For Whom the Bell Tolls (song)

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For the Bee Gees song, see For Whom the Bell Tolls (Bee Gees song).

"For Whom the Bell Tolls"

Song by Metallica
from the album Ride the Lightning
Released	November 16, 1984
Recorded	Sweet Silence Studios Copenhagen, Denmark, 1984
Genre	Thrash metal
Length	5:09
Label	Elektra Records
Writer(s)	James Hetfield Cliff Burton Lars Ulrich
Producer(s)	Metallica, Flemming Rasmussen , Mark Whitaker
Ride the Lightning track listing
"Fight Fire with Fire" "Ride the Lightning" "For Whom the Bell Tolls" "Fade to Black" "Trapped Under Ice" "Escape" "Creeping Death" "The Call of Ktulu"

"For Whom the Bell Tolls" is a song by Metallica, the third track from their second album Ride the Lightning. The song is composed by Cliff Burton, James Hetfield, and Lars Ulrich. 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. After the introduction, the bass settles into a steady quadruplet rhythm.

The song is about a section of the novel For Whom the Bell Tolls by Ernest Hemingway, where five International Brigades soldiers of the Spanish Civil War attempt to escape the fascists with their stolen horses and are killed by enemy aircraft on a hill on which they were surrounded.

It also appeared on Metallica's live 1999 Album "S&M" Live, in which Metallica performed with the San Francisco Symphony Orchestra.

The live versions of For Whom The Bell Tolls are traditionally started off with a bass solo in memory of Metallica's second bassist Cliff Burton.

A remix by DJ Spooky appears on the Spawn soundtrack. For some reason this song version is not available on any of the online version's of the CD.

A song by The Bloodhound Gang called "Mope" features the chromatic introduction riff in the chorus of the song.

Dronesters Sunn O))) recorded a loose cover of the song on their album Flight of the Behemoth, entitled "F.W.T.B.T (I Dream of Lars Ulrich Being Thrown Through the Bus Window Instead of My Mystikal Master Kliff Burton).", the spelling of "Kliff" is a reference to the metal term Kvlt.

The main lead guitar riff to the song, played by Kirk Hammett is very similar to the closing section of the Black Sabbath song, Fairies Wear Boots.

The guitars are tuned slightly sharper than standard tuning.

The song was covered by Eric Bloom, Al Pitrelli, Tony Franklin, and Aynsley Dunbar for the album Metallic Assault: A Tribute to Metallica.