Enter Sandman

Here’s what Michael Bonner, the Yankees’ senior director of scoreboard and broadcasting said of the song “Enter Sandman”.. But once Rivera is no longer closing games for the Yankees, Bonner said, the song will be retired at Yankee Stadium along with him.

The opening chords of Metallica’s “Enter Sandman” blare over the Yankee Stadium sound system, and by the time the drums kick in 15 seconds later, everyone in the building knows what is about to happen. Mariano Rivera’s theatrical entrance is one of the most recognizable in all of professional sports, but as the Yankees’ closer approaches the all-time saves mark, he admits he doesn’t even listen to the song.

Enter Sandman

“Enter Sandman” is a song by American thrash metal band Metallica, featured as the opening track and lead single from their eponymous 1991 album. The music was written by Kirk Hammett, James Hetfield and Lars Ulrich. Vocalist and rhythm guitarist Hetfield wrote the lyrics.

Mariano Rivera - Enter Sandman

Guitarist Kirk Hammett told Rolling Stone magazine how he wrote this song's memorable riff: "Soundgarden had just put out Louder Than Love. I was trying to capture their attitude toward big, heavy riffs. It was two o'clock in the morning. I put it on tape and didn't think about it. When [drummer] Lars [Ulrich] heard the riff, he said, 'That's really great. But repeat the first part four times.' It was that suggestion that made it even more hooky."

KirK Hammett

According to engineer Randy Staub, the drum track was composed of nearly 50 takes because drummer Lars Ulrich recorded each section of the song separately in order to maintain the intensity. Supposedly a combination of 40 to 50 microphones were used in recording the drums and guitars to simulate the sound of a live concert.

Lars Ulrich

Hammett told Kerrang! September 13, 2008 about the song's guitar solo: "A lot of people can probably hum this one note perfect, but aside from the fact that it's an insanely popular song I think the solo is amazing in its own right. It fits in perfectly and adds a different dimension to the music."

Metallica

The instrumental parts of the song were quickly finished, but Hetfield did not come up with vocal melodies and lyrics for a long time. The song was among the album's last to have lyrics, and the lyrics featured in the song are not the original; Hetfield felt that "Enter Sandman" sounded "catchy and kind of commercial" and so to counterbalance the sound, he wrote lyrics about "destroy[ing] the perfect family; a huge horrible secret in a family" that included references to crib death.

James Hetfield

For the first time in Metallica's history, however, Ulrich and producer Bob Rock told Hetfield that they felt he could write better lyrics. Nevertheless, according to Ulrich, the song was the "foundation, the guide to the whole record" even before it had lyrics."

Enter Sandman

The line in the chorus, "Take my hand, we're off to Never Never Land" is a reference to the children's story Peter Pan, as Peter lives in the magical world of Neverland. In this song, the Sandman lives in Never Never Land, and it is a much less pleasant place.

At 5:23 into the song, there is a rendition of an ancient children's prayer performed by James Hetfield and the song of Metallica producer Bob Rock: "Now I lay me down to sleep, I pray the Lord, my soul to keep, if I die before I wake, I pray the Lord my soul to take." There have been many more cynical renditions of this prayer which have the child pleading with God to take their life. When Pat Boone covered this, he said the second part as "Guard me, angels, through the night, wake me in God's holy light," another traditional children's bedtime prayer.

Metallica

The single was released on July 29, 1991, two weeks before the release of Metallica. The album debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 in the United States and nine other countries, and sold over 22 million copies worldwide, allowing "Enter Sandman" to become, as Chris True describes it, "one of the most recognizable songs of all time in rock".

The single peaked at No. 16 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart and at No. 5 on the UK Singles Chart. On September 30, 1991, it became Metallica's second single to achieve gold status in the United States, for shipping more than 500,000 copies. In addition to the nominations received by the album as a whole, the song was nominated for Best Rock Song at the 34th Grammy Awards in 1992, ultimately losing to "The Soul Cages" by Sting.

Enter Sandman

"Enter Sandman" has received many accolades. Rolling Stone magazine listed it as the 399th song on their "500 Greatest Songs of All Time" list, and VH1 placed it 22nd in their list of the "40 Greatest Metal Songs of All Time". The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame includes it in their list of the "500 Songs That Shaped Rock".

After the US invaded Iraq in 2003, this was one of the songs they played over and over is sessions designed to break the will of Saddam Hussein's supporters. According to United States Psychological Operations, the intention was to "break a prisoner's resistance [... by] playing music that was culturally offensive to them".

Metallica

Enter Sandman Lyrics

Say your prayers little one
Don't forget my son
To include everyone
I 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 lies
Dreams of dragons fire
And of things that will bite, yeah

Sleep with one eye open
Grippin' your pillow tight
Exit light
Enter night
Take my hand
We're off to never never-land

(Whisper)
Now I lay me down to sleep (x2)
Pray the lord my soul to keep (x2)
And if I die before I wake (x2)
Pray the lord my soul to take (x2)

Hush little baby don't say a word
And never mind that noise you heard
It's just the beast 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

We're off to never never-land

Take my hand
We're off to never never-land
Take my hand
We're off to never never-land

We're off to never never-land

Enter Sandman

The song begins with an arpeggio played clean in the first position. The key is E minor, on a pentatonic scale, so the arpeggio is performed on the minor triad of E withan augmented fourth (A#) in addition.

Infact this arpeggio becomes the main riff, which uses the same notes but only on the sixth and fifth strings, introducing also the use of a Wah Wah pedal.

Let's see into details the main theme. It features a riff in E5, playing a Power chord in first position.

Before the refrain, on the chorus and pre-chorus, the song modulates one whole tone, up to F#, and repeating the introductory arpeggio of the song, this time one tone picthed higher.

The Chorus is then executed in this F#: note the use of the "Diabolus in Musica" , the tritone, widely used in thrash metal music. The following theme sections, instead, are again in E.

Enter Sandman