Here Today... Gone To Hell!

I'm starting a thread here about what the songs are about. Feel free to add. But I'd like to keep it in order of songs that appear on the cd's along with the order of releases that came in chronological order. (O.k we don't have to get to specific in regards to the releases)
First cd Appetitie for Destruction:

First track: Welcome to the Jungle

This song is what it is like living from day to day on the streets with almost no home to crash in. The sentiment here is really the young adolescents who turned away from a past life. In example: Leaving a broken home or moving away from your town to another town.
 Welcome to the Jungle is a street survival song which was going on everywhere but paticularly in the streets of LA. Trying to make it to your next meal and dealing and wheeling to make some money to survive. In the case of the songwriters of this song I would say it was about what I just wrote but also the added frustrations of trying to break it in the music business when there are no lucky breaks or hand outs. Welcome to the Jungle is one of those songs that carry on the philosophical sentiment from one generation to the other.  It's one of those songs that grind out the pissed off what the """" feeling we all feel from time to time when life's struggle is really ripping us apart at the seams. I guess for me the clip in the video where Axl is in that electric chair and he's screaming and twisting uncontrollably really protrays how some of us feel when life is kicking us in the ass........real hard!!!!

Next song: It's so Easy...............(Feel free to write one for the 2nd song off of Appetite)
By the way it's alright if there are two posts for one song. Just respect each others views because not everyone is going to have the same exact perception of the lyrics of these songs........ :smoking:

Second Song: It's So Easy
It's so easy nothing seems to please me....

This song I believe is about the Punk Generation and getting on with having a good time without having that much money. But also stating that if you spend all your time just idleling around you're really not going to go anywhere. "You get nothing for nothing if that's what you do. Turn around bitch I've got a use for you." ---- It's so easy when everybody is trying to please me---
Life can seem to be very easy when they are rolling out the red carpets for you.......but realty has it's way of not making it that way. It can be easy once in awhile but not all of the time.

oh boy :confused:

it was axl's cultural shock coming from a small country town to a city like l.a. and seattle (i forgot where i read this, but it was written when for whatever reason they went to seattle and it was crazy compared to what he was used to.) 

why are you doing this overanalyzation anyway?   this is most likely dead horse grade a quality material...

i think OMG is about stupid threads


Jarmo, please bury it where no body can find it ;) thanks

:P

I think this is a good thread, but most of us know what all the old songs are about and we've talked and analyzed until we're blue in the face.  What would be more interesting is talking about the new songs and what they're about.  Who and what is "The Blues" about?

Third track of Appetite: Night Train

Night Train

A go out and have a good time song while you?re on your way trying to make something of your life. I think this song was more for the struggling musician trying to make his or her way in the music business. I guess Axl in his attempt to spoon out the truth about what?s going on in the lime light can sometimes result in having certain groups of people coming down on your point of view. But he states they won?t break me I?m innocent. Taking that night train and disregarding what people might say or write about you because you?re going to need a second thick skin to make it in the rock & roll business???.take that one to Heart!!!!

"They wont break me" & "Take that one to heart" are "out ta' get me" lyrics........ :confused:
cant wait for song #4 ........
maybe not the correct running order but what about...........................DEAD HORSE

i'm so glad music is subjective  :)

No offense, but please give this up. BTW, the song is about getting fucking drunk off cheap-ass Night train, the crap that costs about $4 a bottle and gets you blitzed.

Looks like Out Ta get me is next.
My interpretation:
- - - - -


"No offense" but some of you guys are full of shit.

Someone makes somewhat unique and potentially huge thread that could actually be interesting as hell to read through once it is " ready"  and all you choose to contribute with is negative bullshit?
Guess some are too  so used to idle, pointless and stupid speculation and reading about EXITING stuff like frank and pisser tourdates and trying to see if Mysteron knows how many tuesdays theres left til Mayans decide to end the world that when some1 actually tries to use their head while posting a thread its shocking and confusing?

Ofc I am not contributing with much else than negative bullshit either; its just that some of you need  to be reminded what you are full of* sometimes. :yes: :yes:

*shit



- - - - -

..Did I get it right?

No but really, It was  very easy to identify with Out ta get me as a teenager.

