Be Quick or Be Dead (3:24)

“Be Quick or Be Dead” is the first single from the Iron Maiden album Fear of the Dark, released in 1992. 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 #2 on the UK singles chart. It is characterised for its heavy guitar riff, that has influences of thrash metal and speed metal.

The song begins with the drums, then the other instruments join and play the main guitar riff, which was written by Janick Gers and is in G minor scale, as most of the song. The riff is played repeatedly until Bruce Dickinson joins with the lyrics. Through the verse, the guitars and bass play mainly G. Then there is a pre-chorus that is played in C and then the chorus, which features a guitar riff similar to the one of the intro and Bruce singing “Be Quick or Be Dead” repeatedly. Then the post chorus is played in G and F by the guitars as Dickinson sings “See what’s ruling all our lives. See who’s pulling strings”.

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.