Dream Wired
No Result
View All Result
  • Home
  • Celebrity
  • DramaAlert
  • Gossip
  • Movie
  • TV
  • Music
  • Comics
  • Shop
  • Home
  • Celebrity
  • DramaAlert
  • Gossip
  • Movie
  • TV
  • Music
  • Comics
  • Shop
No Result
View All Result
Dream Wired
No Result
View All Result
Home Music

The Musician James Hetfield Calls a ‘Master Craftsman at Lyrics’

rmtsa by rmtsa
January 9, 2025
in Music
0
The Musician James Hetfield Calls a ‘Master Craftsman at Lyrics’
74
SHARES
1.2k
VIEWS
Share on FacebookShare on Twitter


You might also like

Diddy Still Faces Nearly 70 Sexual Abuse Lawsuits

Rush Plans on Expanding the Band With ‘Another Musician or Two’

Kendrick Lamar Eclipses Drake With Highest-Certified Rap Song Ever

The James Hetfield influences are plentiful and they don’t all come from metal, with the Metallica frontman recently crediting a legendary gruff-voiced singer-songwriter as “a master craftsman” lyricist during an in-depth discussion about his writing approach on The Metallica Report podcast.

So which musician got the nod of respect from Papa Het? That would be Tom Waits, a 2011 inductee into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Grammy winner who largely has enjoyed a cult success through his career.

You can count Hetfield as one of those championing Waits’ work, with the Metallica musician commenting, “As far as Tom Waits just being a master craftsman at lyrics, painting a picture in one sentence, it interests me and it takes work.”

As a lyricist to aspire to, Hetfield reveals though it’s a more natural talent for Waits. “I saw Tom kind of live it,” he explains. “That was his vocabulary as well. He could sit and speak like that. I can’t.”

In a separate interview from 1996 with Guitar World, Hetfield gave one of his first public shout outs of Waits while promoting the Load album. He commented, “I’ve been really focusing on lyricists — as opposed to people who just sit down and crank out some words for a song — who write fucking poems and then put music to them. I wanted to understand other people’s ideas about how to write lyrics. Nick Cave’s Murder Ballads are the coolest, and I dig all the Tom Waits stuff. I’ve even listened to some Leonard Cohen. I mean, I hate the fucking music, but his lyrics are very cool.”

About Tom Waits

Initially inspired by the folk movement of the ’60s, much of Waits’ early works had a more character-driven, descriptive storytelling type of approach. While he never attained much commercial success, he continued to draw critical raves with each record and his lyrical influence has been broad on a variety of musicians that have followed.

Waits’ songs have also been covered by some of the biggest names in music including Bruce Springsteen (“Jersey Girl”), Rod Stewart (“Downtown Train”), Ramones (“I Don’t Wanna Grow Up”), Eagles (“Ol’ ’55”) Hootie and the Blowfish (“I Hope That I Don’t Fall in Love With You”) and Tori Amos (“Time”).

As stated, he’s a multiple Grammy winner most recently winning Best Alternative Album for his 1999 album Mule Variations. Neil Young inducted Waits into the Rock Hall in 2011 and with his wry wit, Waits commented, “They say that I have no hits and that I’m difficult to work with. And they say that like it’s a bad thing!”

How Does James Hetfield Approach Writing?

Within the discussion on The Metallica Report podcast, Hetfield dissects some of his fascination with words and how it translates to his songwriting.

“I see words that are interesting out of curiosity to me and I would say that coming from a graphics background, the way a word looks is almost more important. Like ‘Lux Aeterna,’ how cool is that? There’s an ‘x’ in it and then an ‘AE’ together?! How cool,” he beams.

“Having access to thesauruses and dictionaries and things like that today is so great,” he continues. “Somebody will send me something and I look at a word and I don’t know what that is, but I look it up and, ‘Hey, I got that.’ I will thumb through books just to see cool words, put ’em in a pile and figure out where they belong. It is like building a vehicle … collecting lots of words and they fit together. But what does it really mean? Is it enough for a subject matter?”

