Here Today... Gone To Hell!

Listening to the lyrics of Guns N Roses songs in the past Axl sings about drink, drugs (Nightrain, Mr. Brownstone, Bad Obsession), girls, love (Sweet Child, November Rain, My Michelle, Think About You) sex (Rocket Queen), the streets (Jungle, Paradise City)...basically there's alot of lyrics about sex, drugs and rock n roll. What's Axl singing about now in his new songs?? Anyone want to construe some of the lyrics?

And the war! Don't forget he also wrote about the war!
(Can I mention the war........and did I get away with it.....)

the War? War in general..Civil War was written prior to Dessert Storm..It's not a protest in any way..Something I alay respected Axl/GN'R for. Being as big as they were they stayed away from preaching their political views towards th fans.
Back in 1990 a partyicular rant/intro for Double Talkin' Jive was dedicated to Bush and Clinton after Ross Perot briefly dropped out of the election. Yet Axl stayed away from telling everyone who to vote for.

Nothing errks me more than an artist telling his audience who to vote for.

But didn't they get criticised for playing WW2 footage as a stage backdrop - I read about that somewhere......

Axl loves Bono  ;D

It seems that for the majority of the new songs....Axl seems to be singing about getting screwed over by various different people.

Be it the Blues, Madagascar, Better, IRS

I think he is writing mostly about Stephanie...

:: Vicente ::

Why? Politics is a part of our life, as everything else that is sung about. I like bands with a political attitude, because it's part of my everyday life.

Okay, someone who wants to tell me what I have to vote - that sucks, hands down. But artists who tell me what THEY think about politics? Great.

The Break up with Stephanie Seymore, Steph's kid Dylan, The Breakup of GnR in the 90's, all the lawsuits he had against him....basically the last 10 years of his life in which he wasnt in the public eye

He's obviously singing about china ;D

and you forgot democracy :yes:

And Madagascar. He's very geographical.

On first look at the lyrics of the Blues it appears to be a love song about a love lost, perhaps a maybe a girl but I couldn't help wondering if Axl could've been singing about the love lost between himself and Slash. The song is called 'the Blues' which Slash is famous for playing. "...you know I didn't want to be you, now there's a hell I can't describe..." Might he be referring to their differences in musical direction? Then Axl was abandoned by all band members and left to pick up the pieces which could've been 'hell' for a while. "What I thought was beautiful don't live inside of you anymore" Axl might have felt he'd lost that precious bond with Slash that helped them write great music together.
This is simply a possible interpretation of the song, I'm not saying thats what it is about but it might be...read the lyrics and think about Slash...

The Blues Lyrics (Guns N Roses)
? 
Guns N Roses - The Blues Lyrics


All the love in the world couldn't save you
All the innocence inside
You know I tried so hard to make you
To make you change your mind

And it hurts too much to see you
And how you left yourself behind
You know I didn't want to be you
Now there's a hell I can't describe

So now I wander through my day
Trying to find my way
Still these feelings that I felt
I said to you and no one else

And no it's not going to change
I know it's gone, still I'm used
And that's nice to hang on someone
A change that's bittersweet

That's called the blues

Don't know just what I should do
Everywhere I go I see you
You know it's what you planned, this much is true
What I thought was beautiful don't live inside of you anymore

I don't know just what I should do
Everywhere I go I see you
You know it's what you planned, this much is true
What I thought was beautiful don't live inside of you anymore

What this means to me
The more I know you believe
What I thought was you now
Has got more that it changed on you

What I thought was true
The more that I might know is you
What I thought was you
Is only memories, distant

some people think thats about steph taking Dylan away from him

what's that about to be funny ?
wierd if ya ask  me lol.

Dylan must be around 16 or 17 now?

And in the only print interview he has given over the past 10 years, with Rolling Stone in early 2000, he stressed that the lyrics to most of Chinese Democracy, the never-ending forthcoming Guns N'Roses album, will tell his side of the Seymour affair. "I hope [Seymour's son Dylan] hears it when he grows up, if he ever wants to know the whole truth."

http://www.heretodaygonetohell.com/articles/showarticle.php?articleid=91

If you want to see it then you can find ways to relate most of the new songs to the old band, particularily Chinese Democracy and Madagascar, but I'm sure the real motivation and inspiration behind these lyrics run a bit deeper than this. I'm sure the break-up of the old band plays its part in Axl's think although I don't think it's quite such a large part as some people make it out to be afterall what self respecting musician would want to have an album into which they've had a considerable input where every other track has the singer pining about lost relationships with previous bandmates?

