I had never heard this song until this version. I found it on Elton John’s Lockdown Sessions but it had been created for an album called The Metallica Blacklist. It was which was a 30th anniversary track by track cover of Metallica’s 1991 self-titled album that’s commonly known as The Black Album. 1 This track was chosen as the promotional single and it’s pretty obvious why. Besides Cyrus singing lead vocal, it features feature Elton John on piano, drummer Chad Smith from Red Hot Chili Peppers, current Metallica bassist Robert Trujillo and cellist Yo-Yo Ma with a gorgeous solo at the end.
However, it’s Cyrus’ vocal that grabbed me and wouldn’t let me go. She takes James Hetfield’s lyrics about being far from home and missing his girlfriend and raises it to a cry in the wildness (a theme that is followed in the official video). The raspy edge to her voice really lends itself to this song and elevates her to that pantheon of great rock vocal performances.
The song is produced by Hetfield and co-writer Lars Ulrich alongside longtime Metallica producer Bob Rock and all profits from this song go to Metallica’s All Within My Hands Foundation and Miley Cyrus’s Happy Hippie Foundation. Metallica fans went a little nuts when they heard Cyrus was taking this song on but where pleasantly surprised by the results. Below is the original for comparison.
When I first saw this video I wanted to find out more about it - who directed it, what it’s meaning is - but found nothing. The actor looks familiar but I can’t place him. I would love is someone knows more could tell me. It adds to the feeling of power and majesty the all-star lineup gives the song. We don’t see any of them in the video, just a man wandering the iconic landscape. (Yes, I don’t remember the name of that either.)
Enjoy your song of the day!
The tribute album was envisioned as an illustration of how The Black Album influenced musicians from many different genre. It’s a fascinating project.
Interesting......I didn't realize Miley's register traveled quite that low (I'm gloriously ignorant of most, if not all, of her output)! I'll take a stab at the music video, MK: Some of the more western-looking sites look like it might be Monument Valley, Utah. The more planet-scape vastness scenes, though, look like simply another site (which I can't identify). The actor, at first, looks like a young Jon Voight, but as this video is a recent shoot, Voight's well into his 80s!
Also, some of this footage looks like it might be previously shot and could be scenes from a film, and not necessarily newly-shot for the video. I even checked imDb, and while they've a page for the video, it (of course) isn't filled out with info and credits as it should be (c'mon, crew)! Cool peek at a (I'm guessing) little-known cover!