Can I Play with Madness
{{Short description|1988 single by Iron Maiden}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=February 2025}}
{{Infobox song
| name = Can I Play with Madness
| cover = Caniplaywithmadness.jpg
| alt =
| type = single
| artist = Iron Maiden
| album = Seventh Son of a Seventh Son
| B-side =
- "Black Bart Blues"
- "Massacre"
| released = {{start date|1988|3|14|df=y}}{{cite magazine|title=New Singles|magazine=Music Week|page=39|date=12 March 1988}}
| recorded =
| studio =
| venue =
| genre = Heavy metal
| length = 3:31
| label = EMI
| writer =
| producer = Martin Birch
| prev_title = Stranger in a Strange Land
| prev_year = 1986
| next_title = The Evil That Men Do
| next_year = 1988
| misc = {{External music video|{{YouTube|Kvqr366Op3k|"Can I Play with Madness"}}}}
}}
"Can I Play with Madness" is a song by the English heavy metal band Iron Maiden. The song is the sixteenth single released by the band. Released in 1988, it was the first single from their seventh studio album, Seventh Son of a Seventh Son (1988), and hit number 3 in the UK Singles Chart.
The song is about a young man who wants to learn the future from an old prophet with a crystal ball. The young man thinks he is going mad and seeks the old prophet to help him cope with his visions/nightmares. The prophet's advice is ignored by the young man and they become angry with each other. The song was originally a ballad named "On the Wings of Eagles", written by Adrian Smith.
Cash Box called it "raging, pulsating metal that should shake up a few speaker cabinets and damage eardrums."{{cite magazine|title=Single Releases|url=https://worldradiohistory.com/Archive-All-Music/Cash-Box/80s/1988/CB-1988-05-21.pdf|magazine=Cash Box|date=21 May 1988|accessdate=21 December 2022|page=12}}
Music video
The video of the song, directed by Julian Doyle, was set at Tintern Abbey and Chislehurst Caves, and features Monty Python’s Graham Chapman; this would be one of his last appearances on television before his death in October 1989 of cancer. In the video, Chapman plays an irritable art instructor who criticizes a young student for including Iron Maiden's mascot Eddie in his sketch of the abbey ruins. The teacher then falls down a hole in the ground, discovers an underground vault and finally encounters an animated version of Eddie, who leers at him from inside a refrigerator. The band appears on a TV screen showing footage from "Run to the Hills" and "The Number of the Beast" promotional videos and the Live After Death concert film. Adrian Smith is shown playing left-handed, suggesting a reversed image.
Track listing
7-inch single
{{tracklist
| headline = Side one
| title1 = Can I Play With Madness
| length1 = 3:31
| writer1 = Adrian Smith, Bruce Dickinson, Steve Harris
}}
{{tracklist
| headline = Side two
| title1 = Black Bart Blues
| length1 = 6:39
| writer1 = Dickinson, Harris
}}
12-inch single
{{tracklist
| headline = Side one
| title1 = Can I Play With Madness
| length1 = 3:31
| writer1 = Smith, Dickinson Harris
}}
{{tracklist
| headline = Side two
| title1 = Black Bart Blues
| length1 = 6:39
| writer1 = Dickinson, Harris
| title2 = Massacre
| note2 = Thin Lizzy Cover
| length2 = 2:54
| writer2 = Phil Lynott, Scott Gorham, Brian Downey
}}
"Black Bart Blues"
{{Infobox song
| name = Black Bart Blues
| cover =
| alt =
| type =
| artist = Iron Maiden
| album =
| EP =
| A-side = Can I Play with Madness
| written =
| published =
| released = 1988
| recorded =
| studio =
| venue =
| genre = Heavy metal
| length = 6:39
| label = *EMI
| writer = Bruce Dickinson, Steve Harris
| composer =
| lyricist =
| producer = Martin Birch
| prev_title =
| prev_year =
| title =
| next_title =
| next_year =
}}
"Black Bart Blues" appears as a B-side of the "Can I Play with Madness" single. The song is about the suit of armour that rode in the back lounge of the band's tour buses (named Black Bart). Vocalist Bruce Dickinson tells that he, his bandmates and their tour manager were driving in a Ford Thunderbird through Florida in 1983, when they passed a gas station with three suits of armour standing outside. Dickinson stopped the car and went to buy one of the three suits of armour that were on sale. The song's lyrics detail a rather infamous story in which a girl stumbled onto the band's tour bus and struck a deal with one of the band members that she'd give them oral sex in exchange for alcohol.
