The lead single from Metallica's seventh studio album, Reload, released in 1997, it was first performed live in a "jam" version on July 2, 1996.The Memory Remains EncycMet.com. Retrieved March 21, 2008. Faithfull was brought in, as James Hetfield felt her "weathered, smellin'-the-cigarettes-on-the-CD voice" fit what he described as "the whole eeriness of the Sunset Boulevard-feel of the song", given the lyrics tell the story of a faded artist who goes insane from losing her fame. The spoken words "Say yes, at least say hello", during the outro, are a reference to The Misfits, the last complete movie in which Marilyn Monroe starred.
