Iron Maiden-11.Heaven Can Wait(Milan 1993)

Iron Maiden - Forum, Milan, Italy, May 9, 1993, during the '' A Real Live Tour'' 1993.

Heaven Can Wait (Harris)

Bruce Dickinson:Vocals
Steve Harris:Bass
Janick Gers:Guitar
Dave Murray:Guitar
Nicko McBrain:Drums

[Lyrics]

Can't understand what is happening to me
This isn't real this is only a dream
But I never have felt, no I never have felt this way before
I'm looking down on my body below
I lie asleep in the midst of a dream
Is it now could it be the Angel of Death has come for me

I can't believe that really my time has come
I don't feel ready there's so much left undone
And it's my soul and I'm not gonna let it get away

Heaven can wait, heaven can wait, heaven can wait
Heaven can wait 'til another day
Heaven can wait, heaven can wait, heaven can wait
Heaven can wait 'til another day

I have a lust for the earth below
And hell itself is my only foe
'Cause I've no fear of dying, I'll go when I'm good and ready
I snatch a glimpse of the light's eternal rays
I see a tunnel I stand amazed
At all of the people standing there in front of me

Into the paths of rightness I'll be led
Is this the place where the living join the dead?
I wish I knew this was only just a nightmare

Heaven can wait, heaven can wait, heaven can wait
Heaven can wait 'til another day
Heaven can wait, heaven can wait, heaven can wait
Heaven can wait 'til another day

Take my hand I'll lead you to the promised land
Take my hand I'll give you immortality
Eternal youth I'll take you to the other side
To see the truth the path for you is decided

My body tingles and I feel so strange
I feel so tired I feel so drained
And I'm wondering if I'll ever be the same again
Is this in limbo or Heaven or Hell?
Maybe I'm going down there as well
I can't accept my soul will drift forever

I feel myself floating back down to Earth
So could this be the hour of my rebirth?
Or have I died or will I wake from dreaming?

Heaven can wait, heaven can wait, heaven can wait
Heaven can wait 'til another day
Heaven can wait, heaven can wait, heaven can wait
Heaven can wait 'til another day
..............................................................
'Heaven Can Wait' is a song from Iron Maiden's album ''Somewhere In Time'',released in 1986.

'Heaven Can Wait' is a song about a near-death experience. It is a fairly long song, and its highlight is the sing-along section just before the guitar solos, which is practically custom-made for live concerts. This sing-along also has the unusual feature of vocal support by some guys they found in a place called Tehe's Bar. This explains the reference to Tehe's Bar on the album cover.

Near-Death Experiences, or NDE for short, are these strange reports by people who have been declared clinically dead, but who managed somehow to come back to life. Although it is difficult to assert that these impressions are purely physiological and only due to the neurons of a dying brain firing wildly as a defensive response to the stress caused by the situation, NDEs do not in any way constitute an evidence for an afterlife. Not all subjects reported dead and subsequently revived have experienced an NDE, and each NDE seems to be unique. The "vision" of a tunnel of light, as mentioned in the song, appears to be common, however, and Bosch's illustration of The Last Judgement indicates that this phenomenon has been reported already some five centuries ago.

The topic of the afterlife and that some people may get there a bit too early has also been exploited by Hollywood and, to date, two films have been released with the title Heaven Can Wait. The 1943 Ernst Lubitsch comedy tells us the story of a man who has to justify himself in order to gain access to Hell, whereas the 1978 version, directed by Warren Beatty who is also playing the main character, relates the tale of a young American footballer who meets an untimely death and finds himself reincarnated into the body of a millionaire who wants to buy Los Angeles Rams in order to once again quarterback them into the Superbowl. Life after death seems to be a popular topic indeed!

'Somewhere in Time' is the sixth studio album by British heavy metal band Iron Maiden, released on 29 September 1986 on EMI in Europe and its sister label Capitol Records in the US (it was re-released by Sanctuary/Columbia Records in the US in 2002).
The album also marked a change for Iron Maiden, as it was their first album to introduce synth, although this style was expanded upon in their next album, Seventh Son of a Seventh Son.