The song ends with clips of drummer Nicko McBrain that were taken during the Seventh Son of a Seventh Son sessions.
Personnel
Production credits are adapted from the 7 inch vinyl cover.{{cite AV media notes |title="Can I Play with Madness" 7 Inch Single|others=Iron Maiden |date=20 March 1988 |publisher=EMI }}
- Bruce Dickinson – lead vocals
- Dave Murray – guitar
- Adrian Smith – guitar, synthesiser
- Steve Harris – bass guitar
- Nicko McBrain – drums
Production
Charts
| class="wikitable sortable plainrowheaders" style="text-align:center"
!Chart (1988) !Peak |
| scope="row"|Australia (Kent Music Report){{cite book|last=Kent|first=David|author-link=David Kent (historian)|title=Australian Chart Book 1970–1992|edition=illustrated|publisher=Australian Chart Book|location=St Ives, N.S.W.|year=1993|isbn=0-646-11917-6|page=149}}
|58 |
|---|
| {{single chart|Flanders|37|artist=Iron Maiden|song=Can I Play with Madness|rowheader=true|access-date=4 February 2025}} |
| scope="row"|Europe (Eurochart Hot 100){{cite magazine|title=Eurochart Hot 100 Singles|magazine=Music & Media|volume=5|issue=15|page=26|date=9 April 1988}}
|10 |
| scope="row"|Finland (Suomen virallinen lista){{cite magazine|title=Top 3 in Europe|magazine=Music & Media|volume=5|issue=19|page=22|date=7 May 1988}}
|2 |
| {{single chart|Ireland2|3|song=Can I Play with Madness|rowheader=true|access-date=4 February 2025}} |
| {{single chart|Dutch40|14|year=1988|week=20|rowheader=true|access-date=4 February 2025}} |
| {{single chart|Dutch100|6|artist=Iron Maiden|song=Can I Play with Madness|rowheader=true|access-date=4 February 2025}} |
| {{single chart|New Zealand|7|artist=Iron Maiden|song=Can I Play with Madness|rowheader=true|access-date=4 February 2025}} |
| {{single chart|Norway|4|artist=Iron Maiden|song=Can I Play with Madness|rowheader=true|access-date=4 February 2025}} |
| {{single chart|Sweden|12|artist=Iron Maiden|song=Can I Play with Madness|rowheader=true|access-date=4 February 2025}} |
| {{single chart|Switzerland|23|artist=Iron Maiden|song=Can I Play with Madness|rowheader=true|access-date=4 February 2025}} |
| {{single chart|UKsinglesbyname|3|artist=Iron Maiden|artistid=23494|rowheader=true|access-date=4 February 2025|refname="uk"}} |
| {{single chart|Billboardmainstreamrock|47|artist=Iron Maiden|rowheader=true|access-date=4 February 2025}} |
| {{single chart|West Germany|23|artist=Iron Maiden|song=Can I Play with Madness|songid=1771|rowheader=true|access-date=4 February 2025}} |
| class="wikitable plainrowheaders" style="text-align:center"
!Chart (1990) !Peak |
| scope="row"|UK Albums (OCC){{efn|name=efn1|Re-release of all four singles as part of The First Ten Years box set. Exceeded the length limit of the UK singles chart.}} {{small|with "The Evil That Men Do"}} |10 |
|---|
Notes
{{Notelist}}
References
{{Reflist}}
{{IronMaiden}}
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Can I Play with Madness}}
Category:Songs written by Adrian Smith
Category:Songs written by Steve Harris (musician)