The theme of the song is that of a man who has been sentenced to execution in the electric chair. He opens by acknowledging his guilt (“guilty as ‘charged’”), but still questions who made the judge “God to say” that he should die. Later on the man starts to feel the fear while the execution is prepared and asks himself what he is doing in the electric chair. By the end of the song he just wants to get it over with.

It is speculated that the song is based on a 1961 episode of The Twilight Zone written by Charles Beaumont entitled “Shadow Play”. The episode begins in a courtroom, where Adam Grant (Dennis Weaver) is convicted of first degree murder and sentenced to the electric chair. Shouting, “It’s happening all over again!”, Grant insists that his trial, conviction, and execution are all part of a recurring nightmare, and that when he dies, the world around him and all its occupants will likewise cease to exist.

In a live recording from 1983, James Hetfield states that “This one is dedicated to our friend in Georgia”, leading to the possibility that it is about an actual person as opposed to fictional events.

In an interview with Guitar World magazine, James Hetfield has stated that the song is not an indictment of the death penalty, in which he is a believer, but simply an exploration of the concept of being in a terrible situation with no control.

RIDE THE LIGHTNING

Guilty as charged
But it, it ain’t right
There’s someone else controlling me
Death in the air
Strapped in the electric chair
This can’t be happening to me

Who made you God to say,
I’ll take your life from you?

Flash before my eyes
Now it’s time to die
Burning in my brain
I can feel the flame

Wait for the sign
To flick the switch of death
It’s the beginning of the end
Sweat, chilling cold
As I watch death unfold
Consciousness my only friend

My fingers grip with fear
What am I doing here?

Flash before my eyes
Now it’s time to die
Burning in my brain
I can feel the flame

Someone help me
Oh please, God help me
They are trying to take it all away
I don’t want to die

Time moving slow
The minutes seem like hours
The final curtain call I see
How true is this
Just get it over with
If this is true, just let it be

Wakened by horrid scream
Freed from this frightening dream

Flash before my eyes
Now it’s time to die
Burning in my brain
I can feel the flame

Words and Music by James Hetfield, Lars Ulrich, Cliff Burton and Dave Mustaine
Copyright © 1984 Creeping Death Music (ASCAP)
International Copyright Secured All Rights Reserved

Duration : 0:6:37

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