"Be Quick or Be Dead" is a song by English heavy metal band Iron Maiden, released as the first single from their ninth studio album, Fear of the Dark, on 13 April 1992. The single peaked at 2 on the UK Singles Chart and in Finland while reaching the top 10 in Denmark, Ireland, and Norway.
Synopsis
The song is about several political scandals taking place at the time of its release, including the Robert Maxwell banking scandal, European stock market crashes, and the BCCI case. It was released a month prior to the album and reached No. 2 on the UK Singles Chart. The song is faster and heavier than most Iron Maiden songs, and is the band's first single co-written by Janick Gers.
The B-side features two official songs and one hidden track, including an original blues number ("Nodding Donkey Blues") and Montrose cover ("Space Station No. 5"), and the unlisted "Bayswater Ain't a Bad Place to Be". The last is a spoken word comedy piece by Bruce Dickinson (along with acoustic guitar accompaniment from Janick Gers) in which he imitates and makes fun of Maiden manager Rod Smallwood. A similar mockery of Smallwood was released before, as a B-side titled "Sheriff of Huddersfield", which was available on the "Wasted Years" single.
Track listings
7-inch single
12-inch single
UK 12-inch single
CD single
UK CD single
French CD maxi-single
Personnel
Production credits are adapted from the 7 inch single and picture disc covers.