Wherever I May Roam
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| "Wherever I May Roam" | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Image:Whereeverimayroam.jpg | |||||
| Single by Metallica from the album Metallica | |||||
| B-side | Fade to Black (live)/Wherever I May Roam (Demo) Last Caress/Am I Evil?/Battery (live) | ||||
| Released | 1992 | ||||
| Format | CD single | ||||
| Recorded | 1991 | ||||
| Genre | Heavy Metal | ||||
| Length | 6:47 | ||||
| Label | Elektra Records | ||||
| Writer | James Hetfield Lars Ulrich | ||||
| Producer | Bob Rock | ||||
| Metallica singles chronology | |||||
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"Wherever I May Roam" is the fifth track on the Metallica album (a.k.a. the Black Album) by the heavy metal band Metallica.
Contents |
[edit] Music
The song starts with an electric sitar playing the main riff of the song, before the drums and electric guitars come in. In addition to the use of a sitar, the loud "crack" heard at 0:30 in the song (and then repeatedly throughout the intro) is bassist Jason Newsted playing a 12-string electric bass, a fact he made abundantly clear on the Classic Albums: Metallica - The Black Album DVD.
The song has a middle-eastern sound to it, amplified by the use of the sitar and Kirk Hammett's solo being written in the Phrygian dominant scale. Lars Ulrich also used some extra synthesised sound effects in the song.
This song often gets overshadowed by its more famous album brothers "Enter Sandman" and "Nothing Else Matters", but it regularly finds a spot on Metallica's live shows, and was played with the San Francisco Symphony Orchestra (conducted by Michael Kamen) on the album S&M. Also, in this live performance, Hetfield manages to sustain the word "Roam" for at least 12 seconds (at approximately 5:54).
[edit] Interpretation
The song's lyrics revolve around the theme of a drifter. The lines "Rover, Wanderer, Nomad, Vagabond, Call me what you will" could be in reference to the life of a nomad. However, the line "Carved upon my stone/ My body lie, but still I roam" and the following extracts seemingly imply that it is in reference to a ghost, with a main theme of detaching oneself from a previous life and wandering eternally in purgatory:
"...And with dust in throat I crave
Only knowledge will I save.
To the game you stay a slave..."
and:
"...And the earth becomes my throne.
I adapt to the unknown;
Under wanderering stars I've grown,
By myself but not alone.
I ask no one."
A music video directed by Wayne Isham showcasing Metallica on tour and solitarily playing their instruments (bearing distinct similarity to Isham-helmed Bon Jovi videos), gives rise to an interpretation of the song being about Metallica's life on the road.
[edit] In other media
- In the PC game Warcraft 3, the thief unit quotes this song, saying "Roamer, wanderer, nomad, vagabond, call me what you will." and the Beastmaster hero says, "Where I lay my head is home. See that rock? That's my pillow."
- Koopsta Knicca, a former member of Three 6 Mafia, used some instrumental parts of this song for his song "Torture Chamber" from the album Da Devil's Playground.
[edit] Track listing
- Wherever I May Roam
- Fade to Black (Live)
- Wherever I May Roam (Demo)
CD Single 2
- Wherever I May Roam
- Last Caress/Am I Evil?/Battery (Live)
