Icarus had become over confident, and ignoring the warnings previously given by Daedalus, he started to fly higher and higher. Minos though did not want to lose the services of the master craftsman, and so rather than being executed, Daedalus and Icarus were instead locked away in a tall tower (or in other sources father and son were locked within the Labyrinth). Initially though, King Minos was more angry about the help given by Daedalus than he was about the intrigue of his own daughter Ariadne. Theseus was thus able to slay the Minotaur, and soon the Greek hero and Ariadne were fleeing from Crete. To aide Theseus, Ariadne had enlisted the help of Daedalus, the man who had designed the Labyrinth beneath the palace at Knossos, and so Theseus entered the domain of the Minotaur with a ball of twine and a sword. Ariadne, the daughter of King Minos, though, had spied Theseus as he arrived upon the island, and had fallen in love with the Greek hero. Theseus was due to be one of the Athenian youths scheduled to be sacrificed to the Minotaur as part of the tribute paid to King Minos by Athens. Its catchy tune and chorus gives this song its place as a Maiden classic, although it could have had a much longer instrumental section rather than just the short guitar solos.The fall from grace for Daedalus, and the downfall of King Minos, was to follow several years later, for the Athenian hero Theseus was destined to arrive upon Crete. I just thought I would mention this apparent ambiguity and let the reader think about it.įlight Of Icarus single Bruce admitted himself that he had slightly twisted the original tale to make it an allegory of teenage rebellion against adult authority a rebellion that lead to disaster in the case of Icarus! This is then the opportunity to re-read the original story and discover what it is all about, whereas we can enjoy this song in itself and grant the somehow strange lyrics to artistic license. Many young people do not heed their elders' advice, but still manage to blame them if things go wrong. The other interpretation could imply that the son believes that the old man has betrayed him (although what kind of a father would betray his son?) as the wings melt and he falls to his death. In the case of the father being betrayed, that could mean that the wings he designed for his son have been made with some external help, and that the helper(s) betrayed him, thus causing his son's death. One last question I would like to raise is this one: in the verse "Now he knows his father betrayed", is it the father that betrays his son or has he been betrayed himself? This seems open to interpretation, as both possibilities are equally plausible. This little extra touch gives it a bit more fire. Looking back on it now we feel we could have played it at the faster speed on the album. We tend to play it a little bit faster live. It's a really good song but we much prefer it live. Besides, Icarus was not the only one to fly with the make-shift wings: his father was flying beside him and warning him about the dangers of flying too close to the sun (which is nowadays known to be complete nonsense, as we all know that the temperature decreases with altitude but let us not forget that this is ancient myth and some sort of parable). Of course, there was no crowd in the original tale, as D?dalus and Icarus were discreetly escaping the labyrinth where they were held prisoners (and that ironically D?dalus had designed himself!). The purists in Greek mythology always have had a problem with this song. He and his son Icarus fashioned wings from feathers and wax and made their escape, but Icarus flew too near the sun, melting the wax that held the feathers, and he fell to his death in the sea. 'Flight Of Icarus' is very loosely based on the ancient Greek myth of D?dalus who was imprisoned by king Minos of Crete.
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