Skin O' My Teeth

Album: Countdown to Extinction (1992)
Charted: 13
Play Video

Songfacts®:

  • On the Arsenal of Megadeth DVD, which was released in 2006, Dave Mustaine says before a live performance: "This song is about how many times I tried to kill myself and couldn't get the job done." >>>
    Suggestion credit:
    Kyle - Toronto, Canada
  • The expression "by the skin of one's teeth" comes to us all the way from the Bible: King James Bible, Job 19:20: "My bone cleaveth to my skin and to my flesh, and I am escaped with the skin of my teeth." Job is delivering one of his long-winded lamentations to his three friends, who are debating with him whether he deserves his problems or not. To escape by the skin of your teeth is to very, very narrowly make it; it's a way of saying you almost didn't survive.

    However, the title itself comes from the Thornton Wilder stage play The Skin of Our Teeth. It, too, is filled with biblical references, such as each of the characters being an allegory for characters from the Bible and Hebrew legend.
  • Dave Mustaine is further quoted in a 1992 interview on the unofficial Megadeth fan site, "MTV flipped when they saw the lyrics to 'Skin O' My Teeth' because they thought I was promoting committing suicide. It has taken us a long enough time to get our relationship politically correct with MTV. So I don't want to go out and film a video about a song that they are going to look at and say, 'You're nuts.' and if they say, 'Hey Dave, we're going to play your song, as radical as it is, but you have to go on there and say the song is not about suicide,' I'll say it. 'Hey, this song is not about suicide.'"
  • Countdown to Extinction is Megadeth's most successful album, selling over two million copies and going double platinum.

    If you've heard of the Live at the Cow Palace version of this album, we assure you that there really is such a place. It's in Daly City, California, formerly known as the California State Livestock Pavilion, and it's owned by the California Department of Food and Agriculture.
  • Mustaine told Artist Direct that he came up with the idea for the song, "on the way home from a very anxious dental appointment."

Comments: 2

  • Me from NowhereIt wasn't for Dave to kill himself, it was someone else that he wrote about in the Song "A Tout Le Monde" if you wanted to know.
  • Sam from Durham, United KingdomDave Mustane is amazing there was no reason for him to try and kill himself anyway
see more comments

Editor's Picks

Little Big Town

Little Big TownSongwriter Interviews

"When seeds that you sow grow by the wicked moon/Be sure your sins will find you out/Your past will hunt you down and turn to tell on you."

Millie Jackson

Millie JacksonSongwriter Interviews

Outrageously gifted and just plain outrageous, Millie is an R&B and Rap innovator.

Don Dokken

Don DokkenSongwriter Interviews

Dokken frontman Don Dokken explains what broke up the band at the height of their success in the late '80s, and talks about the botched surgery that paralyzed his right arm.

Martyn Ware of Heaven 17

Martyn Ware of Heaven 17Songwriter Interviews

Martyn talks about producing Tina Turner, some Heaven 17 hits, and his work with the British Electric Foundation.

Sending Out An SOS - Distress Signals In Songs

Sending Out An SOS - Distress Signals In SongsSong Writing

Songs where something goes horribly wrong (literally or metaphorically), and help is needed right away.

John Lee Hooker

John Lee HookerSongwriter Interviews

Into the vaults for Bruce Pollock's 1984 conversation with the esteemed bluesman. Hooker talks about transforming a Tony Bennett classic and why you don't have to be sad and lonely to write the blues.