- For Whom the Bell Tolls (Metallica song)
Infobox Single
Name = For Whom the Bell Tolls
Artist =Metallica
from Album =Ride the Lightning
A-side = "For Whom the Bell Tolls (Edit)"
Released = 1985
Format =
Recorded = Sweet Silence StudiosCopenhagen ,Denmark ,1984
Genre =Thrash metal
Length = 5:10
Label =Elektra Records
Writer =James Hetfield Cliff Burton Lars Ulrich
Producer =Metallica Flemming Rasmussen
Mark Whitaker
Certification =
Chart position =
Last single = "Creeping Death "
(1984)
This single = "'For Whom the Bell Tolls"
(1985)
Next single = "Master of Puppets"
(1986)"For Whom the Bell Tolls" is a song by
Metallica , the third track from their second album "Ride the Lightning ". The song was composed byCliff Burton ,James Hetfield , andLars Ulrich and the lyrics are based onErnest Hemingway 's novel "For Whom the Bell Tolls ". The chromatic introduction, which is usually mistaken for an electric guitar, is in fact Cliff Burton playing his bass guitar through distortion and wah-wah. The intro was written by Burton before joining Metallica. Burton first played it in a 12-minute jam at abattle of the bands with his first band "Agent of Misfortune." [ [http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-8600360414571121543&q=cliff+burton Agents of Misfortune video.] ] The guitars in the song sound slightly sharper than a standard-tuned guitar should sound. However, this may not be intentional, as it is rumored that the song was sped up after recording. If the song was sped up too much or was sped up using low quality means, it would raise the pitch of the recording, thus apparently sharpening the guitar's tuning.However, James Hetfield's voice is the same pitch as the other songs on the album, therefore, most likely, only the pitch of the instrumentation was raised, not the speed.Track listing
Side A:
#"For Whom the Bell Tolls" (5:11)Other versions
"For Whom the Bell Tolls" has also appeared on Metallica's live 1999 album "S&M", in which Metallica performed with the
San Francisco Symphony Orchestra .Covers versions
*Drone metal band
Sunn O))) recorded a very loose cover of the song on their album "Flight of the Behemoth ", entitled "F.W.T.B.T."*The song was also covered partially by pop rock band
Sum 41 at the Metallica'sMTV Icon special in 2003.*Another punk rock band, Goldfinger, played a partial cover at
Bumbershoot in 1996.*The
Moonsorrow EPTulimyrsky features a cover of the song, and it adds approximately two and a half minutes to the original song; it is 7:43.*The song was also covered by
Apocalyptica for their album Inquisition Symphony in 1998.Tribute versions
*The song was covered by
Eric Bloom ,Al Pitrelli , Tony Franklin, andAynsley Dunbar for the album "Metallic Assault: A Tribute to Metallica".*Tribute duo
Harptallica recorded aharp version of the song on their album "".ampled on
*A song by The
Bloodhound Gang called "Mope" features the chromatic introduction riff in the chorus of the song.Remix
*There is a remix of the song on the
The Memory Remains single, entitled the "Haven't Heard It Yet Mix."A remix by
DJ Spooky appeared on the Spawn soundtrack. For some reason this song version is not available on any of the online versions of the CD except Napster; which ironically, Metallica sued in2001 .References
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