To Live Is to Die

"To Live Is to Die" is a mostly instrumental composition by the American heavy metal band Metallica. It is the eighth track on the band's fourth album ...And Justice for All (1988). Keeping up with the tradition of the band's previous two albums, the instrumental track comes late in the album and is long. For a little over 2 decades, "To Live Is to Die" was the longest original studio recording to be released on an album by Metallica at 9:49, just a fraction of a second longer than "The Outlaw Torn" from Load clocking at 9:48 and change (note that the original recording of this song is 10:48, but the last minute was cut in order to fit the album within the length limitations of CDs at the time).

Since the release of Death Magnetic, "Suicide & Redemption" claims the title for longest studio recorded Metallica song released on an album at 9:58, although "Mercyful Fate" from Garage Inc. holds the title for longest studio song at 11:12, though not only is it a cover, it is a medley of 5 different songs. "Mercyful Fate" held the title for longest studio song, until the release of "Junior Dad", on the collaboration album, Lulu, clocking in at 19:29.

"To Live Is to Die" contains a few spoken lyrics near the end of the song, starting at 7:35, that were written by German poet Paul Gerhardt and popularized in the 1981 film Excalibur, although in the album's booklet, the lyrics are misattributed to Cliff Burton. The song was written as a tribute to the band's bassist Cliff Burton, who died in a bus accident in 1986. The music consists of riffs Burton had written that had not been incorporated into songs prior to his death. The song title is a phrase that Burton was fond of.

Hetfield plays the second guitar solo during the slower mid-section of the song. "To Live Is to Die" is the last song Metallica released in which Burton has songwriting credit, and is the band's only instrumental track with Jason Newsted playing bass.

The song was first performed in it's entirety live at the 30 Years of Metallica event in 2011^[2]. Prior to this event, the song was only played live during the "Damaged Justice Tour" but not in its entirety. They have played several parts of it combined with parts of other songs, most notably during the 1993 "Nowhere Else to Roam" tour as part of a medley with Orion and The Call of Ktulu.

Demo version

The demo version of the song features an introduction at the end into "Dyers Eve". It is also an all instrumental song, unlike the album version.

Personnel

• James Hetfield — rhythm guitar, second guitar solo
• Lars Ulrich — drums
• Kirk Hammett — lead guitar
• Jason Newsted — bass

References

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