The song just nails the " no one understands me,  whole world is against me,  wah wah wah"-vibe that comes with the age.

When little bit older, I learned grin widely at (in some oddball ironic way) the extremely selfish undertone that  keeps being very present through the entire song. Ofc, it too is very fitting considering the nature of the whole teenage- thing:
Protagonist is just "innocent" while "they" just push him to corner to get him fight, " they"  rape his rights, and when protagonist gets drunk and ends fucking things up, its not really his fault, but the  other guy's who bought "that  fifth of whiskey"
All in all, Out Ta get me has tons of utter and  complete  refusal of taking responsibility going on.Perhaps sarcasm too. There's no way in hell Axl believes it himself for a second( or expects anyone else to believe..) when he announces I'm fucking innocent

..Ofc Axl's trubles with law come in mind  through this song too; theres very strong antisocial undertone going.  Fuck cops, fuck parents, fuck authoritahhh.
It's kinda punk even, almost:p

All in all its pretty cool anthem for teenage.Unlike some much better known and more recognized anthems, like Nirvana's Smells like Teen spirit,  Out Ta get me has the added benefit of lyrics being so obvious that the 14 year old world hater in question can actually get them:D
..Well in 2008 that doesnt matter at all cause they listen to My Chemical romance anyway. Fucking half grown fags.

please keep them coming Bitchslap and others. it's always fun to read what certain song makes people think/feel. :yes:

And just because Slash or Axl or whomever has said in an interview around 1991 that Nightrain was born when " we walked around the sreeet drank as hell  yellin nightrain randomly" (or something along those lines) it sure as fucking hell doesnt mean that would be the only interesting thing anyone could ever say of the song.

Thanks. I do appologise for getting the Night Train and Out to get me. I will continue to write my interpretations of the songs. If some other Guners here pissed off that I'm contributing to this sight well just remember their are some G&R songs that you might fall under. If you're a Pro Guns & Roses fans than you will understand why I started this thread. If you're not a Guns & Roses fan well there is a Britney Spears blog sight. I'm sure you can go over there and support her.  :beer:


Edit to fix quote

I'm a pro GNR fan and this thread has been done a million times, so quite trying to insult the people (with insinuations about Spears) who say it should be in the Dead Horse section.

Yeah?Can you provide a few a links  to threads  attempting to compile song interpretations of GNRs entire catalogue under the same roof?
Apparently theres millions of them. so I'm sure you can find a couple!
Imho there has always been surprisingly little talk about songs and actual music here. Thereads like this are very welcome and  fun to read so SHUSH!

I'm going to skip to Mr. Brownstone because of my mistake on screwing up Night Train and Out to get me.

Mr. Brownstone.

This song is like a Rolling Stones song called Dancing with Mr. D. A song about heroine.
A comparison is made here in the line ?I wish I never met her? indicating that this bad addiction is like a love affair with a woman. It?s obvious that this song is a reminder of how that brown powder is nothing but placing ones self in a prison of nirvana that comes with a very high price to pay in the end. To be chained and shackled to a wall where the only person who can unlock the chains is the user himself. But in the end if you do decide to use your key and unlock yourself from those chains you can leave it all behind.

This isn't a terrible idea IMHO... but it could definitely benefit from a few "changes":

1. Move to Dead Horse (not the kiss of death every one makes it out to be);
2. Each album gets its own thread; and
3. Each post discusses EVERY song on said album- as opposed to several different posts that will inevitably end up getting the entire track listing screwed up as they are made (i.e. if I were to chime in with my interpretation of "It's So Easy" right now.... I'd all ready be out of order).

 Just my 0.02.: ok:

Paradise City

This song is an ancient belief that for some still holds a biblical meaning in the modern world. Rags and Richs so they say you?ve got to keep pushing for the fortune and fame.
We all want our piece of the pie while we are alive. We all have a vision of what our own Paradise is in our life. But does such a place exist here. Or is it something that is reserved for the after life. Take me down to the Paradise city where the grass is green and the girls are pretty?..won?t you please take me home. I believe that Axl already stated what he means by this by the tattoo of the Cross on his arm. He may not be into organized religions but does have a secret personal belief that Paradise is indeed a place not here on Earth but in the after life. When Christ and two other men were sentenced to death on the Cross one man who was a murder said ?I deserve to be sentenced to death for the crimes I?ve committed. But this man has done nothing but spoke out about living in peace and forgiving man for his sins. The man asked Christ to forgive him. Christ than turned to him and said: ?For what you just said you will be with me and enter my Fathers kingdom and live in Paradise.?

and theres me thinking its all about where the grass is green and the girls have big titties...!

