This song was released as a two-part medley, starting with an instrumental track. While there’s speculation that the second part was written about suicide, Scott Ian confirmed that it was a tribute to Metallica bassist Cliff Burton, who was killed in a bus crash while both bands were touring together in Sweden.

According to a March 2020 Loudwire article commemorating the 33rd anniversary of Among the Living:

‘Part of the reason that song and the rest of the album sounds so angry is because Cliff died,’ Ian told me in 2012 during an interview for his book I’m the Man: the Story of That Guy From Anthrax. ‘We’d lost our friend and it was so wrong and unfair. Yeah, we were pissed.’