1991 single by Metallica From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
"Enter Sandman" is a song by American heavy metal band Metallica. It's the opening track and lead single from their self-titled fifth album. The music was written by Kirk Hammett, James Hetfield and Lars Ulrich. Vocalist and guitarist Hetfield wrote the lyrics which deal with the concept of a child's nightmares.
"Enter Sandman" | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|
Single by Metallica | ||||
from the album Metallica | ||||
B-side |
| |||
Released | July 29, 1991[1] | |||
Recorded | June 16, 1991 | |||
Studio | One on One (Los Angeles) | |||
Genre | ||||
Length | 5:31 | |||
Label | Elektra | |||
Composer(s) | ||||
Lyricist(s) | James Hetfield | |||
Producer(s) |
| |||
Metallica singles chronology | ||||
| ||||
Music video | ||||
"Enter Sandman" on YouTube |
When they were writing the song, Hetfield at first had "disrupt the perfect family" which he wrote about sudden infant death syndrome. He wanted this instead of "off to never never land". He also wanted the sandman to kill the baby but said that it was too corny. In an interview with Uncut, Hetfield said:
"I wanted more of the mental thing where this kid gets manipulated by what adults say. And you know when you wake up with that shit in your eye? That's supposedly been put in there by the sandman to make you dream. So the guy in the song tells this little kid that and he kinda freaks. He can't sleep after that and it works the opposite way. Instead of a soothing thing, the table's turned."[4]
In the song, Hetfield sings the bedtime prayer "Now I Lay Me Down to Sleep".
The song was able to make it to #10 on the Mainstream Rock, #16 on the Billboard Hot 100, and RPM's Canada Top Singles charts.[5][6][7]
Both the physical and mastertone releases were certified Gold and the digital release was certified Platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA).[8]
It was nominated for Best Rock Song at the 34th Grammy Awards but lost to Sting's "The Soul Cages".[9]
A music video for the song was released. It was directed by Wayne Isham. In the video, a child is in bed having nightmares while sleeping. In his nightmares, he is drowning, jumps off a building, gets covered in snakes and is chased by a semi truck. R. G. Armstrong plays the old man in the video.[10]
US single
International CD single
International 12-inch vinyl single (4 tracks)
International 12-inch vinyl single (3 tracks)
International 7-inch vinyl single
International 7-inch vinyl picture disc single
Australian 2-track CD single
Japanese 2-track 3-inch CD single
Personnel adapted from Metallica liner notes,[11][12] except where noted.
Seamless Wikipedia browsing. On steroids.
Every time you click a link to Wikipedia, Wiktionary or Wikiquote in your browser's search results, it will show the modern Wikiwand interface.
Wikiwand extension is a five stars, simple, with minimum permission required to keep your browsing private, safe and transparent.