Metallica - Ride the Lightning
Length: 6:37
Description: "Ride the Lightning" is the title track of the 1984 album by heavy metal band Metallica. The original version of the song was found on the Horsemen Of The Apocalypse demo with Dave Mustaine and Ron McGovney. The version found on Ride the Lightning is slightly different due to input from Cliff Burton so he was credited as well as Hetfield, Ulrich and Mustaine.
The theme of the song is that of a man who has been sentenced to execution in the electric chair. He opens by acknowledging his guilt ("guilty as 'charged'"), but still questions who made the judge "God to say" that he should die. Later on the man starts to feel the fear while the execution is prepared and asks himself what he is doing in the electric chair. By the end of the song he just wants to get it over with.
It is speculated that the song is based on a 1961 episode of The Twilight Zone written by Charles Beaumont entitled "Shadow Play". The episode begins in a courtroom, where Adam Grant (Dennis Weaver) is convicted of first degree murder and sentenced to the electric chair. Shouting, "It's happening all over again!", Grant insists that his trial, conviction, and execution are all part of a recurring nightmare, and that when he dies, the world around him and all its occupants will likewise cease to exist.
In a live recording from 1983, James Hetfield states that "This one is dedicated to our friend in Georgia", leading to the possibility that it is about an actual person as opposed to fictional events.
In an interview with Guitar World magazine, James Hetfield has stated that the song is not an indictment of the death penalty, in which he is a believer, but simply an exploration of the concept of being in a terrible situation with no control.
RIDE THE LIGHTNING
Guilty as charged
But damn it, it ain't right
There's someone else controlling me
Death in the air
Strapped in the electric chair
This can't be happening to me
Who made you God to say,
I'll take your life from you?
Flash before my eyes
Now it's time to die
Burning in my brain
I can feel the flame
Wait for the sign
To flick the switch of death
It's the beginning of the end
Sweat, chilling cold
As I watch death unfold
Consciousness my only friend
My fingers grip with fear
What am I doing here?
Flash before my eyes
Now it's time to die
Burning in my brain
I can feel the flame
Someone help me
Oh please, God help me
They are trying to take it all away
I don't want to die
Time moving slow
The minutes seem like hours
The final curtain call I see
How true is this
Just get it over with
If this is true, just let it be
Wakened by horrid scream
Freed from this frightening dream
Flash before my eyes
Now it's time to die
Burning in my brain
I can feel the flame
Words and Music by James Hetfield, Lars Ulrich, Cliff Burton and Dave Mustaine
Copyright © 1984 Creeping Death Music (ASCAP)
International Copyright Secured All Rights Reserved
The theme of the song is that of a man who has been sentenced to execution in the electric chair. He opens by acknowledging his guilt ("guilty as 'charged'"), but still questions who made the judge "God to say" that he should die. Later on the man starts to feel the fear while the execution is prepared and asks himself what he is doing in the electric chair. By the end of the song he just wants to get it over with.
It is speculated that the song is based on a 1961 episode of The Twilight Zone written by Charles Beaumont entitled "Shadow Play". The episode begins in a courtroom, where Adam Grant (Dennis Weaver) is convicted of first degree murder and sentenced to the electric chair. Shouting, "It's happening all over again!", Grant insists that his trial, conviction, and execution are all part of a recurring nightmare, and that when he dies, the world around him and all its occupants will likewise cease to exist.
In a live recording from 1983, James Hetfield states that "This one is dedicated to our friend in Georgia", leading to the possibility that it is about an actual person as opposed to fictional events.
In an interview with Guitar World magazine, James Hetfield has stated that the song is not an indictment of the death penalty, in which he is a believer, but simply an exploration of the concept of being in a terrible situation with no control.
RIDE THE LIGHTNING
Guilty as charged
But damn it, it ain't right
There's someone else controlling me
Death in the air
Strapped in the electric chair
This can't be happening to me
Who made you God to say,
I'll take your life from you?
Flash before my eyes
Now it's time to die
Burning in my brain
I can feel the flame
Wait for the sign
To flick the switch of death
It's the beginning of the end
Sweat, chilling cold
As I watch death unfold
Consciousness my only friend
My fingers grip with fear
What am I doing here?
Flash before my eyes
Now it's time to die
Burning in my brain
I can feel the flame
Someone help me
Oh please, God help me
They are trying to take it all away
I don't want to die
Time moving slow
The minutes seem like hours
The final curtain call I see
How true is this
Just get it over with
If this is true, just let it be
Wakened by horrid scream
Freed from this frightening dream
Flash before my eyes
Now it's time to die
Burning in my brain
I can feel the flame
Words and Music by James Hetfield, Lars Ulrich, Cliff Burton and Dave Mustaine
Copyright © 1984 Creeping Death Music (ASCAP)
International Copyright Secured All Rights Reserved
Title: Metallica - Ride the Lightning
Author: KazrakFTW
Source: YouTube
Related videos
Comments
go dave
• gumbalooza on 08-Jan-09
fuck im addicted to metallica. im serious. i cant go a week or even three days withou needing to hear that sweet sound of metallica
• mettal7 on 04-Jan-09
METALLICA ROCKS THE EARTH!!!
• KingOfStix on 03-Jan-09
ride the lightning of course, and kill em all
• nynelyvez81 on 03-Jan-09
out of the albums i know theres black album, load, reload, death magnetic, master of puppets, and justice for all. what are the others
• Rocker33210 on 02-Jan-09
FUCK YEAH!
• irsidas23 on 01-Jan-09
Metallica.rulz..this is true metall
• enigmatyku on 01-Jan-09
HEHE man that's a great song ,and if ya know your history:thanks Dave and if ya dont FUCK off poser!!!!!!!!!!!!!
• 7Whitewolf3 on 28-Dec-08
this song is one of their best..a masterpiece!!! metallica lives foreverrrrrrrr...
• sinisterx326 on 28-Dec-08
amazing!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
• dumbdrum101 on 13-Dec-08
go dave
• gumbalooza on 08-Jan-09
fuck im addicted to metallica. im serious. i cant go a week or even three days withou needing to hear that sweet sound of metallica
• mettal7 on 04-Jan-09
METALLICA ROCKS THE EARTH!!!
• KingOfStix on 03-Jan-09
ride the lightning of course, and kill em all
• nynelyvez81 on 03-Jan-09
out of the albums i know theres black album, load, reload, death magnetic, master of puppets, and justice for all. what are the others
• Rocker33210 on 02-Jan-09
FUCK YEAH!
• irsidas23 on 01-Jan-09
Metallica.rulz..this is true metall
• enigmatyku on 01-Jan-09
HEHE man that's a great song ,and if ya know your history:thanks Dave and if ya dont FUCK off poser!!!!!!!!!!!!!
• 7Whitewolf3 on 28-Dec-08
this song is one of their best..a masterpiece!!! metallica lives foreverrrrrrrr...
• sinisterx326 on 28-Dec-08
amazing!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
• dumbdrum101 on 13-Dec-08