“My Friend of Misery” was originally intended as an instrumental before Jason Newsted’s main riff became part of it.
Newsted wrote the song’s main riff during the Black Album period. The idea was initially developed as a possible instrumental, continuing a pattern from Metallica’s earlier albums, each of which had included an instrumental track. The finished song instead received lyrics and became the album’s eleventh track.
The recording credits list music by James Hetfield, Lars Ulrich, and Jason Newsted, with lyrics by Hetfield. Its placement near the end of the record gives it a darker, reflective role before the closing track, “The Struggle Within.”
The song is sometimes overlooked because it was not one of the album’s five commercial singles. It is nevertheless important in the album’s history because it represents one of Newsted’s clearest songwriting contributions to Metallica and preserves the instrumental concept in its arrangement and atmosphere.