“My Friend of Misery” is the Metallica song on Metallica, commonly called The Black Album, that gave bassist Jason Newsted a songwriting credit.
The song was developed from an instrumental idea that Newsted had brought to the band. James Hetfield and Lars Ulrich later helped shape it into a vocal track, with Newsted sharing the writing credit with them.
Newsted's songwriting role in Metallica was limited compared with his importance as the band's bassist. He joined the group in 1986 after Cliff Burton's death, but the band generally concentrated songwriting credits among Hetfield, Ulrich, and Kirk Hammett.
“My Friend of Misery” is the album's eleventh track. It is often remembered both for its distinctive bass-centered origin and for being one of the relatively few Metallica songs from Newsted's tenure to credit him as a writer.