2. To Live Is To Die
Making its live debut in 2012 - but recorded in 1988 - this is essentially a eulogy to the late Cliff Burton and features the last lines ever written by the bassist. The composition of the track were recorded by the bands then bassist Jason Newsted but were written by Burton while the words spoken towards the end of the song ("when a man lies, he murders some part of the world. These are the pale deaths which men miscall their lives...") by James Hetfield were written by German poet Paul Gerhardt, but are mistakenly attributed to Burton in the liner notes. Still, the second half of the speech ("All this I cannot bear to witness any longer. Cannot the kingdom of salvation take me home?") were written by Burton. The band traditionally played an abridged version of this track upon the original release of the AJFA album but the entire version did not make its official debut until the band's twentieth anniversary performances in December last year. Subsequently the spoken lyrics in the song were played from a backing track and were not spoken by Hetfield during this performance. Due to both it's rarity and significance the song is a strong contender for being requested by fans.
Wayne Madden
Contributor
First studied Journalism in Ireland in 2003, returning to Sunderland University on the tenth anniversary of my first studies in the subject to continue towards an MA. Interested in all sorts including WWE, Music, Film, TV and Games. Has travelled around a bit to places like California, Ontario and Mexico and plans to do more of the same soon again.
Recently I've been writing pieces on my favourite topics which have included obscure theme music from nostalgic shows, Guns N' Roses and a few other surprises I'll be happy to share in time!
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Wayne