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"Bring Your Daughter... to the Slaughter"
Single by Iron Maiden
from the album No Prayer for the Dying
B-side	"I'm a Mover" "Communication Breakdown"
Released	24 December 1990 (1990-12-24)
Genre	Heavy metal
Length	4:42
Label	EMI
Songwriter(s)	Bruce Dickinson
Iron Maiden singles chronology
"Holy Smoke" (1990) "Bring Your Daughter... to the Slaughter" (1990) "Be Quick or Be Dead" (1992)
Alternate cover

"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 A Nightmare on Elm Street 5: The Dream Child, but Steve Harris liked it so Iron Maiden rerecorded it. 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.

Background

In 1989, while Iron Maiden were taking a break from touring, Zomba asked Dickinson to write a song for A Nightmare on Elm Street 5: The Dream Child. 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. 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.

The original version of the song, which won a Golden Raspberry Award for "Worst Original Song" in 1989, 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." Dickinson's original version was included on disc 2 of The Best of Bruce Dickinson in 2001.

Bruce Dickinson said "We're going to release this as a single on Christmas Eve to scare the living daylights out of Cliff Richard". Due to not being officially released until the week of Christmas, it went straight to number one on the UK Singles Chart on 30 December 1990. This was in spite of a ban by the BBC, 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.

The video clip features footage from The City of the Dead/Horror Hotel (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.

Track listing

7-inch single

12-inch single

Personnel

Production credits are adapted from the 7 inch vinyl, and picture disc covers.

Iron Maiden

• Bruce Dickinson – lead vocals
• Janick Gers – lead guitar
• Dave Murray – rhythm guitar, rhythm and lead guitar on tracks 2 and 3
• Steve Harris – bass guitar
• Nicko McBrain – drums

Production

• Martin Birch – producer, engineer, mixing
• Derek Riggs – cover illustrations
• Ross Halfin – photography

Versions

Charts

References

1. "Various – A Nightmare On Elm Street 5: The Dream Child (Music From The New Line Cinema Motion Picture Soundtrack)". Discogs. Zink Media, Inc. 26 July 1989. Retrieved 10 August 2014.
2. "New Releases: Singles" (PDF). Music Week. 22 December 1990. p. vi. Retrieved 14 July 2021.
3. ^ "Bring Your Daughter... to the Slaughter" 7 Inch Single (Media notes). Iron Maiden. EMI. 24 December 1990.{{cite AV media notes}}: CS1 maint: others in cite AV media (notes) (link)
4. "A Nightmare on Elm Street 5: The Dream Child (Soundtrack)". Nightmare on Elm Street Films. Archived from the original on 24 February 2012. Retrieved 17 December 2008.
5. ^ Wall, Mick (2004). Iron Maiden: Run to the Hills, the Authorised Biography (3rd ed.). Sanctuary Publishing. p. 275. ISBN 1-86074-542-3.
6. ^ Wall, Mick (2004). Iron Maiden: Run to the Hills, the Authorised Biography (3rd ed.). Sanctuary Publishing. p. 282. ISBN 1-86074-542-3.
7. ^ "Official Singles Chart Top 100". Official Charts Company. Retrieved 31 March 2018.
8. Wall, Mick (2004). Iron Maiden: Run to the Hills, the Authorised Biography (3rd ed.). Sanctuary Publishing. p. 281. ISBN 1-86074-542-3.
9. "Golden Raspberry Archive- 1989". Golden Raspberry. Archived from the original on 4 January 2016. Retrieved 24 September 2011.
10. "Interview with Bruce Dickinson October 2001". dmme.net. October 2001. Archived from the original on 3 October 2015. Retrieved 15 August 2011.
11. Worstall, Tim (18 April 2012). "Iron Maiden's Daughter Slaughter Lesson for Apple's iTunes App Store". Forbes. Retrieved 15 August 2012.
12. Smith, Sid (2007). "Iron Maiden - No Prayer for the Dying". BBC Music. Retrieved 24 September 2011.
13. "Iron Maiden – 'Bring Your Daughter... To The Slaughter' (Brain Pack)". Discogs. 1990. Retrieved 8 April 2012.
14. City of the Dead trailer, IMDb
15. "Bring Your Daughter... to the Slaughter" Picture Disc Single (Media notes). Iron Maiden. EMI. 24 December 1990.{{cite AV media notes}}: CS1 maint: others in cite AV media (notes) (link)
16. "Iron Maiden ARIA chart history 1988-2024". ARIA. Retrieved 22 September 2024 – via Imgur.com. N.B. The High Point number in the NAT column represents the release's peak on the national chart.
17. "Eurochart Hot 100 Singles" (PDF). Music & Media. Vol. 8, no. 3. 19 January 1991. p. 23. Retrieved 19 January 2020.
18. Nyman, Jake (2005). Suomi soi 4: Suuri suomalainen listakirja (in Finnish) (1st ed.). Helsinki: Tammi. ISBN 951-31-2503-3.
19. "The Irish Charts – Search Results – Bring Your Daughter to the Slaughter". Irish Singles Chart. Retrieved 31 March 2018.
20. "Nederlandse Top 40 – week 7, 1991" (in Dutch). Dutch Top 40. Retrieved 31 March 2018.
21. "Iron Maiden – Bring Your Daughter... to the Slaughter" (in Dutch). Single Top 100. Retrieved 31 March 2018.
22. "Iron Maiden – Bring Your Daughter... to the Slaughter". Top 40 Singles. Retrieved 31 March 2018.
23. "Iron Maiden – Bring Your Daughter... to the Slaughter". Swiss Singles Chart. Retrieved 31 March 2018.

• 1989 songs
• 1990 singles
• A Nightmare on Elm Street (franchise) music
• Bruce Dickinson songs
• EMI Records singles
• Iron Maiden songs
• Number-one singles in Finland
• Songs written by Bruce Dickinson
• UK singles chart number-one singles