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About MetallicA's The Four Horsemen...
The former version of the song "The Four Horsemen" - "The Mechanix" appeared on Metallica's first demo tape "No Life 'Till Leather".
Album:
Kill 'Em All
The song live:
Has almost always been a fixed part of the live show before the release of the "... And Justice For All" album. It is still a fixed part of a 'Kill medley'.
The lyrics:
The lyrics of "The Four Horsemen" are relating to the subject matter of a bible story in the final book of the New Testament in the "Chapter 6 of Revelations" which is called "The Four Horsemen of Apocalypse". The horsemen should spread in each of the four directions to pronounce "The Last Jugdement - Doomsday" of the world.
The Mechanix:
"The Mechanix" was the former version of "The Four Horsemen". It has been partly written by Dave Mustaine. Metallica wrote new lyrics and renamed the song into 'The Four Horsemen' after they've kicked Dave out. Later the song "The Mechanix" appeared on Megadeth's (Dave's band after Metallica) debut album.
Make A Wish Foundation:
As it can be seen in the "A Year And A Half..." video tape the young John Smith who was diagnosed with cancer played "The Four Horsemen" together with metallica as his final wish.
In the figurative sense:
The four horsemen could also stand for the four Metallicans and their conquest of the world, as a heavy metal band.
Interpretation possibility:
"Don't give up to fight against what's pulling you down
- however pointless it may seem !"
Metallica about "The Four Horsemen"
James Hetfield: Dave [Mustaine] brought that song over from one of his other bands; back then it was called "The Mechanix". After he left Metallica, we kind of fixed the song up - the lyrics he used were pretty silly.
Kirk Hammett: Prior to recording that song, we put in a slow middle section that wasn't there when I first joined the band, and it needed a slow melodic solo. I remember going to that part, I played something really melodic. Lars [Ulrich] looked up at me and said, "Yeah, yeah!" He's a big lead guitar fan - one of his biggest influences is Ritchie Blackmore. For that song I put down one lead then added one on a different track. I wasn't sure which one to use. I listened to both tracks at once, to see if one would stand out. But playing both tracks simultaneously sounded great, and we decided to keep it like that on the record. Some of the notes harmonized with each other, and I remembered Cliff [Burton] going, "Wow, that's stylin'- it sounds like Tony Iommi!". (source: GuitarWorld issue of '91 / Encyclopedia Metallica)
Metallica - The Four Horsemen Lyrics
By the last breath of the fourth winds blow
Better raise your ears
The sound of hooves knock at your door
Lock up your wife and children now
It's time to wield the blade
For now you have got some company
The horsemen are drawing nearer
On the leather steeds they ride
They have come to take your life
On through the dead of night
With the four horsemen ride
Or choose your fate and die
You have been dying since the day
you were born
You know it has all been planned
The quartet of deliverence rides
A sinner once a sinner twice
No need for confession now
Cause now you have got the fight of your life
The horsemen are drawing nearer
On the leather steeds they ride
They have come to take your life
On through the dead of night
With the four horsemen ride
Or choose your fate and die
Time
Has taken its tool on you
The lines that crack your face
Famine
Your body it has torn through
Withered in every placed
Pestilence
For what you have had to endure
And what you have put others through
Death
Deliverance for you for sure
There is nothing you can do
So gather round young warriors now
And saddle up your steeds
Killing scores with demon swords
Now is the death of doers of wrong
Swing the judgement hammer down
Safely inside armor blood guts and sweat
The horsemen are drawing nearer
On the leather steeds they ride
They have come to take your life
On through the dead of night
With the four horsemen ride
Or choose your fate and die
