Iron Maiden - The Evil That Men Do Meaning

Song Released: 1988

The Evil That Men Do Lyrics

love is a razor and I walked the lines on that silver blade, Slept in the dust with his daughter her eyes red with a slaughter of innocence.

But I will pray for her, I will call her name out loud I will bleed for her If I could only see her...

1. anonymous

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   Oct 28th 2022 !⃝

   Ok, so 1st of all its just my interpretation.
   
   The first half of the album is about the seventh son, and the second is about his seventh son (so the 7th son of a 7th son.)
   
   So in this track, basically Satan set a trap by sending "his daughter" to seduce the first seventh son, since he couldnt kill him as a baby in moonchild. Now the girl succeeds leading the seventh son to commit evil things, that Lucifer fortold in Moonchild ("for all the sins, you will commit"). But still she falls in love with the dude and carry his babies leading to the seventh son of a seventh son, but its not relevant in this song.
   So the father seventh son meet his fate as "the seventh lamb slain" refers to it. Not sure how, but I'd say suicide because of the guilt.
   
   So ultimatly when he dies he feel bad, because people will only remember him by the evil things he committed because of that girl, and non of all the good ones.
   And aside from this story this is how life works as well, evil stuff remains in memory, while the good ones wiped out easly. As a matter fact this title is a quote from Shakespear's Julius Caesar, I think from Marcus Aurelius specifically.
   
   Hope that helped.
   
   Cheers, Mr. Neeb
2. anonymous

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   Oct 5th 2019 !⃝

   It right here
   
   Slept in the dust with his daughter her eyes red with a slaughter of innocence.
   
   I think it is about child abuse, how the man slept with his daughter.

   This interpretation has been marked as poor. view anyway
3. kooljohn176

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   Nov 19th 2015 !⃝

   A sad, but honest song by Iron Maiden in ''The evil that men do'' to each other for love,power,money,fame etc., to become like a god to be loved and worshiped that has been going on for thousands of years that shaped humanity up to the present day to still find ''a evil'' in a scapegoat to be overthrown by the systems used at times by the hunger of the egostistical western intellectualism of the Anglo Saxon Olygarch, Zionist neo-Nazi, like evil twins to push it's creation of anti-Semitism further down the road to use by deploying deceit and lies to do war against us to keep us fighting each other. Even now with the new creation of ISIS that was brought back from the dead for some man to kill for her, unless you think she still represents Mother Mary, the Queen of Heaven to be controlled, worshiped and watched like in the days when she was a Egyptian goddess to be used and manipiulated in the present by the Israeli Secret Intelligent Services to create hoaxes with her by confusion, division and chaos throughout the world to dismantle the cultures in areas for it's greater good for The Greater One to seek and find it's love again that was foretold in Revelation towards the Seventh Angel to sound his TRUMPet.
4. anonymous

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   Oct 14th 2013 !⃝

   Only the good die young.
5. anonymous

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   Apr 15th 2013 !⃝

   I heard on the radio a few years ago that the song was about Adolf Hitler, to make the point that although he was the most sinister man in history, he is also the most remembered and will always be remembered.

   This interpretation has been marked as poor. view anyway
6. anonymous

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   Feb 10th 2012 !⃝

   this song is just about the evil that men do. for example Hitler, Charles Manson, Ted Bundy, Osama, ect. It's just about pure evil and what sick things people do. Its not just about wars or religion it can be any other kind of evil back than and sadly today. This world is evil.
7. anonymous

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   Apr 17th 2011 !⃝

   The song is about vices and how far we are willing to go to meet them. The sacrifices we would make to just have one more chance at doing it all again, wether it's drugs, sex or any of the other things we become a slave to.
8. anonymous

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   Feb 14th 2009 !⃝

   No that is from Julius Caesar by Shakespeare. I think that this song is about religious violence from the quotes of the book of life.
9. keesh1482

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   Nov 13th 2008 !⃝

   Bruce Dickinson said on a live album that "the good that men do often dies with their bones, but the evil that men do lives on." Our deeds live longer than we do...especially our evil ones.
10. meg62

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    Oct 19th 2008 !⃝

    Hope maiden fans can help I love this song and want to clarify if I have the right interpretation of this amazing song. I personally think it's about the wars that have occurred during our time or is it more sinister about child abuse.