Turn the Page

"Turn the Page" is a song originally released by Bob Seger in 1973 on his Back in '72 album. The song was later covered by Metallica, as the first single from their 1998 Garage Inc. album, reaching #1 on the Billboard Hot Mainstream Rock Tracks chart for 11 consecutive weeks, the highest number of weeks Metallica has ever spent at the top; drummer Lars Ulrich had heard the original song while driving across the Golden Gate Bridge and later commented that he thought it "Had James [Hetfield] all over it". Metallica's rendition is taken at much the same tempo as Seger's, but with a heavier feel; the saxophone part is replaced by a high slide guitar line from Kirk Hammett and James Hetfield played a guitar solo before the last run through the chorus. Metallica's music video for the song, directed by Jonas Åkerlund, is about the life of a stripper who prostitutes herself while she is trying to raise a child; the prostitute/stripper is played by Ginger Lynn Allen.

[Verse 1] On a long and lonesome highway east of Omaha You can listen to the engines moaning out its one old song You can think about the woman, or the girl you knew the night before But your thoughts will soon be wandering the way they always do When you are riding sixteen hours and there's nothing much to do You don't feel much like riding, you just wish the trip was through [Chorus] But here I am, on the road again There I am, up on the stage There I go, playing the star again There I go, turn the page [Verse 2] So you walk into this restaurant, strung out from the road And you feel the eyes upon you, as you're shaking off the cold You pretend it doesn't bother you, but you just want to explode And most times you can't hear them talk, other times you can All the same old cliches: is it woman? Is it man? And you always seem outnumbered, you don't dare make a stand, make your stand [Chorus] But here I am, on the road again There I am, up on the stage Here I go, playing the star again There I go, turn the page [Verse 3] Out there in the spotlight, you're a million miles away Every ounce of energy, you try to give away And the sweat pours out your body, like the music that you play Later in the evening, as you lie awake in bed With the echoes of the amplifiers, ringing in your head You smoke the day's last cigarette, remembering what she said What she said [Chorus] But here I am, on the road again There I am, up on the stage Here I go, playing the star again There I go, turn the page [Outro] There I go, turn that page There I go, yeah, there I go, yeah There I go, yeah, here I go There I go, there I go And I'm gone