Bruce Dickinson - 2. Back From The Edge (Live Skunkworks 1996)

Skunkworks Live 1996 - Recorded in Pamplona and Gerona, Spain on May 30th and 31st 1996, during the Skunkworks world tour.

Bruce Dickinson - Vocals
Alex Dickson - Guitar
Chris Dale - Bass
Alessandro Elena - Drums

Back From The Edge (B. Dickinson/ A. Dickson)

[Lyrics]

A silent river flowing black
Strange attractors, no turning back
Present danger I recall
That pins my senses to the wall

Back from the edge where the darkness has fled
And I'm swimming in light and I'm falling...falling from the edge
Back from the edge

I fell from grace and that's a fact
I still have urges I fight back
Cold decisions wear me thin
Kill yourself...begin again

Back from the edge that you're not worth a damn
Throw yourself into light and the rush as you spin from the edge
Back from the edge [x3]

Now and then I wonder where the faces from my childhood have gone?
Like father like son in your bones it lives on glowing shadows

Back from the edge [x4]
............................
Back From The Edge is a song from Bruce Dickinson's third solo album, Skunkworks, released in 1996.

Skunkworks Live can be found on ''Anthology'' DVD (Disc 1) by Bruce Dickinson, released on June 19, 2006.

''Anthology'' is a 3 disc compilation DVD by Bruce Dickinson, the lead singer of Iron Maiden. The DVD features three live performances as well every single promotional video made during Bruce's solo career. The DVD also includes over an hour of extras and unreleased footage.

Bruce Dickinson interview 1996:
''Skunk works is the name of the design bureau of Lockheed Aviation company that very secret and advanced aircraft. Planes that can't be seen on radar and the Blackbird which is the worlds fastest and highest flying aeroplane. They designed the U-2, Americas first jetfighter back at the end of the second world war, the F-104 Starfighter, all kinds of really very revolutionary jetplanes. Skunk Works is their nickname which became the semi-official title. So we changed it from being two words to just one word. So on the cover it says Skunkworks.
...
So we thought...hhmm..if we can make records as they make aeroplanes...he he he!''

Originally, Bruce intended for Skunkworks to be the debut album of a band by the same name. However, the label would not publish the record under any other name than Bruce Dickinson. The album sounds quite different from Bruce's other solo works. Most songs in this album have the central theme being science and/or related themes. Furthermore, the songs are relatively short, with most running around 3 minutes. The band didn't last and for his next solo project, Accident of Birth, he teamed up with guitarist Roy Z.

In 2005, Skunkworks album was re-released and the 2005 extended version included songs performed live, such as "Inertia", "Faith", "Innerspace", "The Prisoner" and other previously unreleased songs.

The intro and outro tapes that was used on the Skunkworks-tour was lifted from the obscure "Captain Lockheed and the Starfighters" album by Robert Calvert. The intro was the track "Catch a falling starfighter" and the outro was "The Gremlin II", which, by the way, has Arthur Brown on guest vocals.