To Live Is to Die

Infobox Song
Name = To Live Is to Die


Artist = Metallica
Album = …And Justice for All
Released = August 25, 1988
Recorded = January–May 1988 at "One On One" Studios in Los Angeles, California [ [http://www.vh1.com/artists/interview/1473275/06252003/metallica.jhtml Hetfield interview mentioning One on One studios.] ]
Genre = Thrash metal
Length = 9:49
Writer = James Hetfield
Cliff Burton
Lars Ulrich
Label = Elektra
Producer = Metallica
Flemming Rasmussen
Tracks = #"Blackened"
#"…And Justice for All"
#"Eye of the Beholder"
#"One"
#"The Shortest Straw"
#"Harvester of Sorrow"
#"The Frayed Ends of Sanity"
#"To Live Is to Die"
#"Dyers Eve""To Live Is to Die" is a mostly instrumental composition by thrash metal band Metallica from their 1988 album …And Justice for All. Keeping up with the tradition of the band's first three albums, the instrumental track comes late in the album and is lengthy. For over 2 decades, "To Live Is to Die" was the longest original studio recording to be released on an album by the band at 9:49, just a fraction of a second longer than "The Outlaw Torn" from Load clocking in 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 Metallica song at 9:57, although this new track is still shorter than "The Outlaw Torn (Unencumbered by Manufacturing Restrictions Version)" (10:48) which was released on "The Memory Remains" single.

"To Live is to Die" contains a few lyrics near the end of the song, coming in at 7:35, that were written by Burton and are spoken by James Hetfield. The song was written as a tribute to the band's bassist Cliff Burton, who was killed 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. This is the last song Metallica released that Burton has a writing credit in, and is the band's only instrumental track with Jason Newsted playing bass guitar. It has never been performed live in its entirety, though portions of the song have been performed in medleys or in stand-alone fillers.

References