1. Aidan Bell
Narrative Analysis - Enter Sandman - Metallica
The song’s lyrics are that of the narrator putting a child to bed,
obviously through the first verse using the lines “Say your prayers
little one” and “I Tuck you in”. The song takes a turn though in the
first Pre-chorus when the lyrics say, “Sleep with one eye open”, “Grip
your pillow tight”. Indicating something is wrong with the child.
The chorus’ Lyrics are symbolic of falling to sleep and dreaming as
never never-land is a synonym for being asleep as a reference to the
children’s bedtime story Peter-Pan.
In the second Verse the Lyrics maintain the feeling that the child well,
the normally idyllic view that is associated with dreams is offset by
the whole verse…
Something's wrong, shut the light
Heavy thoughts tonight
and they aren't of snow white
Dreams of war
Dreams of lies
Dreams of dragons fire
and of things that will bite, yeah
The Third through seventh lines illustrate the fear of the dreams,
which are now nightmares, possibly showing that even dreams aren’t
always good things and can be full of pain and fear instead of the
stereotypical happy dreams that are what is normally imagined. This
is where the music video ties in to the song, the video is very
disjointed and uses a really fast pace of edit to create an almost
violent image which suits the later themes of the song.
The second Pre-Chorus is the same as the first then follows the
chorus again, obviously the same lyrics are used but in a possibly
different context, this time it might me trying to soothe the
frightened child after his nightmares.
After the second chorus comes a strange part, the next few lines are a
prayer that children where told to say before going to bed if they
grew up in a particularly religious household…

2. Aidan Bell
Now I lay me down to sleep
Pray the lord my soul to keep
and if I die before I wake
Pray the lord my soul to take
This Prayer although originally intended as a good ideal, that if you
where to die in your sleep your soul would be sent to heaven, now
takes its much more morbid side amplified through the fact that the
focus of the song is a child, whom is now praying that if he dies
before he wakes he doesn’t want to go to hell.
After the prayer verse the next one takes, like the prayer, the old
nursery rhyme “hush little baby” and changes the lyrics of the first
few verses from the original:
Hush, little baby, don't say a word
Papa's going to buy you a mockingbird
If that mockingbird won't sing
Papa's going to buy you a diamond ring
If that diamond ring turns brass
Papa's going to buy you a looking glass
To their new version which makes for a much more sinister take on
the song:
Hush little baby don't say a word
And never mind that noise you heard
It's just the beast under your bed
in your closet in your head
Now again following the themes of sleep and fairy tales to create a
narrative it has used a nursery rhyme normally a nice and happy one
and changed it to reflect this song, where a nice relaxing activity like
going to bed and then to sleep as a child, can also be a fearful one if
the child only knew what was going on in the real world instead of
the imaginary one that the child is living in.
Next is the third chorus and then the outro which repeats the same
last lines of the chorus at the song ends to finish off the song as the
music is ending and to tie off the end of the narrative.