| Bring Your Daughter... to the Slaughter | |
| Artist: | Bruce Dickinson |
| Album: | A Nightmare on Elm Street 5: The Dream Child |
| Recorded: | 1989 |
| Genre: | Heavy metal |
| Length: | 4:57 |
| Label: | EMI |
| Producer: | Martin Birch[1] |
| Bring Your Daughter... to the Slaughter | |
| Cover: | Bring Your Daughter... to the Slaughter (Iron Maiden single - cover art).jpg |
| Type: | single |
| Artist: | Iron Maiden |
| Album: | No Prayer for the Dying |
| Released: | [2] |
| Genre: | Heavy metal |
| Length: | 4:42 |
| Label: | EMI |
| Prev Title: | Holy Smoke |
| Prev Year: | 1990 |
| Next Title: | Be Quick or Be Dead |
| Next Year: | 1992 |
"Bring Your Daughter... to the Slaughter" is the second single from the 1990 Iron Maiden album No Prayer for the Dying.
The song was originally recorded and released by Bruce Dickinson for the soundtrack to ,[3] [4] but Steve Harris liked it so Iron Maiden rerecorded it.[5] It is the only UK number-one single for the band to date, in spite of the fact that it received very little airplay on the BBC. The song also topped the Finnish Singles Chart and reached number six in Ireland.
In 1989, while Iron Maiden were taking a break from touring, Zomba asked Dickinson to write a song for .[4] Teaming up with former Gillan (and future Iron Maiden) guitarist Janick Gers, Dickinson recorded the song, which he claims he wrote "in about three minutes," and the project was expanded into an album, Tattooed Millionaire.[6] Upon hearing the completed track, Steve Harris decided that it would be "great for Maiden" and convinced Dickinson not to put it on his solo album.[5]
The original version of the song, which won a Golden Raspberry Award for "Worst Original Song" in 1989,[7] is, according to Dickinson, "substantially different to the Iron Maiden version," explaining that "the arrangement is identical, but mine's kind of... slinky. Maiden's just really goes for it."[5] Dickinson's original version was included on disc 2 of The Best of Bruce Dickinson in 2001.[8]
Bruce Dickinson said "We're going to release this as a single on Christmas Eve to scare the living daylights out of Cliff Richard". This led to the song competing with Cliff Richard's "Saviour's Day" for the 1990 Christmas number-one, but due to not being officially released until the week after Christmas,[9] went straight to number one on the UK Singles Chart on 30 December 1990. This was in spite of a ban by the BBC,[10] who refused to play the song on Radio 1 and showed at least 2 minutes of the live clip for Top of the Pops. The B-side features cover versions of "I'm a Mover" (originally by Free) and Led Zeppelin's "Communication Breakdown".
In addition to the standard 7" and 12" editions, the single was also released as a special edition 7" flip-top "brain pack" edition.[11]
The video clip features footage from The City of the Dead/Horror Hotel[12] (John Llewellyn Moxey, 1960).
Like most songs from the No Prayer for the Dying album, "Bring Your Daughter to the Slaughter" was rarely played live following the supporting tour, No Prayer on the Road, with the band only performing it on selected dates in 1992, 1993 and 2003.
7-inch single
12-inch single
Production credits are adapted from the 7 inch vinyl,[13] and picture disc covers.[14]
Iron Maiden
Production
| Songs | Region and year | Catalog number | Format | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bring Your Daughter... to the Slaughter/I'm a Mover | Australia 1990 | EMI 2552-7 | Single 7" | |
| Bring Your Daughter... to the Slaughter/I'm a Mover | EEC 1990 | EMI 204171 7 | Single 7" | |
| Bring Your Daughter... to the Slaughter/I'm a Mover | UK 1990 | EMI EMS 171 | Single 7" | |
| Bring Your Daughter... to the Slaughter/I'm a Mover/Communication Breakdown | EEC 1990 | EMI 060 20 4171 6 | Maxi Single 12" | |
| Bring Your Daughter... to the Slaughter/I'm a Mover/Communication Breakdown | UK 1990 | EMI 12 EMP 171 | Maxi Single 12" | |
| Bring Your Daughter... to the Slaughter/I'm a Mover | UK 1990 | EMI EMPD 171 | Picture Disc 7" | |
| Bring Your Daughter... to the Slaughter/I'm a Mover/Communication Breakdown | UK 1990 | EMI 12 EMPD 171 | Picture Disc 12" | |
| Bring Your Daughter... to the Slaughter/I'm a Mover/Communication Breakdown | Netherlands 1990 | EMI CDEM 171 | CD Single | |
| Bring Your Daughter... to the Slaughter/I'm a Mover/Communication Breakdown | Japan Promo 1990 | EMI TOCP-6572 | CD Single | |
| Bring Your Daughter... to the Slaughter/I'm a Mover/Communication Breakdown | Japan 1990 | EMI TOCP-6572 | CD Single | |
| Bring Your Daughter... to the Slaughter/I'm a Mover/Communication Breakdown | UK 1990 | EMI EMS 171 | CD Single | |
| Bring Your Daughter... to the Slaughter/I'm a Mover/Communication Breakdown | USA Promo 1990 | EMI Epic ESK 4007 | CD Single | |
| Bring Your Daughter... to the Slaughter/I'm a Mover | UK 1990 | EMI TCEM 171 | Cassette Single |
| Chart (1990–1991) | Peak position |
|---|---|
| Europe (Eurochart Hot 100)[15] | 8 |
| Finland (Suomen virallinen lista)[16] | 1 |