Enter Sandman

Enter Sandman is a song performed by the heavy metal band Metallica on their self-titled 1991 album. The song is probably the band's most well-known track, with its single riff chorus that expands throughout the song, and the grim tale of a young child who fears falling asleep to avoid the nightmares to come. In the song's bridge, both vocalist James Hetfield and a young child recite the classic children's prayer, "Now I Lay Me Down To Sleep."

The song is considered an anthem to fans of the heavy metal genre. The song has covered by artists diverse as Motörhead and Pat Boone. It is also a popular crowd-inciting theme for sporting events – professional wrestler Jim Fullington went so far as to call his antihero character in Extreme Championship Wrestling "The Sandman". New York Yankees closer Mariano Rivera also uses it as his entrance music when he comes into a game.

The song underwent many changes before it made it onto the album – namely, the lyrical content was changed from crib death to something more commercially marketable (like nightmares), the structure of the riff was changed, and the solo was altered from a more traditionally fast heavy metal solo to something shorter and simpler. Most of all, the band and producer Bob Rock wanted to make the second track, "Holier Than Thou", the first single off the album. Drummer Lars Ulrich vied to make Sandman the first single, believing it would market better than the more traditional-heavy metal sounding "Holier Than Thou" (all information found on the Classic Albums: The Black Album DVD).

Ironically, because of the song's wide-spread popularity, many regular Metallica fans dislike the song.

External links

Enter Sandman lyrics