Alot of people don't give a shit what some artists are singing about... I wouldn't say Axl would directly target his ex-bandmates in his songs but on reading the lyrics one could easily imagine they could be. It was the same when Pink Floyd released 'A Momentary Lapse of Reason' & 'The Division Bell' without Roger Waters. Some of those songs particularly on TDB sound like David Gilmour is singing about Roger Waters.

i know its old newws for us....but Axl never sounded out on the subject publically really. I dont think that it should be ruled as subject matter of alot of songs :peace:

@ gcluskey and one PF album is about Syd Barrett to is it not?

What's he singing about?  Post-analysis.  Retrospective.

I think most of the post-Illusion songs have this over-the shoulder point-of-view, looking back at failed relationships and past events.  Can't blame him, since the ten years or so of GNR were blatantly the most defining and action packed of his life.  Also remember these 'new' songs were written a long time ago themselves, so when 'debuted' in 2009 or whenever, people can't say Rose is all stuck in the past (though they will anyway). 

I'm kinda more interested in the Democracy followup, to see what he's really got to say and where he's headed musically...

To hi-jack the thread for a moment and anser your question : some rightwing idealogues can't accept the fact that a vast majority of people (including artist) don't proscribe to their particular point of view .

And Twat lyrics... All the way from California...

yes.

And some people (I've read this in CD.com) think that it could be about an abortion.

I dont think that that is the right interpretation, but that read was very interesting.

Look at Better, TWAT, and The Blues ... they all sound like they're about the same person.  Logic wants you to say Stephanie Seymour, but who knows.

Im probably wrong, but when taking the lyrics into consideration, Ive always assumed "The Blues" and maybe even "Better" were about Stephanie.

The meanings of the other songs are a slightly harder to interpret though.

Guns N' Roses Silkworms Lyrics

Listen motherfuckers to this song that should be heard
Thrown down in the gutter, it?s more than you deserve
Kneeling fucking virgin, you know that's what you are
Pussy for a maggot, isn't that a shock

What can I do? With a bitch like you
You know that it?s true
All I have I ask of you
I'll be dammed
If it?s not true
A bitch like you

Get your head down in the sky
Fucking little schemer got yourself a broken heart
Syphilitic preachers baby I know who you are
Parasitic demons sucking acid through your heart

What can I do? With a bitch like you
You know that it?s true
All I have I ask of you
I'll be dammed
If it?s not true
A bitch like you

Who or what is this about then? What do you think the title 'Silkworms' has to do with the rest of the song?

He's singing about the past ...keekee

Better sounds forward looking.

you think so? lots of past tenses in there

Better

No one ever told me when I was alone
They just thought I'd know better, better

No one ever told me when I was alone
They just thought I'd know better, better

The hardest part
This troubled heart
Has never yet been through now       
We've healed the scars
That got their start
Inside someone like you now

Well had I known
Or I'd been shown back when I longed you?d take me
To break the charms
That brought me harm
And all that won't erase me

I never would
Not that I could
No matter what you'd pay me
Replay the part
You stole my heart
I should have known you're crazy

If all I knew was that with you
I'd want someone to save me
It'd be enough
But just my luck
I fell in love and baby all that I wanted was

Now I know you better
You know I'd know better
Now I, know you better

So bittersweet
This tragedy
Won't ask for absolution
This melody
Inside of me
Still searches for solution
A twist of fate
A change of heart
Cures my infatuation
A broken heart
To provide the spark for my determination

No one ever told me when I was alone
They just thought I'd know better, better ohh
No one ever told me when I was alone
They just thought I'd know better, better

All that I wanted was

Now I know you better
You know I?d know better
Now I know you better 

(Solo)

I never wanted you to be so full of anger
I never wanted you to be somebody else
I never wanted you to be someone afraid to know themselves
I only wanted you to see things for yourself

