Song Comparison: Thin Lizzy vs. Iron Maiden

The two songs I chose to compare and contrast are Thin Lizzy’s original and Iron Maiden’s cover of the song “Massacre.” 

Thin Lizzy is an Irish hard rock band out of Dublin best known for their songs “The Boys are Back in Town” and “Jailbreak.”  The band was popular from the early 70’s to the early 80s.  Thin Lizzy is one of my top 3 favorite bands next to Queen and Tom Petty and The Heartbreakers.  Phil Lynott’s smoky voice and the harmonic rhythm of the band’s double lead guitars is what made this band great.  Thin Lizzy was one of the first bands to pick up this double guitar style.  Iron Maiden is an English heavy metal band that established the New wave of British heavy metal.  The band has often mentioned Thin Lizzy as one of the inspirations for their music. 

The two versions of “Massacre” are very similar but each band adds their own unique touch to the song.

MUSICAL QUALITY

Thin Lizzy’s version has a much lower PITCH and starts off with both the drums and the guitar.   The guitar riffs then pick up SPEED and stay true to the soulful, rhythmic sound that has become the band’s style. Iron Maiden’s version starts off with just the drums and then the guitars kick in with a tad bit higher PITCH and have a bit faster SPEED. The drumbeats in the Thin Lizzy version are much more prominent. The Iron Maiden version is also more INTENSE (especially in the guitar playing) and in your face than the Thin Lizzy version, which has more of a RHYTHMIC GROOVE to it.  This is due to the difference in the band’s styles.  Iron Maiden is a heavy metal band and Thin Lizzy is a hard rock band. 

LYRICS

The lyrics to both versions of “Massacre” are pretty much identical, except for a few instances here and there.  For example, at the beginning of the second verse, Thin Lizzy sings “The spirits FORCED” and Iron Maiden sings, “The spirits LOST.”  In the second line of the third verse Thin Lizzy sings “Through the hole in the WALL,” where as Iron Maiden sings, “Through the hole in the WIRE.” In the line following that Thin Lizzy sings, “He doesn’t care AT ALL” and Iron Maiden sings, “doesn’t care IF HE LIVES OR IF HE DIES.”  Finally, in the second to last verse Lizzy sings " If GOD is in heaven…In HIS name” and Maiden sings “In HIS heaven…in GOD’S name.” 

All in all, I think both versions are good, but my favorite is, hands down, the Thin Lizzy version.  Lynott’s voice and the rhythm of their version just makes me feel the pain of the “Massacre” and was much more convincing.  I believe the flow of the song and the intensity of the music to be just right, where as Iron Maiden’s version is a little bit over the top.  Although, I might be biased due to the fact that I love Thin Lizzy so much.