Iron Maiden/Tear Jerker

This classic heavy metal band has some very sad songs.

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• "Paschendale". The battle it talks about is bad enough, but this magnificent song both makes you angry and brings a tear in your eye. "Rust your bullets with his tears/Let me tell you 'bout his years."
  • The lyrics of this song are absolutely devastating. The closest thing it has to a chorus is the refrain of "home far away, from the war, a chance to live again." This is then repeated but with minor changes, "home far away, but the war, no chance to live again." There's also a poignant section between the solos - "the sound of guns can't hide the shame, and so we die at Paschendale." This suggests that the trauma of having to kill another human being has emotionally "killed" these men whether or not they survive the battle. Finally, the ending lines "friend and foe, we'll meet again, those who died at Paschendale," suggests that the men who fought were only enemies because of the decisions of politicans and can make peace with one another in the afterlife.
• "Blood Brothers", inspired by the death of Steve Harris' father. The fan base has admitted to tearing up after having heard Bruce dedicate it to Ronnie James Dio and the 2011 earthquake victims in Japan in the Final Frontier tour.
• "Lord of Light" offers a sympathetic view of Lucifer. If you listen closely to the lyrics and the mention of how very tragic of a figure Lucofer was ,you'll require plenty of Kleenex.
• The whole A Matter of Life and Death for that matter, especially "For the Greater Good of God".
• "The Man Who Would Be King" is without a doubt the most soul crushingly depressing song they've ever written, and probably one of the most depressing songs ever. It is about a man slowly losing mental balance after killing someone he didn't want to.
• "No Prayer for the Dying".
• "When the Wild Wind Blows", from their recent album (being inspired by a tearjerking graphic novel/film helps a lot).
• Also, most of The X Factor, but most notably "2 A.M."
• "Afraid to Shoot Strangers." The lyrics are sad, but what really gets the waterworks going is a beautiful, tragic riff that starts about two and a half minutes in.
  • The line "And we know, deep down there's no other way...", which hits home to war vets. A beautiful, poetic song indeed.
  • "Fear is the Key", the following song on the album, which is arguably the angriest song Maiden have ever written, is about how people dust the tragedy of the AIDS epidemic in African countries off their shoulders but mourn celebrities and try to make people live in fear, as well as use the AIDS epidemic to scare homosexuals. It's way sadder than it sounds, and leaves you thinking "Humans Are the Real Monsters indeed..."
• "Como Estais Amigos", about a group of Englishmen during the Falklands war trying to make peace with the Argentines. The tear jerker factor is heightened when two years later, the band performs "The Trooper" as Bruce waved the Union Jack. Bruce tries to get the crowd going after the song's over, to which the crowd responds by shouting "The one who doesn't jump is an Englishman" in Spanish.
• "These Colours Don't Run", about showing pride in your country.