"Welcome Home (Sanitarium)" is a song by the American heavy metal band Metallica from their third studio album Master of Puppets (1986). The song was covered by several bands and artists including Apocalyptica, Bullet for My Valentine, Thunderstone, and Scott D. Davis.
Composition
"Welcome Home (Sanitarium)" was based on Ken Kesey's novel One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest and conveys the thoughts of a patient unjustly caged in a mental institution. The song's subject matter is madness and serves as a metaphor for honesty and truth. According to philosopher William Irwin, "Welcome Home (Sanitarium)" is perhaps the most revealing of Metallica's songs dealing with insanity.
The song opens with a section of clean single strings and harmonics. The clean, arpeggiated main riff is played in alternating and time signatures. The song is structured with alternating somber clean guitars in the verses, and distorted heavy riffing in the choruses, unfolding into an aggressive finale. This structure follows a pattern of power ballads Metallica set with "Fade to Black" on Ride the Lightning and would follow with "One" on ...And Justice for All and later "The Day That Never Comes" on Death Magnetic.
Live performances
"Welcome Home (Sanitarium)" is the second-most performed song from Master of Puppets behind the title track. Both tracks along with "Battery" and "Damage, Inc." were featured on the nine-song set list for the album's promotional tour. Those songs were all revived for the band's concerts in 1997 and 1998, after having been retired for a number of years.
Personnel
Credits are adapted from Master of Puppets' liner notes.
Metallica
- James Hetfield – rhythm guitar, vocals
- Lars Ulrich – drums, percussion
- Kirk Hammett – lead guitar
- Cliff Burton – bass, backing vocals
Production
- Metallica – production
- Flemming Rasmussen – production, engineering
- Andy Wroblewski – assistant engineer
- Michael Wagener – mixing
- Mark Wilzcak – assistant mixing engineer