“My Friend of Misery” was co-written by bassist Jason Newsted and was originally planned as an instrumental.
Newsted brought an instrumental idea to the Black Album sessions, but the piece was eventually developed into a vocal song. James Hetfield and Lars Ulrich received songwriting credit alongside Newsted, and Hetfield wrote the lyrics. The final version became the album’s eleventh track.
The song’s arrangement gives the bass a particularly noticeable role, which reflects Newsted’s contribution to its musical foundation. Its mood is darker and more reflective than the album’s most immediate singles, making it one of the record’s deeper cuts rather than a conventional radio centerpiece.
The track is sometimes confused with “The God That Failed,” another somber song on the album, or with “Through the Never,” which also has a compact, forceful structure. Unlike the album’s best-known singles, “My Friend of Misery” was not released as one of the five commercial singles promoting Metallica. Its history is therefore especially useful for understanding how Newsted contributed creatively beyond performing bass.