Metallica singer James Hetfield had a difficult upbringing in small-town California. His truck driver father walked out on the family whilst his Christian Scientist mother's beliefs led to her dying young from cancer after refusing treatment. In this song, Hetfield's anger at his family comes out. He told Rolling Stone magazine that there is "a lot of blame in that song." He added that he blamed his family for "Insulating and alienating, which happened a lot with our religion [Christian Science]. That song was about being in a cocoon, and now that I'm out on my own, oh, my God, the world is shocking me. I don't know how to deal with this stuff. I don't know how to deal with grief, poverty, confrontation. How to live on my own, after father leaving, mother dying."
The band did not perform this live in its entirety until March 5, 2004 when they played it at the Great Western Forum in Los Angeles during Metallica's Madly in Anger with the World tour.
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