Iron Maiden: Flight Of Icarus Meaning

Song Released: 1983

Flight Of Icarus Lyrics

As the sun breaks above the ground
An old man stands on the hill
As the ground warms to the first rays of light
A birdsong shatters the still

His eyes are ablaze
See the madman in his gaze

Fly on your way like an eagle
Fly as high as...

1. 1TOP RATED

   #1 top rated interpretation:
   donnaocchineri

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   Feb 16th 2009 !⃝

   It doesn't hurt to do a little research before making a post full of innacuracies...here's the story (taken from Wikipedia)
   
   "Icarus' father, Daedalus, a talented craftsman, attempted to escape from his exile in Crete, where he and his son were imprisoned at the hands of King Minos, the king for whom he had built the Labyrinth to imprison the Minotaur (part man, part bull). Daedalus, the master craftsman, was exiled because he gave Minos' daughter, Ariadne, a clew of string in order to help Theseus, enemy of Minos, survive the Labyrinth and defeat the Minotaur. Daedalus fashioned a pair of wings out of wax and feathers for himself and his son. Before they took off from the island, Daedalus warned his son not to fly too close to the sun, nor too close to the sea. Overcome by the giddiness that flying lent him, Icarus soared through the sky curiously, but in the process he came too close to the sun, which melted the wax. Icarus kept flapping his wings but soon realized that he had no feathers left and that he was only flapping his bare arms. And so, Icarus fell into the sea in the area which bears his name, the Icarian Sea near Icaria, an island southwest of Samos.[1] Hellenistic writers who provided philosophical underpinnings to the myth also preferred more realistic variants, in which the escape from Crete was actually by boat, provided by Pasiphaë, for which Daedalus invented the first sails, to outstrip Minos' pursuing galleys, and that Icarus fell overboard en route to Sicily and drowned. Heracles erected a tomb for him."

2. 2TOP RATED

   #2 top rated interpretation:
   anonymous

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   Jul 28th 2008 !⃝

   This song is about an ancient Greek architecture named Daedalus and his son Icarus who which they decided to fly away from the labyrinth(which Daedalus made)to escape an emperor or king (which name I have forgot)who wanted to seek revenge because of Daedalus acts, but basely is about Icarus not heeding the advice of his father of being in a stable level of flying. By Icarus not heeding that advice he crash into the water and died instantly. And then Daedalus went crazy and killed his nephew Perdix by throwing him of a very high cliff to the water.
3. anonymous

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   Apr 20th 2021 !⃝

   It's about Jesus' crucifixion/resurrection. The crazy old man is God. The hill is golgatha. The birdsong is the rooster that crowed. Jesus believes God's prophecy that he is the christ and spreads his wings to fly/his arms on the cross... then he know his father betrayed he doesn't rise from the dead
4. philosophiencewordpresscom

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   Jun 13th 2020 !⃝

   With all due respect, I disagree with the song-explanations hitherto. Most of them are just describing the original Greek myth.
   But, Bruce Dickinson has modified, or to be more accurate, has reversed the meaning of the myth. 《Fly on your way like an eagle,Fly as high as the sun,[...],Fly and touch the sun》. Here, there is no adolescent disobedience or rebellion. The mad, old man is Icarus' father Daedalus, who pushes the lad to the extreme(the sun) to make him acquire a status above the crowd (other common people). The young man follows his father's advice and initially achieves a degree of success, shouting to his father below: "look at me, father! I came off! I made you proud!". But success is often as chimerical as a flight to the sun on wings made of wax.
   《Now he knows his father betrayed》. As Icarus falls down to his demise, he is sure that his father betrayed him. It doesn't occur to him that Daedalus has been betrayed, too; by his illusory ambitions and the endless love for his son.
   The father has to live the rest of his life all alone, knowing that he caused his son's death.
   
   
   
5. anonymous

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   Mar 23rd 2018 !⃝

   About a rebellious and egotistical teenage Individual who reached way too high, to sadly brake down on his ego that had a hold on him. Forwanting only to reach and overcome his intended objective need of seeing god. In order to be free again from his ego's grip that had a earthly hold on him. A awesome song, sung and performed within the mindset of the Greek myth tragedy of Icarus. The earthly son of Daedalus who weaved and created the labyrinth maze for King Minos, who eventually turned evil by setting up his minotaur bull monster in the middle of the labyrinth maze, where he lured his enemies for his monster to catch and feed on them. Then one day the monster was killed, so the king blamed the Father and Son and trapped them both in a tower. Where Daedalus and Icarus had to figure a way out, which was to fly off the tower and off the island itself. So then Daedalus made wings dipped in wax for himself and Icarus to escape, but Icarus didn't listen to his Father when flying and just flew way too high where the Sun melted his wings and Icarus sadly fell back onto the sea of earth.
6. anonymous

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   Mar 11th 2011 !⃝

   The song was based on the Icarus and Daedalus etc, but Bruce changed it a bit to make it about teenage rebellion against adults.
7. anonymous

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   Mar 4th 2011 !⃝

   This song is about Satan "the morning star" his father God who cast him down from heaven.
8. anonymous

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   Jan 7th 2011 !⃝

   It's a metaphor, based on the mythical Icarus, about blindly following false prophets. The young man from the song was convinced by the prophet that he could could fly, and he set his hopes too high and burned.
9. anonymous

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   Jul 28th 2010 !⃝

   Well, you guys are right, but the way i saw it, it could be interpretted as Jesus's life. He was considered a madman, to others, seeing god as his father, loving. Maybe thats how he died, or at least his ideal, when his father failed him, either evil or non-existent.

   This interpretation has been marked as poor. view anyway

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