A track from the band's first album, "Iron Maiden" quickly became their trademark song and a concert favorite. They would typically close out their sets with it before returning for an encore, a tradition that continued decades later even as the band piled up hits in the UK.
Iron Maiden was formed in 1976, taking their name from a medieval torture device - a specifically shaped iron coffin that resembles a sarcophagus. The door was imbedded with long spikes; it was held vertically so the victim could be placed inside, and the door slammed shut under its own massive weight. The victim was skewered, as well as crushed. Bass player Steve Harris, who started the band, first saw the Maiden in an old film adaptation of The Man In The Iron Mask. Harris wrote the song after the band already had their name. The lyric refers to the torture device, creating a kind of aural horror movie: See the blood begin to flow as it falls upon the floor
There is a double meaning to the title. Steve Harris thought "Iron Maiden" could also be a description of a cold-blooded woman (indeed, Margaret Thatcher's nickname was "Iron Maiden," and she appeared on some single covers). The song describes such a damsel who seduces men into her bedroom to show off her "wares" (torture devices) and proceeds to kill them in an Iron Maiden.
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