We were all taught about the European arrival to the “New World” in grade school. We were also taught that the Indigenous Peoples of the Americas got along with the European settlers. Iron Maiden’s “Run to the Hills” (1982) is a song that tells a simplified version of what really happened when the colonizers arrived on this land, from the perspectives of both the Anglo-Saxon settlers and the Indigenous Cree. As many works such as movies, shows, books, etc., often portray the Natives as violent “savages”, the roles of violence are reversed in this song.
The lines that are seemingly from the white man’s perspective have a sort of violent tone to them, such as “Murder for freedom the stab in the back”. The opening line, “White man came across the sea / He brought us pain and misery” is clearly from the Native’s perspective. The second verse, “Chasing the r*dskins back to their holes / fighting them at their own game” is from the eyes of the white man. The first two verses of the song, from the Native’s perspective, have sort of a solemn and somewhat hopeless tone to them, asking “Will we ever be set free?”
As an Indigenous person, it really is gratifying to see Indigenous Peoples portrayed in a non-violent way. Indigenous peoples everywhere are constantly fighting to de-normalize the portrayal of us as violent or “savage”. However, it doesn’t help much that racial slurs are still being constantly used against Natives as if they aren’t slurs in the first place. Although this song is mostly centered around violence, it portrays the colonizers as more violent than the Natives. This is a more accurate description of what really happened when the European settlers came to this land. Much of what we have learned about history has taught that the Natives were extremely violent towards the Europeans. While it is true that Indigenous peoples were violent, it was the only way they had of defending their sacred homeland, was by going into war. The Indigenous peoples were being killed, raped, and taken for slaves at an alarming rate. Every line in “Run to the Hills” that is from the Cree’s point of view represents their feelings well, such as “He [the white man] killed our tribes … will we ever be set free?”
This is also not Iron Maiden’s first song regarding historical events, war, and even ancient mythology. It’s not common where a band writes many of their songs on topics like these, which I also think is an interesting take for a metal band to have. Iron Maiden’s “Flight of Icarus” (1981) is about the Greek myth of Icarus flying too close to the sun. However, in this song, there’s a twist. In the song, Icarus’ father tells his son to “fly and touch the sun”, whereas the opposite happens in the myth. Another song of Iron Maiden’s is about the Manhattan Project. The title, “Brighter Than a Thousand Suns” (2006) refers to a comment one of the scientists had made after seeing the A-bomb tested in New Mexico. Several more of Iron Maiden’s songs are about war, such as “Two Minutes to Midnight” (1984), Aces High (1984), and Tailgunner (1990), which is a sequel song to “Aces High”.