(Solo)

All that I wanted was

Now I know you better
Now we all know better
All that I wanted was

(Solo)
(nah nah nah)

If I were you
I?d manage to
Abhor the invitation
Of promised love
That can?t keep up
With your adoration
Just use your head
And in the end
You?ll find your inspiration
To choose your steps
That won't regret
This kind of aggravation

No one ever told me when I was alone
They just thought I'd know better, better
No one ever told me when I was alone
They just thought I'd know better, better

It's clearly about Slash.  :P

In the recent Clasic Rock Magazine article they asked "is Better about Axl's PA Beta?" 

I just don't see that...

You stole my heart
I should have known you're crazy

To me, that line is probably directed at Stephanie, but who knows.

Im sure Axl has had plenty of rocky relationships since Steph'.

almost all of the "new" songs are about how a Bad Woman Done Axl Wrong.

All those songs are Appetite for Destruction era songs, when they were young and angry.

The Illusions is much more mature.

Now he looks back at how it was.

someone mentioned Better as not being "forward-looking," but like many stories it seems to start in the past, but by the last verse gives advice from experience for the future.  very cool.    :beer:

Better is a beautiful "fuck you" to those who think Axl lives musically in the past.  This song is beautifully new and different...and god damn it rocks live!   :yes:

Come Sail Away.

In the past, Axl, Slash, Duff and Izzy all worked together in the writing of some GnR songs. I'm guessing this time its all Axl's writing on the Chinese Democracy album. I wonder will any of the current members have any input in writing GnR songs in the future.

I think you'd be very wrong there.

To quote Tommy:

"With Axl, he doesn?t really have his own vision. He likes to take everyone?s two cents and throw it into the soup, get everyone involved and kind of mold it that way. Axl could really take production credit on this record because he took the best of each of us on each song and crammed it together and made it a musical piece."

...

"Axl is more of a collaborator, maybe even to a fault sometimes. He wants everyone involved. Part of that may have come from the old band, where everyone wanted him to sing their songs but didn?t want to play the other guys? songs. It would be like, ?I?m not going to sing on your song unless you play on his song,? and then it becomes infighting and that kind of shit. That doesn?t really keep a band together. On the new record, everyone?s got a bit in there, their part of a song. It lends itself to us feeling a part of the whole record."

I've been bashed for this before but I personally think The Blues is clearly about Slash.

A song which, interestingly enough, Slash now plays at all the VR concerts.


 - SammyD1st

absolutely positive.

No one ever told me When I was alone⇒I'm not alone anymore and I know (A little)better

Better


these make a great english grammar textbook to learn tenses/aspects and the subjunctive, the imperative.

still i read it as hes currently reflecting on a past relationship....its kinda both past and present :hihi:

just use your head and in the end you'll find your inspiration, to choose your steps and won't regret this kind of aggravation

i get from the last nonchorus line of the song that its looking forward to not repeat the same mistakes in a sympathetic sort of way

He sings about lost love? :love:

but when did he lose said love? In the past, the present or the future? :hihi: :peace:

Didn't Axl say during several shows that Better was written by Robin?  ???

Why is Robin writing songs about Axl's relationships?  :hihi:

 :hihi:

Robin wrote the music Axl wrote the lyrics.

I think this abum will be a lot like "Illusions" in that there will ultimately be some new stuff that will be a bit more carefree and rockin rather than self-indulgent pieces. There has been a huge change in the Axl of 2000 - 2006 from the 1993-1999 Axl that people forget, and this will have very well contributed further delays in the songs' releases.

I don't think there's going to be a consistent theme in the new material which Axl wants to present with the new GNR, which could very well have led to further delays in the album's release. Because he's probably trying to organize it all, which is tough when you have 100+ songs written and recorded over the last 13 years.

I also get the feeling that Axl is insecure in that he won't approve a record until he's completely finished writing and recording 3 of them because depending on public opinion, he may be swayed / dissuaded in his musical directions.

In other words, just hope he goes on tour, and that the next time he tours the USA, he will perform some more new songs that will be as good or better than the new ones that leaked out in 2005 / 2006
 :D
MNW