Bruce Dickinson - 12. The Prisoner (Live Skunkworks 1996)

Skunkworks Live 1996 - Recorded in Pamplona and Gerona, Spain on May 30th and 31st 1996, during the Skunkworks world tour. Bruce Dickinson - Vocals Alex Dickson - Guitar Chris Dale - Bass Alessandro Elena - Drums The Prisoner (Adrian Smith, Steve Harris) [Lyrics] We want information... information... information... Who are you? -- The new number two. Who is number one? -- You are number six. I am not a number! I am a free man! I'm on the run I kill to eat I'm starving now feeling dead on my feet Going all the way I'm nature's beast Do what I want I'll do as I please Run, fight, to breathe it's tough Now you see me now you don't break the walls I'm coming out Not a prisoner I'm a free man and my blood is my own now Don't care where the past was I know where I'm going... Out! If you kill me it's self defence If I kill you then I call it vengeance Spit in your eye I will defy You'll be afraid when I call out your name Run, fight, to breathe it's gonna be tough Now you see me now you don't break the walls, I'm coming out Not a prisoner I'm a free man and my blood is my own now Don't care where the past was I know where I'm going Not a number I'm a free man I'll live my life how I want to You'd better scratch me from your black book 'cause I'll run rings around you Not a prisoner I'm a free man and my blood is my own now Don't care where the past was I know where I'm going Not a number I'm a free man live my life where I want to You'd better scratch me from your black book 'cause I'll run rings around you Not a prisoner I'm a free man and my blood is my own now Don't care where the past was I know where I'm going ............................ The Prisoner is a song from Iron Maiden's album ''The Number Of The Beast'', released in 1982. ''The opening for this song is from the actual Prisoner T.V. series with Patrick McGoohan. Adrian took the solo on this one and it's one of his favourites. It's a very strong live number, although we don't play it on the set now. ''(Steve Harris) Inspired by the 17-episode British TV cult-series of the same name starring Patrick McGoohan, 'The Prisoner' begins with the famous spoken dialogue that also constitutes the introduction of every episode of the series. 'The Number of the Beast' is the third studio album by British heavy metal band Iron Maiden. The album was released on March 29, 1982 through EMI and on its sister label Capitol on the Harvest imprint in the US originally before it was re-released by Sanctuary/Columbia in the US. This was the debut of vocalist Bruce Dickinson in Iron Maiden. It has been cited as one of the most influential heavy metal albums of all time, and is widely acknowledged as one of the best and most iconic albums of the genre. Skunkworks Live can be found on ''Anthology'' DVD (Disc 1) by Bruce Dickinson, released on June 19, 2006. ''Anthology'' is a 3 disc compilation DVD by Bruce Dickinson, the lead singer of Iron Maiden. The DVD features three live performances as well every single promotional video made during Bruce's solo career. The DVD also includes over an hour of extras and unreleased footage. Bruce Dickinson interview 1996: ''Skunk works is the name of the design bureau of Lockheed Aviation company that very secret and advanced aircraft. Planes that can't be seen on radar and the Blackbird which is the worlds fastest and highest flying aeroplane. They designed the U-2, Americas first jetfighter back at the end of the second world war, the F-104 Starfighter, all kinds of really very revolutionary jetplanes. Skunk Works is their nickname which became the semi-official title. So we changed it from being two words to just one word. So on the cover it says Skunkworks. ... So we thought...hhmm..if we can make records as they make aeroplanes...he he he!'' Originally, Bruce intended for Skunkworks to be the debut album of a band by the same name. However, the label would not publish the record under any other name than Bruce Dickinson. The album sounds quite different from Bruce's other solo works. Most songs in this album have the central theme being science and/or related themes. Furthermore, the songs are relatively short, with most running around 3 minutes. The band didn't last and for his next solo project, Accident of Birth, he teamed up with guitarist Roy Z. In 2005, Skunkworks album was re-released and the 2005 extended version included songs performed live, such as "Inertia", "Faith", "Innerspace", "The Prisoner" and other previously unreleased songs. The intro and outro tapes that was used on the Skunkworks-tour was lifted from the obscure "Captain Lockheed and the Starfighters" album by Robert Calvert. The intro was the track "Catch a falling starfighter" and the outro was "The Gremlin II", which, by the way, has Arthur Brown on guest vocals.

Added 24 Jun 2026