How Metallica Turned Elton John’s “Funeral for a Friend” Into Guitar Riffs
James Hetfield has his white Explorer-style guitar in hand long before he steps up to sing. In Metallica’s “Funeral for a Friend/Love Lies Bleeding,” the guitars take on the melodies that give Elton John’s instrumental opening its shape. That change is the detail to listen for as the band moves into the song’s vocal section.
Metallica played the two-part piece at DAR Constitution Hall in Washington, D.C., for the Library of Congress Gershwin Prize concert honoring John and his lyricist Bernie Taupin. Both men watched from the audience. The band opened the performances that evening, starting the tribute with the opening piece from Goodbye Yellow Brick Road.
John’s album version gives the instrumental room to unfold, moving from a synth introduction into a section built around the piano and band. Metallica shorten that buildup. Electric guitars carry the recognizable phrases, and the notes ring long enough to keep the melody clear even when the rhythm beneath them gets heavier.
The drums help mark that shift. Lars Ulrich works around the guitar phrases with fills before settling into the drive of “Love Lies Bleeding,” while Robert Trujillo’s bass holds the bottom of the arrangement. By the time Hetfield reaches the microphone, the instrumental has already established the pace and weight of the cover.
One viewer on Metallica’s official upload singled out that exchange between instruments. “The way james turns those piano melodies into riffs shows why he’s the goat of riffs.” Watch Hetfield’s picking hand through the instrumental and listen for how the guitar sustains notes that a keyboard can hold without another attack.
The broadcast cuts to John and Taupin during the song. John, in a pink suit and red glasses, grins and lifts an arm, and Taupin raises his beside him. Their reaction arrives while the band is still playing, a brief view of the two writers hearing the piece take a different shape.
Elton John’s Live Arrangement
John’s performance at Madison Square Garden, released on Here and There, offers a comparison. Listen to the space around the keyboard lines before the vocals begin and how that pacing changes the arrival of “Love Lies Bleeding.”
Metallica Play “Whiskey in the Jar” at Slane Castle
Metallica’s performance at Slane Castle in Ireland puts a different kind of cover in the same players’ hands. Their version of “Whiskey in the Jar” draws on Thin Lizzy’s rock arrangement, and its guitar hook makes an immediate contrast with the extended introduction of the Elton John tribute.
