DAVE MUSTAINE Says 'Sleepwalker' Was Inspired By Internet Snipes On 'One Particular News Site'

KNAC.COM's Gnarly Charlie recently spoke to MEGADETH mainman Dave Mustaine about the inspiration for the band's new song "Sleepwalker" (see lyrics below),which appears on MEGADETH's upcoming CD, "United Abominations", due May 15 via Roadrunner Records. "I was kind of getting bored with people taking snipes at me over the Internet," Mustaine explained. "I just thought it was really cowardly. It wasn't anybody famous; it was just constant stuff, especially one particular news site, in general. And I just thought, 'You know what? It would be really funny if I could go to sleep and just do astral planing and do a little ass-whooping and then wake up and not be held accountable for anything.' (laughs) You know it's kind of sad, because there are disorders where people do, like the Ambien sleepwalk. For me, a lot of it too, was some of the crime stuff that they do, you know, like the old mob movies, 'The Godfather' and stuff like that… I love '24', and I just watched this one thing where I went through every single season because I didn't even discover the series until last year and I watched the first four years all in a row, almost nonstop, with time to sleep and stuff a little food in my face. But, there was one scene where they were up on Mulholland and I just flashed back about these photographers that would say, 'Yeah, you're a model. Hey, here's my card. Let's go take pictures out in the woods.' Duh! You remember that one? He took her out in the woods and he killed her. It's so commonplace — we can identify with these tragedies and stuff like that, but when you think about how gullible a person is and the wickedness that some people have in their hearts when they take advantage of these people, it's like…first off, how could somebody be that naïve, and second off, where are the good guys that protect people from assholes like this?"

"United Abominations" was mixed at Backstage Studios in Derbyshire, England by Andy Sneap (MACHINE HEAD, SKINLAB, NEVERMORE). Check out the cover artwork at this location. The song "Sleepwalker" is available for streaming on the band's MySpace page. A professionally shot video clip of MEGADETH performing another new track, entitled "Washington is Next!", on October 14, 2006 at the Loud Park '06 festival in Tokyo, Japan has been posted online at YouTube.com. A rough-mix version of "Gears of War", is available for download at this location.

"Sleepwalker" (lyrics by Dave Mustaine)

I should be calling collect from jail
For the things I commit each night in my head
Like last night in my sleep I got to snuff you
But then I woke up again, safe in my little bed

No one is safe when I close my eyes; I come to take your life

I get to force your untimely disappearance
Each night in my dreams, when I'm fast asleep
I close my eyes and you just vanish soon as I
Lay down my head when I'm dead to the whole wide world

No one is safe when I close my eyes; I come to take your life
And then I wake up and it was all just a dream
And everything is the same

Sleepwalker – Did I give you concrete shoes?
And throw you off of a bridge
Sleepwalker – When I lay down to sleep
Pray your soul’s mine to keep, I feel you near me
Go to sleep, Sleepwalker

Just taking a stroll; don’t go to sleep! Here’s some toothpicks for your eyes!

You always make an excellent cadaver
I roll your body up in a carpet to make music in the
Trunk of my limousine, wrapped up in a rug
A fitting end, is that I send you up the river like a punk

No one is safe when I close my eyes; I come to take your life

The angel of death is pissed off at me again
Just because I got to put you out of my misery
It doesn’t matter, I am without fear
Now you’re dead, I won’t shed another bloody tear for you

No one is safe when I close my eyes; I come to take your life
I’m calling down the thunder, then you’ll sleep with the fishes
The answer to all of my wishes

Sleepwalker – Did I tell you I was in movies?
Then dump you garroted, lying naked in a ditch
Sleepwalker – Everyday, another way, I know you can hear me

Solo – Mustaine
Solo – Drover

I think you’d look nice in a Colombian necktie
Should stop your tongue from wagging the dog
No more stupidity from you, as I pull your tongue through
For a smile from ear to ear, now there’s nothing to hear

No one is safe when I close my eyes; I come to take your life
And then I wake up and it was all just a dream
And everything is still the same

Sleepwalker – Did I give you concrete shoes?
And throw your body off of a bridge
Sleepwalker – When I lay down to sleep
Pray your soul is mine to keep, I feel you near me

Sleepwalker – Or did I tell you I was in movies?
Then dump you garroted, lying naked in a ditch
Sleepwalker – Everyday, another way, I know you can hear me

Sleepwalker – Did I buy you the farm?
Put a horse head in your bed
Sleepwalker – When I lay down to sleep
Pray your soul is mine to keep, I feel you near me

Sleepwalker – Everyday
Everyday another way
Sleepwalker – When I lay down to sleep
Pray your soul is mine to keep, I know you can hear me

Repeat Choruses