The woman who sings the haunting, unsettling ending and bridge is a British woman by the name of Marianne Faithfull. She started out as a member of London's '60s swing scene, moving up slowly through a life of love, loss, and drug abuse. A cohort of The Rolling Stones, she dated Mick Jagger for a while. (thanks, Lacy - Yukon, OK)
The song is about a celebrity who is fading into obscurity and it is driving her mad. The theme is similar to that of the movie Sunset Boulevard.
Some of Faithfull's lyrics ("Say yes... at least say hello...") were taken from the Marilyn Monroe movie The Misfits.
When Metallica plays this live, the crowd sings Faithfull's parts.
Metallica performed this on Saturday Night Live with Faithfull. (thanks, Bertrand - Paris, France, for above 4)
Metallica Faithfull recalled to Billboard magazine how the collaboration happened. "I was in Ireland, quietly living my beautiful life, and suddenly the phone rang and this voice said, 'Hello, Marianne Faithfull? This is Lars from Metallica,'" she said. "And then the story unfolded that what they wanted was to fly to Dublin and to record me for 'The Memory Remains' and put me on the song and that's what they did. And I made great friends with them of course and we stayed in touch."
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