Meller, Lauro Wanderley2020-08-242020-08-242013MELLER, L. W.. Historical Themes in Iron Maiden Songs (Part I): From the Cavemen to the Vikings. Revista Brasileira de Estudos da Canção, v. 1, p. 198-215, 2013. Disponível em: http://www.rbec.ect.ufrn.br/RBEC_N3_A14. Acesso em: 21 ago. 2020.2238-1198https://repositorio.ufrn.br/jspui/handle/123456789/29879This paper intends to deepen some of the ideas put forward in a previous study of ours, “Historical Characters and Facts in Iron Maiden Songs: a journey from Pre-History to The Second World War” (MELLER, 2005). Our aim is to demonstrate that the lyrics to Maiden’s songs stand out in the Heavy Metal scenario (whose lyrics usually have as subject matters Satanism, sex, drinking, and drug abuse). Avoiding these commonplace topics, Steve Harris, the main songwriter in the group, invests in more elaborate lyrics, either inspired by literary works or about historical themes. In fact, there are so many songs in the band’s discography that deal with historical themes that it is even possible to draw a timeline that stems from Pre-History and reaches The Second World War. While our analytical approach tends to focus on the lyrics, it will not ignore some aspects that are crucial to a better understanding of songs, namely the strictly musical elements (melody, harmony, rhythm, arrangement, etc.), and performanceIron MaidenHeavy MetalHistoryPopular Music StudiesHistóriaEstudos de Música Populararticle