May your hearts of metal be electrified and magnetized!
INTRO
If this is your first time on this blog, the objective is to take a philosophical journey through the lyrics of Metallica as I do my best to decipher the meanings and deal with the issues which they present . Metallica addresses very real and deep issues that would be wise for us to look into ourselves such as death, life, afterlife, the evil of man, insanity, internal struggles, the idea of a deity, why we choose to take life (weather it be in capitol punishment or war), and so forth.
On to the song.
The Unforgiven III is one of the most vague songs the band has ever written and, subsequently, one of the most fun to decipher.
Let's start with what we know for a fact. Hetfield said the song concerns how you "can't forgive anyone until you've forgiven yourself." But let's see how to get to that conclusion.
"How could he know this new dawn's light
Would change his life forever
Set sail to sea but pulled off course
By the light of golden treasure"
The character in this story sets out on a voyage on the sea of the music industry but the hope of financial success pulls him in a direction he wasn't originally intending to go. He questions whether his careless dreaming has caused pain. Perhaps he speaks of how Cliff Burton, Metallica's former bass player, died when the tour buss tragically tipped in 1986. Maybe he speaks of how style changes hurt some fans. Or, perhaps, it's just hypothetical, not referring to Metallica at all.
Whatever the case may be, Hetfield changes the perspective from 3rd to 1st person for the chorus as he laments,
"How can I be lost
If I've got no where to go
Searched for seas of gold
How come it's got so cold"
Have you ever gotten what you have always wanted and realized that the "seas of gold" weren't all they were cracked up to be? Hetfield is right. We spend our lives striving after such futile things that leave us feeling cold once we obtain them. And it is even worse for those who step on other people's head to get what they're after. It is even colder for them.
The main line of this song is, "How can I blame you when it's me I can't forgive". The "you" he speaks of could mean anybody. In the original Unforgiven, it is the whole corrupt world that did him wrong that he dubbed "unforgiven." In both the original and this one, the "you" could also, perhaps, mean God because He's the One that let life go on the way it did. The character has matured since part 1 and now realizes that he can't point fingers because things have happened they way they did because of his own choices.
The ship represents his life which has run aground on shallow pursuits. Now he has a choice. Wallow in self pity and unforgiveness of himself or humble himself to be a castaway on someone else's ship. Or, in other words, accept love when it is offered and get over himself.
The next line is, "Blame all gone away / blame gone away".
Legendary Classic Rocker, Alice Cooper, and Brain "Head" Welch from Korn, are two others that have set sail to sea but were pulled off coarse and realized that it was cold at the very place they should have been enjoying seas of gold. I highly suggest you look up their stories. They found out like Solomon did in the book of Ecclesiastes that "everything is meaningless."
"All things are wearisome,
more than one can say.
The eye never has enough of seeing,
nor the ear its fill of hearing.
" What has been will be again,
what has been done will be done again;
there is nothing new under the sun."
True, there is nothing new or fulfilling under the sun but Alice Cooper and Head found something over the sun that was worth living and dying and loving and forgiving for. Jesus. And they are new creations it seems. Alice Cooper's new album, Along Came A Spider, is a concept album that metaphors his discovery of his Savior and shows that he faced the same struggles as the character from The Unforgiven III. Head's album, Save Me From Myself addresses the same themes.
How can we blame God or anyone anywhere for the hurt in our life if that hurt is really caused by our inability to let go of emotions that rot our insides such as unforgiveness of self. But how do we actually forgive ourselves? We cannot do it in word alone. We need to become a castaway on someone else's ship because our ship has run aground. Noah's daughter in-laws had to humble themselves to get on the "crazy man's ship." But in the end, it was the only thing that saved them. In 1 Peter 3:20-21 (in the bible), it says,
"only eight people were saved from drowning in that terrible flood. And that water is a picture of baptism, which now saves you, not by removing dirt from your body, but as a response to God from a clean conscience. It is effective because of the resurrection of Jesus Christ."
This is not talking about the ceremony of baptism but the true act of having your sins washed away and gaining a clean conscience (ability to be self forgiving) made possible because you have turned to Jesus and accepted his gift of grace.
All other religions preach "be good so you can please god". The truth of Christ is, "you're no good but it pleases God to save you." Now THAT is golden treasure! I'll get there as a castaway.
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