Master of Puppets is the second song on the self-titled third stuido album by the thrash metal band Metallica. It is the title track of their 1986 album with the same name.
It shares a similar album structure with Ride the Lightning in having the title track as the second track, preceded by a shorter, high-speed typical thrash metal track. There are several such track similarities on Ride the Lightning, Master of Puppets, and ...And Justice for All. "Master of Puppets" is also notable for its long instrumental section beginning about three and a half minutes into the song.
The song, as James Hetfield explained,"deals pretty much with drugs. How things get switched around, instead of you controlling what you're taking and doing, it's drugs controlling you." The lyrics "chop your breakfast on a mirror" for instance refer to the act of preparing powdered cocaine.
The song has been ranked as the third greatest heavy metal song ever by VH1.
In March 2005, Q magazine placed it again at number 1 in its list of the 100 Greatest Guitar Tracks. The song was ranked #2 in Martin Popoff's book The Top 500 Heavy Metal Songs of All Time. Popoff put together this book by requesting thousands of metal fans, musicians, and journalists to send in their favorite heavy metal songs. Almost 18,000 individual votes were tallied and entered into a database from which the final rankings were derived. It also came first in a recent 100 Greatest Riffs poll from Total Guitar. In Rolling Stone magazine's top 100 guitar songs it placed thirty third place
End of passion play, crumbling away
I'm your source of self-destruction
Veins that pump with fear, sucking darkest clear
Leading on your deaths' construction
Taste me you will see
More is all you need
You're dedicated to
How I'm killing you
Come crawling faster
Obey your master
Your life burns faster
Obey your master
Master
Master of puppets I'm pulling your strings
Twisting your mind and smashing your dreams
Blinded by me, you can't see a thing
Just call my name, 'cause I'll hear you scream
Master
Master
Just call my name, 'cause I'll hear you scream
Master
Master
Needlework the way, never you betray
Life of death becoming clearer
Pain monopoly, ritual misery
Chop your breakfast on a mirror
Taste me you will see
More is all you need
You're dedicated to
How I'm killing you
Come crawling faster
Obey your master
Your life burns faster
Obey your master
Master
Master of puppets I'm pulling your strings
Twisting your mind and smashing your dreams
Blinded by me, you can't see a thing
Just call my name, 'cause I'll hear you scream
Master
Master
Just call my name, 'cause I'll hear you scream
Master
Master
Master, master, where's the dreams that I've been after?
Master, master, you promised only lies
Laughter, laughter, all I hear or see is laughter
Laughter, laughter, laughing at my cries
Hell is worth all that, natural habitat
Just a rhyme without a reason
Neverending maze, drift on numbered days
Now your life is out of season
I will occupy
I will help you die
I will run through you
Now I rule you too
Come crawling faster
Obey your master
Your life burns faster
Obey your master
Master
Master of puppets I'm pulling your strings
Twisting your mind and smashing your dreams
Blinded by me, you can't see a thing
Just call my name, 'cause I'll hear you scream
Master
Master
Just call my name, 'cause I'll hear you scream
Master
Master …...more
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