READ MORE: How James Hetfield Still Channels the Spirit of Cliff Burton

“But then I go see a band like Green Day and they have some simple ‘Know Your Enemy.’ It’s so hooky and great. It sticks, but that’s not really literary geniusness,” he laughs while acknowledging his made up word.

“And there are times I’ll make up a word just to get a point across. To me, putting words into a song is like another instrument. So if ‘and,’ ‘the,’ ‘if,’ if those things get in the way, just get rid of them. You just want the meaty words to get in there and get the point across.”

Check out more of the discussion from The Metallica Report Podcast below.

James Hetfield Discusses Writing and Lyrics on The Metallica Report Podcast

Metallica Albums Ranked

See how Metallica’s albums stack up from worst to best.

Gallery Credit: Chad Bowar, Joe DiVita



Source link

Tags: CallsCraftsmanHetfieldJamesLyricsMastermusician
Share30Tweet19
rmtsa

rmtsa

Recommended For You

Diddy Still Faces Nearly 70 Sexual Abuse Lawsuits

by rmtsa
October 7, 2025
0
Diddy Still Faces Nearly 70 Sexual Abuse Lawsuits

Diddy has been sentenced in his criminal case. However, he still reportedly has nearly 70 civil sexual abuse lawsuits that are pending.On Oct. 3, Puff was sentenced to...

Read more

Rush Plans on Expanding the Band With ‘Another Musician or Two’

by rmtsa
October 7, 2025
0
Rush Plans on Expanding the Band With ‘Another Musician or Two’

Rush has announced a reunion tour for 2026, but they've got more plans up their sleeve.Right now, the lineup for the Fifty Something tour features Rush cofounders Geddy...

Read more

Kendrick Lamar Eclipses Drake With Highest-Certified Rap Song Ever

by rmtsa
October 6, 2025
0
Kendrick Lamar Eclipses Drake With Highest-Certified Rap Song Ever

Kendrick Lamar has notched another win over his bitter rival Drake, more than a year after emerging victorious in their epic rap battle. While the 6 God has...

Read more

Did Paul McCartney Spark Rush to Reunite for 2026 Tour?

by rmtsa
October 6, 2025
0
Did Paul McCartney Spark Rush to Reunite for 2026 Tour?

Was Paul McCartney responsible for helping bring Rush back to the concert stage?Sometimes it takes a legend to bring other legends back together and it's quite possible that...

Read more

Taylor Swift ‘The Fate of Ophelia’ x ‘Napoleon Dynamite’ Dance: Watch

by rmtsa
October 6, 2025
0
Taylor Swift ‘The Fate of Ophelia’ x ‘Napoleon Dynamite’ Dance: Watch

Twenty years before Taylor Swift‘s “The Fate of Ophelia” was recorded, a character named Napoleon Dynamite (Jon Heder) was leaning into his uniqueness with a magnificently awkward dance...

Read more
Next Post
15 Black Women Over 50 Who Give Zero F—ks About Aging

15 Black Women Over 50 Who Give Zero F—ks About Aging

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Browse by Category

  • Celebrity
  • Comics
  • DramaAlert
  • Gossip
  • Movie
  • Music
  • TV
  • Uncategorized

CATEGORIES

  • Celebrity
  • Comics
  • DramaAlert
  • Gossip
  • Movie
  • Music
  • TV
  • Uncategorized
No Result
View All Result

Recent News

  • James Gunn Isn’t Losing Sleep Over Racists Upset By PEACEMAKER’s Earth-X Reveal — GeekTyrant
  • Ben Stiller Recalls Feeling ‘Lost’ During His Separation From Christine Taylor
  • Diddy Still Faces Nearly 70 Sexual Abuse Lawsuits

Copyright © 2023 DramaWired.
DramaWired is a content aggregator and not responsible for the content of external sites.

No Result
View All Result
  • Home
  • Celebrity
  • DramaAlert
  • Gossip
  • Movie
  • TV
  • Music
  • Comics
  • Shop

Copyright © 2023 DramaWired.
DramaWired is a content aggregator and not responsible for the content of external sites.

Welcome Back!

Login to your account below

Forgotten Password?

Retrieve your password

Please enter your username or email address to reset your password.

Log In