8th February 1980

1. Running Free (Harris, Di'Anno)
2. Burning Ambition (Harris)

Running Free was Iron Maiden's first single, which sold over 10,000 copies in its first week and entered the UK charts at number 44. This is a particularly significant accomplishment for a relatively unknown band with no radio airplay whatsoever. This was Maiden's first recorded release after their legendary Soundhouse Tapes, and was very closely followed by Metal For Muthas. The cover of the single has particular significance as the first artwork for the band by Derek Riggs. This is the very first drawing of Eddie!

Running Free (Harris, Di'Anno)
This is the same version of the song as on the Iron Maiden album.

Burning Ambition (Harris)
This is one of Harris's earliest songs, written around the time when he was in Gypsy's Kiss. However, the other musicians couldn't handle the complex chord and time changes in the song, and after a few gigs the band sort of dissolved. It's actually quite a good song with a great guitar solo, and in hindsight it is not surprising that the teenager who could write such a good song would go on to accomplish so much.

The first track Steve ever wrote completely by himself. The title and lyrics obviously have a lot of significance in terms of Steve's attitude to the band and everything we've achieved over the last 20 odd years. This was the days of a 7" piece of plastic with one B-side and a paper cover. Also it was on the artwork for this single that Eddie made his first appearance albeit in the shadows!!

Released 23rd May 1980

1. Sanctuary (Harris, Di'Anno, Murray)
2. Drifter (live) (Harris, Di'Anno)
3. I've Got The Fire (live) (Montrose)

'Sanctuary' first appeared on the Metal For Muthas compilation, but was released again as a single a few months later after the release of the first album. However, this version of 'Sanctuary' was a new and better recording of the original song, which rose as high as 29 in the U.K. charts. The Sanctuary single sleeve picture also supposedly exposed the band to their first taste of public controversy, with its depiction of Eddie wielding a knife over the dead body of Margaret Thatcher who had presumably been caught in the act of tearing down an Iron Maiden poster. Maggie Thatcher was the Conservative Prime Minister of Great Britain at the time, and had been nicknamed the "Iron Maiden" by the press after her tough negotiations with the Soviet Union. So in a sense the Sanctuary sleeve was a mild pun linking this political 'Iron Maiden' with the musical Iron Maiden. However, it was viewed as particularly bad taste by the British media, and, according to the legend, drew condemnation from Margaret Thatcher's spokesman.

According to the official Iron Maiden biography written by Mick Wall, the sleeve picture was censored on most of the Sanctuary singles with a black bar over the face of the slain woman, thus masking her identity. Still, a great deal of controversy was said to have been generated, which predictably only served to provide free publicity for the band.

However, in an interview given in May 2001 to www.ytsejam.com, Derek Riggs was asked if he had taken any flak from the media about this, along with the band. He then declared:

"The "flak" for that single (Margaret Thatcher being knifed by Eddie, from the song lyric "[I've] never killed a woman before but I know how it feels" lovely state of mind...) was invented by the band's management. They "banned" it and they put the black square over her face and then they showed it to the press and cried "censorship", but there really wasn't any. The flak was all imaginary and self-generated for publicity. It's an old trick and it nearly always sells records... go and ask all the rappers who swear on their records all the time, if it depressed the record sales they would soon stop doing it."

This explanation would indeed make sense considering what a shrewd businessman Rod Smallwood is. Besides, it is quite unlikely that Riggsy would lie about this story some 20 years later, even considering his fallout with Maiden.

Rod Smallwood's comments are taken from the Best Of The B'Sides album booklet included in the Eddie's Archive box.

Sanctuary (Harris, Di'Anno, Murray)
This is the same version of the song as on the 1998 re-release of the Iron Maiden album.

Drifter (live) (Harris, Di'Anno)
This live version of 'Drifter' was recorded at the Marquee Club in London on 3rd April 1980. It is a song that is at its best when played live and has been a part of Maiden's tour set for many years. It very often features the audience interaction part of the show, with the familliar "yo yo yo" routine. At the end of this recording something strange is shouted to the crowd, which is NOT a backward message although it does vaguely sound like one. RealAudio samples of this are available here.

Cracking live version of this Killers track which was used to close the show as the last encore on the 'Killers' tour.

Rod Smallwood

I've Got The Fire (live) (Montrose)
Montrose Paper Money 'I've Got The Fire' is a Ronnie Montrose song from his 1974 album Paper Money, which was first recorded with Sammy Hagar (who also wrote the lyrics to the song, but who wasn't credited for some obscure reason). It is well known that Steve Harris and Dave Murray were both big Montrose fans, so playing a cover of this band is no surprise, as they needed to add a few cover songs to make a complete set at the time.

Released: 27th October 1980

1. Women In Uniform (Macainsh)
2. Invasion (Harris)
3. Phantom Of The Opera (live) (Harris)

Women In Uniform was Iron Maiden's third single. It is also the only single in Maiden history that is actually a cover song, and the last with guitarist Dennis Stratton. The single also features another great Derek Riggs sleeve, where a resurrected Margaret Thatcher waits in ambush for Eddie and his girlfriends. The question is, what is Margaret's motive, revenge or jealousy? In any case, the single made it to 35 on the U.K. charts.

Women In Uniform (Macainsh)
Skyhooks single Skyhooks album This cover song was originally recorded by an Australian band called Skyhooks in 1979. The original song had a little spoken intro that Maiden didn't use. The intro went as follows:

Hello there sailor
Hi there Lili Marlene
Good morning school girls
Welcome to the team

It is a rather shallow little womanising song that does not match Maiden's style and, against their better judgement, the band was convinced by their publishers (Zomba) to release it as a single in the hopes of generating a hit a decision that the band has regretted ever since. 'Women In Uniform' also became the band's first video, a live production on stage at the Rainbow.

Invasion (Harris)
'Invasion' is another of Harris's early compositions and was first recorded on the legendary Soundhouse Tapes. It is a great song about a Viking invasion, which later evolved into 'Invaders' on the Number Of The Beast album. In contrast to the relatively lame 'Women In Uniform', 'Invasion' is an excellent song with a great guitar solo and a catchy tune that can stick in your head for days. It definitely should have been the A-side of the single. This is a faster re-recording of the original Soundhouse version, but it's difficult to tell which version is better.

One of Steve's earlier songs a new recording of a track on the 'Sound House Tapes'. I believe it is about the Viking invasion, one of Steve's earliest songs relating to history.

Rod Smallwood

Phantom Of The Opera (live) (Harris)