Also about Paradise City;

To me the song  has always been about dreams melting away, having to face the harsher  reality underneath. about expectations getting sattered. L.A was more harsh and cynical than the imaginary  postcard version of it that [name of whoever wrote the lyrics of the song  here]used to have before entering it.

 

'Mess is good. Also, in 2100 when this thread is ready, assuming ppl actually bother to contribute with something else than assine and useless whine, original poster or some mod could easily enough arrange the interpretations in " right" order.
also, No1 is going to bother to attempt to analyze an entire goddamned album in a single go:o

Unless it's Axl himself logging in... maybe we could try to keep the comments to 1-3 sentences per song. Wouldn't be that hard IMHO. :peace: : ok:

My Michelle

AFD in general doesn't preach, ponder point of it all, or question it's own morals. "I don't really consider or care if what I'm doing is right or wrong, I just do what I do and enjoy the ride."
Its one of the reasons why it's so full of life and comes off as real rather than as a band of pretentious assholes acting tough.

You got motherless, most likely underage groupie whoring around,drugged to hell. Narrator  doesn't have a problem with any of this. There is no judgment, ethics or even predictable "oh me oh my what sort of a world and city is this, that creates such train wreck ppl:(" Instead, we learn narrator  is one of her abusers.
This isn't displayed as a good thing, or a bad thing, its just what "is"
"...and this hotel wasn't free. so party til connection calls honey I'll return the key"

I suppose narrator cuts Michelle some slack, by recognizing it might not be her "world" She is one of those who have means to eventualy escape it.
But as long as she's around why not get most out of the situation,
"...Til then you better.."

The story has a happy ending for Michelle, which  I think brings subtle hint of despise or envy to narrators tone.
Theres something bitter in the  final verse Now you're clean And so discreet, I won't say a word...
"Yeah you got out but I still remember what you  really are honey. But hay guess what?  the place you escaped is the world *I*still live in"

Afrer that narrator leaves Michelle and adresses the listeners;
the song  ends with a cynical warning. " look, theres no fame or glamour for 99% of people who come here to search it. But hay, doors always open for few more Michelles. Do you feel lucky?"



Why?:o

Left to Decay.....that was an excellent review of Michelle. You nailed it so well I'm not even going to review My Michelle!!!!  : ok: : ok: :beer:

Think about you......next .

Think About You

This song is a song about that certain love in your life that you will never forget. A special moment in time when you meet someone that you fall head over heels for and you can't get that person or memory out of your mind. If there is such a myth about Cupid hitting you in the heart with an arrow and you are takened to another level of emotion that is so hard to compare this would be the song.
(Romeo was hit in the head by Juliettes charm and beauty.) : )

Sweet Child O' Mine

I like to think of this song as the excitement of new love being replaced by what their next move should be as a couple.  I love to listen to the song as if Axl is the man of the relationship and the guitar is the women of the relationship.  You can tell my Slash guitar work when she is anger and when she has doubt.  It's just an incredible song to take in if you listen to it from that perspective.

Very cool PC. What was amazing about Sweet Child at the time of it's release was it's radio play on FM stations. This song was not just played on popular rock stations. I would turn the dial to a R&B radio station and they were playing Sweet Child. On a light-rock station they would play this song. This song was also being played on country radio stations. The only radio stations I didn't find Sweet Child was on the classical stations. But you know if some symphony decided to score Sweet Child as a classical music score I'm sure they would of played it there to...........right after Mozart.  :smoking:

You?re Crazy

What can I write about this song that is obvious to all of us?  Every so often you and I are going to come across a person who is shy a couple cards in the deck. The ones who think they seem to know everything some how always kick themselves in the ass with there big mouths. ?Hey boy where are you coming from were did you get that point of view. When I was younger I knew a MF like you? ??.Yup. I?ve come across many adults who fit this line like a charm. (Some even hold political offices in governments and graduated from Harvard!!!!)  It?s best to stand clear from people like this. Because like the reference of  ?She said?..you don?t want my love ?..you just want satisfaction.? Is exactly what they are about. Their FK Crazy!!!!

