Now I lay me down to sleep. Pray the lord my soul to keep. If I die before I wake. Pray the lord my soul to take…

Enter Sandman

Say your prayers little one
Don’t forget my son
To include everyoneI tuck you in, warm within
Keep you free from sin
‘Til the sandman he comes

Sleep with one eye open
Gripping your pillow tight

Exit Light
Enter night
Take my hand
We’re off to never-never land

Something’s wrong, shut the light
Heavy thoughts tonight
And they aren’t of Snow White
Dreams of war, dreams of liars
Dreams of dragon’s fire
And of things that will bite, yeah

Sleep with one eye open
Gripping your pillow tight

Exit light
Enter night
Take my hand
We’re off to never-never land

Now I lay me down to sleep
Now I lay me down to sleep
Pray the lord my soul to keep
Pray the lord my soul to keep
If I die before I wake
If I die before I wake
Pray the lord my soul to take
Pray the lord my soul to take

Hush little baby don’t say a word
And never mind that noise you heard
It’s just the beasts under your bed
In your closet in your head

Exit light
Enter night
Grain of sand

Exit light
Enter night
Take my hand
We’re off to never-never land

Boo! Yeah yeah!

We’re off to never-never land
Take my hand
We’re off to never-never land
Take my handWe’re off to never-never land
We’re off to never-never land
We’re off to never-never land

Song: Enter Sandman
Lyrics by: Kirk Hammett, James Hetfield, Lars Ulrich.
Album: Black Album.
Released: 1991.

The Video

The Breakdown

Yeah, I know, most of you were singing your way through those lyrics, weren’t you? It’s quite all right, I did the same thing, so don’t feel bad. Today, I am doing a breakdown of the song Enter Sandman by Metallica off their Black Album, released back in 1991.

Kirk Hammett, the lead guitarist for Metallica, was credited with writing this song and went on record saying that it was a story of a young man who is haunted by intense nightmares and is visited by a variation of the Sandman.

Enter Sandman Influences

All of us at one point or another have had instances of nightmares at least similar to what is described in this song and shown in the music video. Initially, this was meant to be about Sudden Infant Death Syndrome, a much darker tone than the constant nightmares that are represented here.

This song has been officially named Metallica’s most played song ever, even being used by Sandman, a wrestler with ECW, as his entrance music. It was also used in 2003 during the US invasion of Iraq, they used it in a psychological sense, laying it over and over hoping to break Saddam Hussein and his men’s will so they would give up their fight.

Personal Notes

Beyond what I have stated here, the song also has nods to other sources as well, like Peter Pan and others. I could go on and on about this song, breaking down what it meant to me back in ’91, but I won’t, seeing as I am significantly older now than I was back then, and the meaning of the song has changed or diminished over the years.

Yes, it’s a great headbanger, something to motivate you during whatever tasks you may have to accomplish, but, beyond that, I don’t see this having a significant impact on the way songs are written or produced. Those lyrics were just that perfect song at the time, allowing the metal genre of music to shine brightly for a while.

Metallica has written numerous other songs, but none took off for them like Enter Sandman did, except for Nothing Else Matters or Unforgiven, both of which were off the Black Album. In this writer’s opinion, this was a great song off a decent album designed to make money.

If you want to get to the real meat of Metallica, then I suggest picking up the four albums that came before this and giving them a listen. All four of them are much better, harder and more involved than most of what was released on the Black Album.

Edward Hale