Run to the Hills
by Iron Maiden
- 172
- BPM
- C major
- Key
- 8B
- Camelot
- 23
- Danceability
- 1
- Acousticness
In 2002, "Run to the Hills" by Iron Maiden went back on sale with all income donated to the MS Trust Fund set up for former drummer Clive Burr, who had announced he was suffering from multiple sclerosis. Two versions were issued, the original studio recording and a live one from the Rock in Rio concert. Earlier, a live version from Live After Death had come out in 1985 as the band's thirteenth single, and the 1990 box set The First Ten Years collected both.
The song had appeared on February 8, 1982, seven weeks ahead of its parent album, The Number of the Beast. It was the first single with Bruce Dickinson singing. It is credited to Steve Harris alone because Dickinson's contract with his old band Samson kept his name off it. He has called his part a moral contribution. The B-side, "Total Eclipse", was chosen over "Gangland", a decision Harris later said was the wrong call.
The single has sold more than 200,000 copies in the UK and was the first to be certified Silver by the BPI. In 2009, Swedish Idol winner Erik Grönwall sang it on the live shows and released it as a single that reached number 23 in Sweden.
Run to the Hills runs at 172 BPM, the tempo of drum and bass and jungle. In classical terms it sits in vivace territory. A bar of 4/4 lasts 1.4 seconds, and a quarter-note delay is 349 ms. It is in C major, Camelot 8B, which shares its notes with A minor and mixes cleanly with F major and G major.
We use multiple sources as part of our online research for the song story including Wikipedia.