“Disposable Heroes” by Metallica

Master of Puppets
Elektra
1984



This song describes the dehumanizing effect of war told from the soldier's perspective.

Bodies fill the fields I see, hungry heroes end

No one to play soldier now, no one to pretend

Running blind through killing fields, bred to kill them all

Victim of what said should be a servant `til I fall

Soldier boy, made of clay

Now an empty shell

Twenty-one, only son

But he served us well

Bred to kill, not to care

Just do as we say

Finished here, Greeting Death

He's yours to take away

Back to the front

You will do what I say, when I say

Back to the front

You will die when I say, you must die

Back to the front

You coward, you servant, you blind man

Barking of machinegun fire, does nothing to me now

Sounding of the clock that ticks, get used to it somehow

More a man, more stripes you wear, glory seeker trends

Bodies fill the fields I see the slaughter never ends

Soldier boy, made of clay

Now an empty shell

Twenty-one, only son

But he served us well

Bred to kill, not to care

Just do as we say

Finished here, Greeting Death

He's yours to take away

Back to the front

You will do what I say, when I say

Back to the front

You will die when I say, you must die

Back to the front

You coward, you servant, you blind man

Why, Am I dying?

Kill, have no fear

Lie, live off lying

Hell, Hell is here

I was born for dying

Life planned out before my birth, nothing could I say

Had no chance to see myself, molded day by day

Looking back I realize, nothing have I done

Left to die with only friend, alone I clench my gun

Soldier boy, made of clay

Now an empty shell

Twenty-one, only son

But he served us well

Bred to kill, not to care

Just do as we say

Finished here, Greeting Death

He's yours to take away

Back to the front

You will do what I say, when I say

Back to the front

You will die when I say, you must die

Back to the front

You coward, you servant, you blind man

Back to the front

Interpretation

Bodies fill the fields I see, hungry heroes end

No one to play soldier now, no one to pretend

Running blind through killing fields, bred to kill them all

Victim of what said should be a servant `til I fall

In this first stanza the narrator (the soldier) describes a grisly battlefield where carcasses fill his vision. The “heroes” of war lie dead as victims of the demands made on them such as, “be a servant ‘til I fall”. The soldier begins to question his blind devotion to his commanders as the scene of death and devastation fills his vision.

Soldier boy, made of clay

Now an empty shell

Twenty-one, only son

But he served us well

Bred to kill, not to care

Just do as we say

Finished here, Greeting Death

He's yours to take away

This stanza references the creation of man in the phrase, “made of clay”, implying both the natural and divine components that make up the soldier. The next line shows that what was of divine origin is gone in death leaving only “an empty shell”. The rest of the stanza describes his age (“twenty-one”), family situation (“only son”), and training (“bred to kill, not to care”). None of this is relevant to the people who require the soldier to fight; all they demand is that the soldier “do as we say”. But now the soldier is dead.

Back to the front

You will do what I say, when I say

Back to the front

You will die when I say, you must die

Back to the front

You coward, you servant, you blind man

Rather than dwelling on the dead soldier heroes, the commander’s attention shifts to the masses of remaining heroes who are ordered “back to the front”. The soldiers are not to think for themselves but rather obey mindlessly (“do what I say, when I say” is their mandate). Even their lives are in the hands of the commander (the soldiers “will die when I say”). The final line describes the condition of the soldier heroes. They are “cowards” in that they mechanically follow evil orders. They are “servants” of the commanders and they are “blind” to the evil they are participating in.

Barking of machinegun fire, does nothing to me now

Sounding of the clock that ticks, get used to it somehow

More a man, more stripes you wear, glory seeker trends

Bodies fill the fields I see the slaughter never ends

This stanza depicts a soldier home from war. There is no fighting going on, the “barking of machinegun fire” is in his imagination and dreams and can do “nothing to [him] now”. Traumatized by his time in war, the soldier experiences flashbacks. He struggles through each day (listening to the “clock that ticks”) and trying to “get used” to civilian life somehow. The soldier received honors as a fighter (the “stripes you wear”) and the commanders have tried to convince him that this makes him “more a man”. Instead, the soldier continues to be ripped apart by nightmares of the battlefield filled with dead; “the slaughter never ends”.

Soldier boy, made of clay

Now an empty shell

Twenty-one, only son

But he served us well

Bred to kill, not to care

Just do as we say

Finished here, Greeting Death

He's yours to take away

Back to the front

You will do what I say, when I say

Back to the front

You will die when I say, you must die

Back to the front

You coward, you servant, you blind man

Why, Am I dying?

Kill, have no fear

Lie, live off lying

Hell, Hell is here

I was born for dying

The soldier is angry now, questioning why he has to go to war to die, why he’s asked to “kill”, and why he has to “lie”. For all that he has been asked to do, the soldier is experiencing “hell” on earth. His life has no meaning since he was “born for dying”.

Life planned out before my birth, nothing could I say

Had no chance to see myself, molded day by day

Looking back I realize, nothing have I done

Left to die with only friend, alone I clench my gun

This stanza reaches the climax of the soldier’s breakdown. He laments that his life was determined “before [his] birth” without his input (“nothing could I say”). The soldier is highly fatalistic here saying that he could not have changed how his life has turned out since he was “molded day by day” by those wanting him to fight. In addition, he realizes that his life has been meaningless (“nothing have I done”). The final image is of the soldier preparing either for suicide or for murder. He grips his “only friend”, his gun ready to use it once again.

Soldier boy, made of clay

Now an empty shell

Twenty-one, only son

But he served us well

Bred to kill, not to care

Just do as we say

Finished here, Greeting Death

He's yours to take away

Back to the front

You will do what I say, when I say

Back to the front

You will die when I say, you must die

Back to the front

You coward, you servant, you blind man

Back to the front