music NZ)[13]	12
Norway (VG-lista)[14]	3
Sweden (Sverigetopplistan)[15]	15
Switzerland (Schweizer Hitparade)[16]	15
UK Singles (OCC)[17]	2

References

На других языках

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- [en] Be Quick or Be Dead

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[es] Be Quick or Be Dead

«Be Quick or Be Dead»[1] es el primer sencillo del álbum Fear of the Dark, del grupo Iron Maiden publicado en 1992. La canción es acerca de varios escándalos políticos que tomaron lugar en el tiempo de su realización, incluyendo el escándalo bancario de Robert Maxwell, la quiebra del mercado Europeo, y el caso BCCI. Fue realizado un mes anterior al álbum y alcanzó el puesto #2 en la lista de sencillos de Reino Unido. Se caracteriza por sus Riffs pesados de guitarra, que tienen influencias del Thrash y el Speed metal.

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[ru] Be Quick or Be Dead

Be Quick or Be Dead (с англ. — «Живей или будешь мёртвым») — двадцать второй сингл британской хеви-метал-группы Iron Maiden. Первый сингл группы, соавтором которого стал новый гитарист Яник Герс

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