music.wikisort.org - Composition

"For Whom the Bell Tolls" is a song by American heavy metal band Metallica. It was first released on the group's second album, Ride the Lightning (1984). Elektra Records also released it as a promotional single, with both edited and full-length versions. The song is generally regarded as one of Metallica's most popular; by March 2018, it ranked number five on the band's live performance count.[2] Several live albums and video albums include the song.

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"For Whom the Bell Tolls"
Promotional single by Metallica
from the album Ride the Lightning
B-side	Album version
Released	1984
Recorded	February 20 – March 14, 1984
Studio	Sweet Silence (Copenhagen, Denmark)
Genre	Heavy metal[1]
Length	5:11 (album version) 3:59 (promo edit)
Label	Elektra
Songwriter(s)	Cliff Burton James Hetfield Lars Ulrich
Producer(s)	Metallica Flemming Rasmussen
Metallica singles chronology
"Creeping Death" (1984) "For Whom the Bell Tolls" (1984) "Master of Puppets" (1986)
Audio sample
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Composition

The song was inspired by Ernest Hemingway's 1940 novel of the same name about the process of death in modern warfare and the bloody Spanish Civil War. Specific allusions are made to the scene described in Chapter 27 of the book, in which five soldiers are obliterated during an airstrike after taking a defensive position on a hill.

Cliff Burton plays the bass guitar introduction with heavy distortion and a wah pedal. Burton wrote the intro long before joining Metallica and first played it during a 12-minute jam at a battle of the bands with his second band Agents of Misfortune in 1979.

The bell sound heard at the beginning of the track was actually produced by drummer Lars Ulrich striking an anvil with a metal hammer.[3]

Track listing

"For Whom the Bell Tolls" was released as a promo single with two versions of the song. An edited version appears on the A-side, with the full-length album version on the B-side.

Other versions

Metallica

In 1999 and 2019, Metallica recorded "For Whom the Bell Tolls" with the San Francisco Symphony for the live albums S&M and S&M2, respectively. Other live versions appear on Cliff 'Em All (VHS, 1987), Live Shit: Binge & Purge (1993), Cunning Stunts (DVD, 1997), Français Pour une Nuit (DVD, 2009), Orgullo, Pasión, y Gloria: Tres Noches en la Ciudad de México (2009), The Big Four: Live from Sofia, Bulgaria (DVD, 2010), Quebec Magnetic (DVD, 2012), and Metallica: Through the Never (soundtrack, 2013).

Mixes

• A remix by DJ Spooky appeared on the Spawn soundtrack, titled "For Whom the Bell Tolls (The Irony of it All)". Metallica later released it on "The Memory Remains" single, re-titled "For Whom the Bell Tolls (Haven't Heard It Yet Mix)". "The Irony of it All" has vocals from both the chorus and verses of the song, while "Haven't Heard It Yet Mix" only has vocals from the chorus.

Personnel

• James Hetfield – lead vocals, rhythm guitar
• Kirk Hammett – lead guitar
• Cliff Burton – bass guitar
• Lars Ulrich – drums, percussion, anvil

Charts

Chart (2019)	Peak position
US Hot Rock & Alternative Songs (Billboard)[4]	18

Certifications

Region	Certification	Certified units/sales
United Kingdom (BPI)[5]	Silver	200,000
United States (RIAA)[6]	Gold	500,000*
* Sales figures based on certification alone. Sales+streaming figures based on certification alone.

See also

• List of anti-war songs

References

На других языках

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[de] For Whom the Bell Tolls (Lied)

For Whom the Bell Tolls („Wem die Stunde schlägt“) ist ein Lied der US-amerikanischen Metal-Band Metallica. Es ist der dritte Song des Albums Ride the Lightning aus dem Jahr 1984 und wurde außerdem als Promo-Single von Elektra Records veröffentlicht.[2] Das Lied wurde von James Hetfield, Lars Ulrich und Cliff Burton geschrieben.[3]

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- [en] For Whom the Bell Tolls (Metallica song)

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[es] For Whom the Bell Tolls

«For Whom the Bell Tolls» (en castellano: «Por quien doblan las campanas») es la tercera canción del segundo álbum de estudio de Metallica, titulado Ride the Lightning, que fue editada como sencillo en el año 1984.[1][2]

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[ru] For Whom the Bell Tolls

«For Whom the Bell Tolls» (с англ. — «По ком звонит колокол») — музыкальная композиция группы Metallica, третья песня и последний сингл с их второго альбома Ride the Lightning, вышедшего в 1984 году. Она была сочинена Клиффом Бёртоном, Джеймсом Хэтфилдом и Ларсом Ульрихом.

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