The Outlaw Torn

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"The Outlaw Torn"

Song by Metallica
from the album Load
Released	June 4, 1996
Recorded	May 1995 - February 1996 The Plant Studios Sausalito, California
Genre	Hard rock
Length	9:49
Label	Elektra Records
Writer(s)	James Hetfield Lars Ulrich
Producer(s)	Bob Rock James Hetfield Lars Ulrich
Load track listing
"Ain't My Bitch" "2 X 4" "The House Jack Built" "Until It Sleeps" "King Nothing" "Hero of the Day" "Bleeding Me" "Cure" "Poor Twisted Me" "Wasting My Hate" "Mama Said" "Thorn Within" "Ronnie" "The Outlaw Torn"

The Outlaw Torn is a song by Metallica on their 1996 album Load. Because of its length and position as the final track on the album, the song had to be edited by one minute to fit on Load, because if the disc's total length passed 78 minutes, 59 seconds, the Load CD would not play without potentially skipping. With the fourteen songs completed, Metallica had recorded thirty seconds too much material. The jam at the end of the song had to be edited, and "The Outlaw Torn (Unencumbered by Manufacturing Restrictions Version)" can be found on "The Memory Remains" part 2 single in its entirety - 10 minutes and 52 seconds. ^[1]

On a related note, the song "Wasting My Hate" also had to be edited--the demo version contained a guitar solo not found on the album's final version.

To this day, "The Outlaw Torn" remains the longest original song Metallica has recorded for a studio-album (the longest, at 11 minutes 11 seconds, is "Mercyful Fate" a cover medley of songs by the metal band of the same name.) According to James Hetfield, the lyrics deal with losing a loved one, and "longing for a replacement that will never come". ^[2]

Like most songs from the album Load, and its sister-album ReLoad, this song was written in the key of Eb minor. There are structural similarities between The Outlaw Torn and ReLoad's Fixxxer. The song's demo was called "Outlaw" and was recorded by James and Lars in Lars' Dungeon on March 6, 1995.

"The Outlaw Torn" was included on the second disc (and DVD) of Metallica's collaboration with the San Francisco Symphony Orchestra (with Michael Kamen conducting), entitled S&M.

It was played for the first time live April 12, 1999 in Oahu,HI.