Mama Said

This is a song for James Hetfield's mother, who died of cancer when he was young. The song talks about his regrets of not being able to spend more time with her and how he hopes that she will still love him when he sees her again ("Mama now I'm coming home. I'm not all you wished of me. A mother's love for her son unspoken, help me be. Yeah I took your love for granted and all the things you said to me. I need your arms to welcome me. But a cold stone is all I see.")

In an interview with Mojo magazine December 2008, Hetfield referred to this song about his mother as, "like a prodigal son song: leaving and then coming back and it's too late, you can't talk to her now." He added: "It was a realization that lots of questions went unanswered. 'I want to say this. I want to ask you this.' And you're unable to. But through therapy I was able to do a lot of grief work, about both parents."