Songfacts®:

• "All Within My Hands" is about bassist Jason Newsted's 2001 departure from Metallica. Newsted told the band he wanted them all to take a year off so they could all work on solo projects. He wanted time to develop a metal band named Echobrain. The other members voted against his proposal, so Newsted quit.
  
  Metallica frontman James Hetfield was the primary source of resistance to Newsted's proposal. He thought he was only looking out for the best interests of Metallica, but as time passed he came to see himself as overly controlling and authoritarian.
  
  "All Within My Hands" deals with Hetfield's feelings towards himself in forcing Newsted out.
  
  Newsted always maintained that he was happy with his decision and had no regrets. Hetfield has stated that Metallica did lose something essential when they lost Newsted and that he thinks some of their music would have been better with their old bassist onboard.
• The song first appeared on St. Anger, Metallica's eighth studio album. It's the last track on the album and, at 8:48, the longest.
  
  Pushead (Brian Schroeder) did the album's cover. He'd worked with Metallica frequently and has also done art for Dr. Dre, the Misfits, Nike, and Thrasher. His work is found most prevalently in hardcore punk and heavy metal; he was the owner of the now-defunct Pusmort Records, which published work by hardcore bands in the '80s and '90s.
• In February 2017, Metallica announced the beginning of their All Within My Hands charitable foundation. Through the foundation they distribute scholarships to "Metallica scholars," fund foodbanks, and do other good deeds like helping first responders and supporting organizations combatting wildfires.
  
  Renee Richardson, who was chosen to run the foundation and cohost Metallica's official podcast, The Metallica Report, told Songfacts: "I'm so glad they chose that song to name the foundation. I think it is a completely underrated song and I love it in all its forms."
• Metallica has played this song just a handful of times in concert, memorably with the San Francisco Symphony Orchestra in September 2019. This live version was released as a single from the album S&M2 on July 15, 2020. On September 5, 2020, it hit #1 on Billboard's Mainstream Rock Songs chart, making Metallica the only band ever to have a #1 on that chart in four different decades.