Wherever I May Roam

"Wherever I May Roam"
Single by Metallica
from the album Metallica
B-side	"Fade to Black" (live)/"Wherever I May Roam" (demo) "Last Caress"/"Am I Evil?"/"Battery" (live)
Released	October 19, 1992[1]
Format	CD single, Cassette, vinyl
Recorded	June 16, 1991 at One on One Studios, Los Angeles, California
Genre	Heavy metal
Length	6:44
Label	Elektra
Writer(s)	James Hetfield / Lars Ulrich
Producer(s)	Bob Rock, James Hetfield, Lars Ulrich
Metallica singles chronology
"Nothing Else Matters" (1992) "Wherever I May Roam" (1992) "Sad but True" (1993)
Music video "Wherever I May Roam" on YouTube

"Wherever I May Roam" is a song by American heavy metal band Metallica. It was released in October 1992 as the fourth single from their eponymous fifth album, Metallica.

Music

All stringed instruments featured in this song, both guitars and basses, are tuned in the standard tuning of E A D G B E. The original recording of the song is notable for its interesting instrumentation: Asian instruments such as a gong and sitar-like-guitar feature, along with an overdubbed Warwick twelve-string bass (as mentioned by the bassist Jason Newsted on the Classic Albums: Metallica - Metallica DVD). This instrument was only used for 'effect' during the intro to emphasize several accented notes and then a standardly tuned 4-string bass was used as the main bass instrument throughout the remainder of the recording.

The song is performed frequently during the band's live concerts, and was performed with the San Francisco Symphony Orchestra (conducted by Michael Kamen) on the live S&M and its companion DVD. When performed live, the band has always relied on their original sitar recording for the intro (the band enters on the first accented note to dramatic effect), however for the S&M concerts guitarist Kirk Hammett utilised a Danelectro electric sitar for the intro before switching to his ESP electric guitar. Jason Newsted never reprised his use of the 12-string bass guitar for any live performances of the song.

The music video featured clips from Metallica behind the scenes and in concert, during their Wherever We May Roam Tour.

Demo

The song's demo was recorded in Lars Ulrich's home musical studio "Dungeon" on August 13, 1990.

In other media

• The song is included in Guitar Hero: Metallica.
• The song is covered by bluegrass band Iron Horse on their Metallica cover album Fade to Bluegrass.
• In the PC game Warcraft III: Reign of Chaos, the Bandit unit quotes this song, saying "Roamer, wanderer, nomad, vagabond, call me what you will", and the Beastmaster hero says, "Where I lay my head is home. See that rock? That's my pillow."
• Koopsta Knicca, a former member of Three 6 Mafia, used some instrumental parts of this song for his song "Torture Chamber" from the album Da Devil's Playground.
• Scottish post-hardcore band Yashin covered 'Wherever I May Roam' in Kerrang!'s "Metallica" tribute album.
• An instrumental cover version of this song can be found as track 5 on the 2005 album Hands Without Shadows by guitarist Michael Angelo Batio.
• Sinner covered the song for A Tribute to the Four Horsemen.
• Apocalyptica also covered this song on their album Plays Metallica by Four Cellos.
• The intro was used by Sky F1 for their coverage of the Malaysian Grand Prix on reflection of a summary of what a happened at the Australian Grand Prix.

In sports

• The song is used as the entrance song of Minnesota Twins pitcher Jon Rauch and the batting music for Washington Nationals outfielder Jayson Werth.
• The song was used as an entrance theme by pro wrestlers Juventud Guerrera in ECW, A.J Styles in Ring of Honor, and Hooligan in CMLL.
• The song was also played during the warm-up of Pittsburgh Penguins home games.
• The song is used as the kickoff music for the Vanderbilt Commodores football team when playing at home.

Track listing

US single

1. "Wherever I May Roam" – 6:42
2. "Fade to Black" (live) – 7:43

International single

1. "Wherever I May Roam" – 6:43
2. "Fade to Black" (live) – 7:43
3. "Wherever I May Roam" (demo) – 5:35

International digipak single

1. "Wherever I May Roam" – 6:45
2. "Last Caress" (live)/"Am I Evil?" (live)/"Battery" (live) – 11:59

Japanese EP

1. "Wherever I May Roam" – 6:44
2. "Fade to Black" (live) – 7:44
3. "Last Caress" (live)/"Am I Evil?" (live)/"Battery" (live) – 11:59

Chart positions

References

1. ↑ Metallica. "Wherever I May Roam". Retrieved 5 November 2013. 
2. ↑ "Australian-charts.com – Metallica – Wherever I May Roam". ARIA Top 50 Singles.
3. ↑ Nyman, Jake (2005). Suomi soi 4: Suuri suomalainen listakirja (in Finnish) (1st ed.). Helsinki: Tammi. ISBN 951-31-2503-3. 
4. ↑ "Lescharts.com – Metallica – Wherever I May Roam" (in French). Les classement single.
5. ↑ "Dutchcharts.nl – Metallica – Wherever I May Roam" (in Dutch). Single Top 100.
6. ↑ "Norwegiancharts.com – Metallica – Wherever I May Roam". VG-lista.
7. ↑ "Swedishcharts.com – Metallica – Wherever I May Roam". Singles Top 100.