Music in the Blood

TO LIVE IS TO DIE: LAST WORDS OF CLIFF BURTON

Posted: 24 Aug 2009 08:17 AM PDT

When a Man Lies He Murders
Some Part of the World
These Are the Pale Deaths Which
Men Miscall Their Lives
All this I Cannot Bear
to Witness Any Longer
Cannot the Kingdom of Salvation
Take Me Home

This song is a tribute to Metallica's bassist Cliff Burton, who died in a tour bus crash. It is instrumental except the spoken word piece near the end - this was a poem that Cliff wrote before he died The line, "These are the pale deaths which men miscall their lives" comes from the book Lord
Foul's Bane, Book One of the series "The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant the Unbeliever" by Stephen R. Donaldson. In the book, the main character decides to write a poem to amuse himself. The full poem is as follows: These are the pale deaths which men miscall their lives: for all the scents of green things growing, each breath is but an exhalation of the grave. Bodies jerk like puppet corpses, and hell walks laughing.
Metallica Singer James Hetfield explained to Mojo magazine December 2008 that this song is, "a homage to Cliff without going over the top." He added: "It's about realizing how grateful we were to have that time with him."

Download the song "To Live is To Die" here:

ZAKK WYLDE AND DIMEBAG: FRIENDS FOREVER

Posted: 24 Aug 2009 08:22 AM PDT

Boston Herald recently conducted a short interview with BLACK LABEL SOCIETY frontman Zakk Wylde.

Herald: What was your relationship like with "Dimebag?

Wylde: "He was my partner in six-string crime. He was a beautiful guy. A BLACK LABEL guy. He was one of the most beautiful souls you'd ever meet. If you were having a crappy day, he'd come in and light the room up. Aside from being one of the greatest guitar players ever, he was an even better person."

Herald: What's been the reaction to the Dimebag tribute song "In This River"?

Wylde: "I have to sing it every night and it's hard not to break down."

Herald: You just pitched a pilot to MTV. What's it about?

Wylde: "It's like rock boot camp. Their parents don't want them to be in bands. They wanted me to go in and talk to them. I said, 'I can't do that, man.' I just went in there and got them drunk, what every friendly, neighborhood rock guy would do."

Herald: What's the longest you've ever gone without showering on tour?

Wylde: "Seventy-seven days without showering or brushing my teeth. I think the whole brushing your teeth every day thing is a fallacy. I don't have a cavity in my head. You just have bad breath. But so what. Then no one wants to talk to you. Good. Don't talk to me."

Herald: Why didn't you beat down that kid on MTV's "Battle for Ozzfest" who wore your roadies' leather vests?

Wylde: "They didn't even show what I said. I said, 'Dude, I'd never go in your parents' house and stick my feet up on the furniture. It's disrespectful. People don't like wiseasses. They get their asses handed to them. Are you going to go up to a Navy SEAL and put his uniform on? You know what it took to earn that uniform?'"

Herald: What makes a great riff and what are some of the best?

Wylde: "A lot of times the best riffs are the simplest ones. Something like 'Smoke on the Water' or 'Iron Man'. Look at with Dimebag. 'Walk' was just two notes. It's like, gotta be catchy and hooky. Less is more when it comes to great riffs. You're not talking about jazz fusion here. This is rock and roll."

Download the song "In this River" :