To Live Is to Die

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

"To Live Is to Die"

Cover of ...And Justice for All
Song by Metallica
from the album ..And Justice for All
Released	September 6, 1988
Recorded	January-May, 1988
Genre	Thrash metal
Length	9:48
Label	Elektra Records
Producer(s)	Metallica, Flemming Rasmussen
..And Justice for All track listing
"Blackened" "...And Justice for All" "Eye of the Beholder" "One" "The Shortest Straw" "Harvester of Sorrow" "The Frayed Ends of Sanity" "To Live Is to Die" "Dyers Eve"

"To Live Is to Die" is an instrumental composition on Metallica's fourth studio album, ...And Justice For All.

It is a tribute to their former bassist Cliff Burton who was killed in a bus crash in 1986. Burton actually wrote the riffs for the song a few months before he died. The song contains a few lyrics near the end of the song written by Burton which are spoken by James Hetfield. This song along with "The Frayed Ends of Sanity" are the only songs from the ...And Justice for All album that have never been performed live in their entirety by the band.

This is one of the few (if not the only) tracks off the album in which Jason Newsted's bass guitar is actually audible during the middle part of the song, during the melodic rhythm riffs and guitar solos. The bass was thought to have been turned all the way down in the album, and as a result the guitars sound very thin, and the drums sound a lot clickier, particulary Lars' bass drum.

This song is also notable for its second guitar solo, that is played by Hetfield instead of Kirk Hammett.