Anything Goes.....

This song is obvious. A real great rock song for sporting horizontally if you know what I mean.
What gets me is this song is the fashionable sex song that the culture was experiencing in the '60s. Free love across the board with no hang-ups and major ties of the traditional courtship attached to it. It's got that sexy chorus my way your way anything goes tonight. This song was a favorite of mine on a pre-getting ready for Friday night. When my friends and I rented a house in 1988 we use to get our selves amped up before going to a rock club or bar to meet girls. Anything goes was sort of an anthem to respect to all the young dudes who where out on the prowl. And of course to the lovely sexy girls who were waiting for the 'bad boys' to show up!!! :smoking:

someone move this nonsense already... sweet loooorrrd

Doesn't matter, I like reading stuff like this anyway whether I agree or not or if its here or in Dead Horse. Stop being whingers.. move it here move it there...who cares if its shoved up your arse, if someone doesn't want to read the guy's thread then don't...simple

Rocket Queen is next...... ;)

YOU like reading this stuff... who cares? I fucking care

there's a proper place for this nonsense, if you don't care, don't act like YOU are right, just say you don't care

Rocket Queen...

This song has got all the elements of that rock-funk feel in the first section of the song. Again the lyrics are the ever so clever persuasion of the ultimate pick up line. But in this case a young man?s way of courting perhaps a woman who may be a little older and experience. Of course if you are equipped with the right looks and moves, age is not going to matter.
Now the driving music on this number is already sexually attractive. It only stirs the lyrics more and with the slap-bass pumping from Duff gives it the right medicine for the emotion that?s going on here.
The second part of this song is a romantic anthem for the one that you love.
Here Axel is showing that not only he?s a fast-wise-young cat but he can also open his heart and care for a woman that he?s in love with. Under his rough exterior there is actually a gentleman for the ladies he encounters. He might not show it at first. But if the right one comes along he does knows how to show the females the attention they long and need.

We now will go forth to the LIES cd....... :beer:

Rocket Queen

The massive contrast of ultimate sleaze - part and the romantic straight forward <3<3<3-part must have been a lot of fun to listen through for 1st time way back when. The romantic part deffo gets you by surprise. :hihi:
I never really figured out it's purpose.
Is it just  Axl showing his tender side like Bitchslap is suggesting?
"...so yeah, I've fucked tons and i'm very good at it but hay theres a romantic guy underneath it :love: :love:"

Or maybe its possible to find something more sinister from there? Maybe 2nd part isnt a tender ode to some far away love waiting ashore but merely the "sexual innuendo" in action, working his way through another pair of panties?"So yeah, I've gotten tons of pussy! How you ask? Well, here's my usual line: I seee you standiiiiiiing...."

Tons of  ultra high selfesteem and contradictions going on.20 year old guy declaring he's a sexual innuendo, has seen everything imaginable on teh field of sex already, all that. And 20 secs later claims he isnt naive!
One of my favourites from this amazing album.
I bet Sincut likes it too :beer:

Do you have any idea how fucking annoying you sound?
Friendly suggestion; don't like a thread, stop visiting it. Hows that for an idea?
If you HAVE to diss it atleast pretend that you can do so in constructive fashion instead of meaningless childish whine? (Tip: starting  off with explaining what the fuck is your problem with the thread works great!)
I dont know any mods of this place on  personal level but my wild guess is that some moron running around declaring which threads *his highness* thinks should me moved or locked is pretty fucking annoying.

Patience

Patience has a real surreal mood to it. We all know Axel and company for having a very rough exterior bought upon them from the hardships of life.
But through all this there is that one element in all of us that can somehow get all of us through the nightmare that many of us sometimes experience.
Obviously this song is about a man having the patience for a woman he loves. (It can also be the other way around. A woman having patience for a man). The sentiment is clear. My favorite verse is towards the end. ?I?ve been walking the streets at night just trying to get it right?? Many times and still today I find myself repeating those lines. This song is timeless. I really liked the live version of this song on the DVD Use your Illusion tour. When the drums and bass kick in it is certainly very uplifting and wraps the listener in a state of hope. Just a little patience??yeah??yeah???.

