"Mama Said" is a Metallica

Metallica

Metallica is an American heavy metal band from Los Angeles, California. Formed in 1981 when James Hetfield responded to an advertisement that drummer Lars Ulrich had posted in a local newspaper. The current line-up features long-time lead guitarist Kirk Hammett and bassist Robert Trujillo ...

 song on the band's sixth album, Load

Load (album)

Load is the sixth studio album by the American heavy metal band Metallica. Released on June 4, 1996 through Elektra Records, it sold 680,000 units in its first week and debuted at #1 on Billboard 200. The album has sold over 5 million copies worldwide and is certified 5x platinum by the RIAA...

. The lyrics, written by James Hetfield

James Hetfield

James Alan Hetfield is the rhythm guitarist, co-founder, main songwriter, and lead vocalist for the American heavy metal band Metallica. Hetfield co-founded Metallica in October 1981 after answering a classified advertisement by drummer Lars Ulrich in the Los Angeles newspaper The Recycler,...

, represent a man or boy who is learning to find his own way in life away from his mother. The song is almost directly written about Hetfields' difficult relationship with his mother, who died of cancer

Cancer

Cancer , known medically as a malignant neoplasm, is a large group of different diseases, all involving unregulated cell growth. In cancer, cells divide and grow uncontrollably, forming malignant tumors, and invade nearby parts of the body. The cancer may also spread to more distant parts of the...

.

The song stands out among Metallica's predominantly metal

Heavy metal music

Heavy metal is a genre of rock music that developed in the late 1960s and early 1970s, largely in the Midlands of the United Kingdom and the United States...

 catalog; its genre-blending style incorporates country

Country music

Country music is a popular American musical style that began in the rural Southern United States in the 1920s. It takes its roots from Western cowboy and folk music...

, blues

Blues

Blues is the name given to both a musical form and a music genre that originated in African-American communities of primarily the "Deep South" of the United States at the end of the 19th century from spirituals, work songs, field hollers, shouts and chants, and rhymed simple narrative ballads...

, and hard rock

Hard rock

Hard rock is a loosely defined genre of rock music which has its earliest roots in mid-1960s garage rock, blues rock and psychedelic rock...

. "Mama Said" begins with acoustic guitar

Acoustic guitar

An acoustic guitar is a guitar that uses only an acoustic sound board. The air in this cavity resonates with the vibrational modes of the string and at low frequencies, which depend on the size of the box, the chamber acts like a Helmholtz resonator, increasing or decreasing the volume of the sound...

 and, during the chorus, becomes flush with a country-flavored vocal harmony

Vocal harmony

Vocal harmony is a style of vocal music in which a consonant note or notes are sung at the same time as a main melody in a predominantly homophonic texture. Vocal harmonies are used in many subgenres of European art music, including Classical choral music and opera and in the popular styles from...

 and steel guitar

Steel guitar

Steel guitar is a type of guitar or the method of playing the instrument. Developed in Hawaii in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, a steel guitar is usually positioned horizontally; strings are plucked with one hand, while the other hand changes the pitch of one or more strings with the use...

. Toward the end the song features power chord

Power chord

In music, a power chord is a chord consisting of only the root note of the chord and the fifth interval, usually played on electric guitar, and typically through an amplification process that imparts distortion...

s on electric guitar

Electric guitar

An electric guitar is a guitar that uses the principle of direct electromagnetic induction to convert vibrations of its metal strings into electric audio signals. The signal generated by an electric guitar is too weak to drive a loudspeaker, so it is amplified before sending it to a loudspeaker...

.

"Mama Said" has never been featured as a part of Metallica's live setlist. Hetfield has performed this song live, however, using a single steel-stringed acoustic guitar with no drum or bass accompaniment. He also performed it along with country singer Jessi Colter

Jessi Colter

Jessi Colter is an American country music artist who is best known for her collaboration with her husband, country singer and songwriter Waylon Jennings and for her 1975 country-pop crossover hit "I'm Not Lisa"....

 on CMT

CMT

- Medicine :* California mastitis test* Certified Massage Therapist* Cervical motion tenderness, a sign of pelvic inflammatory disease* Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease* Chemically modified tetracyclines* Circus Movement Tachycardia...

's Outlaw Concert, along with Hetfield's cover

Cover version

In popular music, a cover version or cover song, or simply cover, is a new performance or recording of a contemporary or previously recorded, commercially released song or popular song...

 of Waylon Jennings

Waylon Jennings

Waylon Arnold Jennings was an American country music singer, songwriter, and musician. Jennings began playing at eight. He began performing at twelve, on KVOW radio. Jennings formed a band The Texas Longhorns. Jennings worked as a D.J on KVOW, KDAV and KLLL...

's "Don't You Think This Outlaw Bit's Done Got Out of Hand

Don't You Think This Outlaw Bit's Done Got Out of Hand

"Don't You Think This Outlaw Bit's Done Gone Out of Hand" is a single by American country music artist Waylon Jennings. Released in October 1978, it was the second single from his album I've Always Been Crazy. The song peaked at number 5 on the Billboard Hot Country Singles chart. It also reached...

."

Music video

Lesser known among Metallica's music video

Music video

A music video or song video is a short film integrating a song and imagery, produced for promotional or artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a marketing device intended to promote the sale of music recordings...

 catalog, the "Mama Said" video focuses on James Hetfield sitting in the backseat of a car while playing the song on an acoustic guitar. The vehicle appears to be driving along a Southwestern highway, and at one point the other members of Metallica are seen outside looking into the window. As the song comes to an end, the view pulls back to reveal that Hetfield has been sitting in a stationary backseat inside a studio. He then walks over to a horse, takes its bridle, and walks off screen. Directed by Anton Corbijn

Anton Corbijn

Anton Corbijn is a Dutch photographer, music video and film director. He is the creative director behind the visual output of Depeche Mode and U2, having handled the principal promotion and sleeve photography for both for more than a decade...

.

Track listing

International Single Part 1

1. "Mama Said"
2. "King Nothing
   King Nothing
   "King Nothing" is a song by Metallica in their 1996 album Load.The song King Nothing, written by James Hetfield, Lars Ulrich, and Kirk Hammett, circles around the theme of "be careful what you wish for." The song starts on a bass riff which develops into the main riff of the song. A single of "King...
   
    (Live)"
3. "Whiplash
   Whiplash (song)
   -External links:*...
   
    (Live)"
4. "Mama Said (Edit)"

International Single Part 2

1. "Mama Said"
2. "So What (Live)"
3. "Creeping Death
   Creeping Death
   -Covers:* New Jersey Hardcore band Shattered Realm includes a cover of "Creeping Death" on the reissue of their 2002 album "Broken Ties Spoken Lies"* Plays Metallica by Four Cellos by Apocalyptica.* During Ozzfest 2002 by Drowning Pool....
   
   (Live)"
4. "Mama Said (Early Demo Version)"

International 7-Inch Vinyl Single

1. "Mama Said"
2. "Ain't My Bitch (Live)"

Japanese EP

1. "Mama Said (Edit)"
2. "So What (Live)"
3. "Creeping Death (Live)"
4. "King Nothing (Live)"
5. "Whiplash (Live)"
6. "Mama Said (Early Demo Version)"

External links

• "Mama Said" music video