"Hallowed Be Thy Name" is written from the perspective of prisoner on death row about to be executed. Iron Maiden songs are often about criminals and deviants of various stripes, but the guy in this song might be innocent - at least that's what he claims.
Iron Maiden bass player Steve Harris wrote this song. Running 7:08, it's the longest song and last track on their third album, The Number Of The Beast, which introduced new lead singer Bruce Dickinson.
The live version from the album A Real Dead One was released as a single in 1993 after Bruce Dickinson announced he was leaving the band (he returned in 1999). The single's cover shows Eddie as Satan stabbing Bruce to death with a triton. Killing the departing vocalist in album art was an idea that was also used on the cover of Maiden Japan in 1981 (with Eddie holding Paul Di'Anno's severed head), as well as in the video of Bruce's farewell concert with the band, "Raising Hell," where horror illusionist Simon Drake appears to impale Bruce to death in an iron maiden torture device.
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