Iron Maiden have been known for quite a few epic songs and some grand storytelling. Plenty of songs go heavy in theme, the group have covered topics like wars, threat of nuclear destruction, historical literature, the death of beloved entertainers, and many other things. In one case Maiden did make two songs about roughly the same thing – both The Prisoner and Back In The Village are about the 1960’s TV show The Prisoner. And two other songs link to each other at least spiritually – those being The Clansman and Death Of The Celts.

But the only true saga Iron Maiden have ever engaged isn’t about historical events or grand calamities – no, it’s about a prostitute.

Charlotte The Harlot would make her first appearance in 1980 on the debut record and then she would show up three more times over the years. Calling her saga a “story” is a pretty generous application of the word story, but there’s enough here to look over the course of the second most-known Iron Maiden character.

There isn’t a ton of background info on today’s topic. I browsed through Mick Wall’s book Run To The Hills – An Authroised Biography the other day to get some good source material and all I got was a five word quote from Dave Murray and a bit of background on one other song. The folks in Maiden have not saw fit to elaborate on Charlotte’s story, Steve Harris has declined to elaborate on the matter more than once.

There is an interview somewhere out there from Paul Di’Anno that does discuss the actual woman Charlotte is based off of, but tracking the actual interview is tough. I’ll just mention that he said the woman was really more of an “easy gal” rather than a working woman and that she didn’t actually live on Acacia Avenue.

But this tale doesn’t really need much sourcing or background info – it’s four songs about a hooker, how complicated can it be?

Charlotte The Harlot

The first song in the saga introduces the character Charlotte. The song is from 1980’s self-titled debut record. The song is a bit primitive but still has what would become typical Iron Maiden beats. It isn’t the most celebrated track from the debut but it does get its fair share of discussion.

Dave Murray was the sole composer of this one. He mentioned that Charlotte was “based on a true story” but apparently did not get any further into it. The song sees Charlotte leave her man and become a lady of the night, selling herself for men’s pleasure. Charlotte is the target of the song narrator’s ire, we would suppose that the “protagonist” is the man who Charlotte dumped to go sleep with anyone who had the right change.

There’s no telling what happened here – did someone get hung up on the gal who inspired Charlotte, or did Dave just decide to craft a song about her? I’m not sure and we may never truly know, but this was only the beginning of Charlotte’s story.

22 Acacia Avenue

The next song in Charlotte’s story comes from The Number Of The Beast. This would be significant as Maiden changed singers, with Bruce Dickinson now in the fold. Also along after the debut was guitarist Adrian Smith, who was the main songwriter here. Steve Harris is also credited, though Adrian brought some of this with him from his old band Urchin.

In this song Charlotte’s whoring ways are apparently catching up with her with stuff like diseases and abusive men. The song’s narrator basically takes Charlotte out of the life to get her “cleaned up” or whatever. No telling if the gent from this song is the same one from the first one and I’d gather the band didn’t think that far ahead.

Acacia Avenue is itself pretty interesting. Google returns some vague results about what it means. In some cases it does seem to refer to whorehouses, so that may be why the band chose it. There is another apparent meaning that more simply refers to British suburbs, I suppose in a way it was saying Parklife over a decade before Blur did. But I can’t really trace the authenticity of that claim and it’s not prevalent in search so I don’t know much about it. Either way it wasn’t meant to refer to a real place so it’s not radically important.

Hooks In You

It would be several years for the next installment of the Charlotte saga. This song comes from 1990’s No Prayer For The Dying. This album saw Maiden take a more stripped-down approach after a bit of a foray into more synth-driven epics. The album wasn’t terribly well-received but does have its fans. I personally don’t mind listening to it but I don’t have a ton of nice things to say about it either. It’s also worth mentioning that this song is often cited as the worst one on the album.

There is only one indirect reference to Charlotte in this song, but the reference does certainly establish who we’re talking about. The song’s first line “I got the keys to view at number 22” references Charlotte’s address, I guess she hadn’t moved in several years. She’s about to pretty soon.

The song goes into some goofy stuff about S&M and whatever kinky things a person could think of, at least in 1990. It doesn’t really “add” to Charlotte’s story, it’s just checking in with her and her freakiness. At the song’s end the man is apparently sick of Charlotte and has plans to “set her in concrete.”

This one was co-written by Bruce and Adrian, this was Adrian’s only contribution to this album as he left the band awhile before the record was out. Bruce said he was inspired to write the song based on some stuff he saw in a home he was looking to buy and it wound up becoming a part of the Charlotte story.

So, if we are to take this very loose story at its literal presentation, Charlotte either is dead or was going to be killed. What possibly could happen next?

From Here To Eternity

The final entry in Charlotte’s story comes from 1992’s Fear Of The Dark. This was the one and only time a Charlotte track was released as a single. This final song was composed by Steve Harris.

Here we get Charlotte’s mortal end, as she rides off on a motorcycle with The Beast, aka Satan, aka The Devil. Charlotte had already kind of seen and done it all in terms of mortal men, so her only remaining thrill would be the Devil himself. Apparently they got on really well together and are still riding to this day.

That really is about all there is to this tale of Charlotte. From humble beginnings as a prostitute to the infernal consort of His Unholiness, she lived quite the life. While nothing says Iron Maiden couldn’t add to the Charlotte saga, it would be reasonable to assume that Charlotte’s story is closed. Maiden could have written long sagas about any range of topics but hey, hookers are ok.

There is a lot of rumor and speculation about Charlotte’s story and the band’s motivations for writing about her. I chose not to cover some speculative things because I don’t like posting odd claims without sources, but if anyone wants to go ham in the comments about anything you know or think about the seedy truth behind the Charlotte songs, feel free.