Metallica guitarist Kirk Hammett revealed that he sang on a new version of a classic early Fleetwood Mac song for an upcoming tribute to Peter Green.

The two guitarists met recently after Hammett recorded a version of “Man of the World” along with Mick Fleetwood. All three artists will be present at a tribute concert to Green in the U.K. next month, though the reclusive Green is not expected to perform.

“From what I can gather, [Green]’s more cognizant these days and much more even-keeled and leveled than he’s been in decades,” Hammett told Let There Be Talk in a recent episode. “We just go to talking about guitars and music. He likes to fish, and so next time I see him, I’m going to bring fishing rods. … And then I had the track that I recorded at Abbey Road Studios … ‘Man of the World,’ which is kind of a ballad.”

Hammett added that he's "singing on it – it’s an easy song to sing. It’s got that talk-singing kind of thing; I can handle that. That’s about the length of my singing abilities, but I’m into it.” Explaining his approach to the track, a cover of a 1969 Fleetwood Mac tune, he said: “I just modernized the whole song, modernized it with modern tones, kind of like a more modern arrangement. I’ve made the uppity part heavy and dynamic.”

You can listen to the interview below.

Hammett admitted he felt nervous playing the results to Green, who wrote and performed the original version, since he’d taken “a lot of liberties with it.” “I played him the track, and right after it ended, he just looked at his friend and asked him something about the weather or something," Hammett recalled. "I didn't know if he liked it or not.”

The friend was able to confirm “that Peter liked it, and he was able to determine that from Peter's body language,” Hammett added.

He said the affirmation was like “a big sigh of relief. I didn't want to piss him off, and sometimes when we take liberties with other people's music, you just never know how they're gonna react. They might like it, they might hate it, but it seemed like he was very positive towards it.”

 

The Best Song From Every Metallica Album

More From Ultimate Classic Rock