"Flight of Icarus" is a song by English heavy metal band Iron Maiden from their fourth studio album, Piece of Mind (1983).

One of Iron Maiden's most famous songs, it was the band's first single composed entirely by members other than Steve Harris, credited to Adrian Smith and Bruce Dickinson.

[3][4] The song is loosely based on the ancient Greek myth of Icarus[5] who was imprisoned with his father Daedalus in the palace of Knossos on Crete.

Unfortunately Icarus, not heeding the advice of his father, flew too close to the Sun, melting the wax that held the feathers and thus fell to his death in the sea.

"[1] The song appears on the tribute album Numbers from the Beast, featuring Ripper Owens on vocals, Doug Aldrich on guitars, Jimmy Bain on bass, and Simon Wright on drums,[8] and it was also covered by the progressive metal band Fates Warning in 1983.

A newer edit of the video features Flash animation by Camp Chaos spliced between the original footage, replacing McBrain and Birch's acting scenes and some of the '80s-style visual effects.

Iron Maiden originally released a live cover of the song during the Paul Di'Anno era, on 1980 single, "Sanctuary", however the "Flight of Icarus" version features Bruce Dickinson on vocals and is a studio recording.