10 Hidden Details You Never Noticed In Iron Maiden Songs
2. H.G. Wells, Jack The Ripper, Cyndi Lauper And "Caught Somewhere In Time"
Another Maiden track based on a film, "Caught Somewhere in Time" gets its own slot on this list purely because of how bizarre its source material is. The opening track of the Somewhere in Time (1986) record, it is heavily based upon the 1979 science-fiction movie Time After Time, directed by Star Trek writer Nicholas Meyer and starring Malcolm McDowell as H.G. Wells.
As if the movie centring around an entirely fictionalised Wells isn't bizarre enough, the character also has a fully functioning time machine that is then stolen by Jack the Ripper (played by the ever-brilliant David Warner).
And yes, it is just as weird as it sounds.
It is from this very avant-garde source that "Caught Somewhere in Time" draws a great deal of its lyricism; the pre-chorus of "Time is always on my side", for example, is a direct reference to time travel, while the second verse ("Can I tempt you, come with me...") echoes the Ripper's appeal to Wells to use his time machine for personal gain and shed his morality.
While "Caught Somewhere in Time" doesn't wholeheartedly capture the somewhat ingenious social commentary of the Time After Time film (despite its weirdness, you should watch it given the chance), it doubtlessly serves as a brilliantly appropriate opening track to Somewhere in Time, beginning straight away with synthesisers that would become prevalent on both that album and its follow-up, Seventh Son of a Seventh Son.
Fun fact: Cyndi Lauper's "Time After Time" is named after the very same film.