The Shortest Straw (song)

Song

Tour Dates

The Shortest Straw is the fifth track from American thrash metal band Metallica's fourth studio album, ...And Justice for All. It was written by James Hetfield and Lars Ulrich.

About

The song's lyrics deal with the blacklisting of American politicians with alleged ties to communism during the Red Scare of the 1950s. The title "The Shortest Straw" may also be a reference to the death of bassist Cliff Burton — Burton was given his fatal sleeping bunk by pulling the shortest straw in a game of chance.

Live

• "The Shortest Straw" was first played live on May 11, 1990, in London England.
• As of September 2016, it has been played live only 92 times.

Lyrics

    Suspicion is your name
    Your honesty to blame
    Put dignity to shame
    Dishonor
    Witch-hunt, modern day
    Determining decay
    The blatant disarray
    Disfigure
    The public eye's disgrace
    Defying common place
    Unending paper chase
    Unending
    
    Deafening
    Painstaking
    Reckoning
    This vertigo it doth bring
    
         Shortest straw
         Challenge liberty
         Downed by law
         Live in infamy
         Rub you raw
         Witch-hunt riding through
         Shortest straw
         The shortest straw has been pulled for you
    
         Pulled for you
         Shortest straw
         Pulled for you
         Shortest straw
         Pulled for you
         Shortest straw
         The shortest straw has been pulled for you
    
    The accusations fly
    Discrimination, why?
    Your inner self to die
    Intruding
    Doubt sunk itself in you
    Its teeth and talons through
    You're living Catch-22
    Deluding
    A mass hysteria
    A megalomania
    Reveal dementia
    Reveal
    
    Sectretly
    Silently
    Certainly
    In vertigo you will be
    
         Shortest straw
         Challenge liberty
         Downed by law
         Live in infamy
         Rub you raw
         Witch-hunt riding through
         Shortest straw
         The shortest straw has been pulled for you
    
         Pulled for you
         Shortest straw
         Pulled for you
         Shortest straw
         Pulled for you
         Shortest straw
         The shortest straw has been pulled for you
    
         Pulled for you
         Shortest straw
         Pulled for you
         Shortest straw
         Pulled for you
         Shortest straw
         The shortest straw has been pulled for you
    
    Behind you hands are tied
    Your being, ostracized
    Your hell is multiplied
    Upending
    The fallout has begun
    Oppressive damage done
    Your many turned to none
    To nothing
    You're reaching your nadir
    Your will has disappeared
    The lie is crystal-clear
    Defending
    
    Channels red
    One word said
    Blacklisted
    With vertigo make you dead
    
         Shortest straw
         Challenge liberty
         Downed by law
         Live in infamy
         Rub you raw
         Witch-hunt riding through
         Shortest straw
         The shortest straw has been pulled for you
    
         Pulled for you!