“Welcome Home (Sanitarium)” by Metallica

• Genre: Thrash Metal
• Single Release Date: March 1986 (album only)
• Album: “Master of Puppets“

The song lyrics depict a man trapped in a mental asylum railing against the treatments being used to control his mental instabilities. It’s obviously not working as he is preparing to kill as part of an escape attempt.

Inspiration for the song came from the book “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest“

For some reason these two lines have always stood out for me:

They keep me locked up in this cage
Can’t they see it’s why my brain says rage?

Lyrics

Welcome to where time stands still

No one leaves and no one will
Moon is full, never seems to change
Just labelled mentally deranged

Dream the same thing every night
I see our freedom in my sight
No locked doors, no windows barred
No things to make my brain seem scarred

Sleep my friend, and you will see
The dream is my reality
They keep me locked up in this cage
Can’t they see it’s why my brain says rage?

Sanitarium
Leave me be
Sanitarium
Just leave me alone

Build my fear of what’s out there
Cannot breathe the open air
Whisper things into my brain
Assuring me that I’m insane

They think our heads are in their hands
But violent use brings violent plans
Keep him tied, it makes him well
He’s getting better, can’t you tell?

No more can they keep us in
Listen, damn it, we will win
They see it right, they see it well
But they think this saves us from our hell

Sanitarium
Leave me be
Sanitarium
Just leave me alone
Sanitarium
(Just leave me alone)

Fear of living on
Natives getting restless now
Mutiny in the air
Got some death to do

Mirror stares back hard
Kill, it’s such a friendly word
Seems the only way
For reaching out again

Click here for a playlist of all the songs in this series on Spotify

Header image from 8Tracks.com