Metallica’s James Hetfield Delivers Early Christmas Present With Dramatic Reading of ‘A Visit From St. Nicholas’: Listen

A few nights before Christmas, things were not silent all through the house after all. In the run-up to the holiday, Metallica singer/guitarist James Hetfield gave fans a special bonus under their tree: a recitation of the popular Christmas story “A Visit From St. Nicholas.”

The singer put down the guitar and read from the poem written by literature professor Clement Clarke Moore for his six children that was first published anonymously in the Troy Sentinel newspaper in Troy, N.Y. in 1823 and which has since become a Christmas classic. The story of the holiday is often referred to by the poem’s most famous first line: “‘Twas the night before Christmas.”

Hetfield’s version debuted on Friday (Dec. 19) on the band’s Maximum Metallia SiriusXM channel and then migrated to the band’s Instagram page, where it was accompanied by a cartoon image of a crackling fire. The group members’ stockings were, of course, hung with care, one for drummer Lars Ulrich, another for Hetfield, as well as ones for bassist Robert Trujillo and guitarist Kirk Hammett. While presents and bows surrounded the fire, in a fittingly Metallica touch, the mantle was also hung with an ominous fanged skull.

“Gather ‘Round… It’s Story Time with Papa Het,” read the caption. In a soothing voice miles away from his typical warrior’s howl, Hetfield recited the story with warmth and wonder, though he gave the lines about “the children were nestled all snug in their beds/ While visions of sugar-plums danced in their heads,” a slightly ominous tinge.

His voice took on a familiar gravel when he read off the list of Santa’s reindeer, giving a certain menace to the “dash away all!” line, then chuckling along at the sight of St. Nick laughing and shaking “like a bowl full of jelly.” Hetfield delivered the legendary final line, “Happy Christmas to all, and to all a good night!” with such lusty abandon that one commenter said, “if you turn this into a song, that would be epic.”

Listen to James Hetfield read “A Visit From St. Nicholas” below.

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