Yeah.....Yeah.....

I love the inflection on the recorded version of Patience when he sings - "cos the lights are shining bright"

He sings it differently on the DVD.........cos I guess the lights were shining then too but in a different way...

Don't Cry

At times during the song, its so sad.  Vocally, one of Axl's best songs for my money.  The alt version is even better.

Use to Love her

This song must be an inside joke when a man has a fallout with a woman he loves. I guess it?s a break-up relationship song but you still like to keep the good memories somewhere in the back of your mind. ?I can still hear her complain??is that example when after your lover is gone you still hear the echo of all the bad vibes that both of you had to go through. Love is certainly not always a perfect sphere. Reminds me of all the downfalls of a love you thought was right but fails to stand the test of time.

It is about a bitch ....... but the bitch is a dog (canine).

I remember being sooooooo disappointed when I found out it was really about a dog cause there was something very satisfying (for lack of a better word) in knowing that a girl can drive a guy over the edge like this.  :hihi:

^so axl is bullshitting on live era?

I am not familiar with what Axl said on Live Era but the song is about a dog.  (Listen to it again with that in mind and it's pretty clear ... disappointing, but clear)


It's like one of those 'metaphor' things .... a figure of speech in which a term or phrase is applied to something to which it is not literally applicable in order to suggest a resemblance.

I can say with almost 100% certainty that there are no ex-lovers buried in any Gunner's (past or present) backyard.



P.S.  that nin guy really didn't pee on Robin's boots after he left to join GNR neither

this is pretty much what axl said back then..


even though wikipedia says something else i take axl's word for wikipedia, choose yourself what u wanna believe : ok:

wow, you don't think? boy u must be smart

but really.. stop acting smart, most of us here knows what a metaphor and figure of speech means.. and we actually don't believe all we read on wikipedia either :P

Wow I didn't see that coming. This is the first I've heard that the song is about a dog. Actually now the song makes more sense in the metaphor........... :hihi:

I wasn't trying to act smart ... quite the contrary.  I had never heard of a metaphor and thought the Robin story was true until someone on this board (jnn) explained it to me in this thread:

http://www.heretodaygonetohell.com/board/index.php?topic=18209.0

I think axl said that later as a joke.

I like your interpretations bitch Slap. 

http://gnrsource.com/songinfo/lies/utlh.htm

So it was slash and contradicting izzys account. like cheap jon I go with axls.

Thanks.... ;)

We've already covered You're Crazy so on to the next track:


One in a million

This song caused allot of controversy. I?d like to think of this song more of describing the ?writing on the wall? than a subjective point of view of one?s opinion. Axel covers it all and includes himself as well as far as what?s written and is apparent in society. I actually like this song because Axel really belts it out. Obviously there?s certain anger in his voice that is voicing out of him about the writing on the wall. It?s a thorn that he would like to remove. The funny part is he is struggling himself to make a living and is trying to survive. But reality of his surroundings is getting him angst. He screams ?you know we tried to reach you but you were much too high?. This has a double edge meaning to it. It could be that you?re far too gone to reason with because you are on some medication and loss all sensibility.
Or you are a power hungry money human-god that has no compassion or concerns for people who you feel are below you in the human-chain of classes. ?I keep it moving along? is the positive arrow that?s going to get you through the writing on the wall. Yes the world is a double-edge sword. You just have to learn when and how you?re going to aim your arrow and hit home. The Son of God once said: ?I didn?t come here to bring peace on Earth. I bought a sword. The sword is to mend the discordant between mother and daughter, father and son, brother and brother.? In other words the only real sane way we?re all going to get through the writing on the wall is to some how learn how to co-exist. A task that is never easy to accomplish.

Reckless Life

This is the classic vision of the Rock & roll musician that flowered from the late sixties and seventies rock. The musicians dream to get into a band with like minded people who are on the path of defying what is politically correct and mainstream puppets. Letting go and standing on their own ground of how they want their lives to be because the majority view is stale and boring.
The partying is the object to bring people like us together. It was never the primary goal of what rock & roll people are all about. Just the match to light our fire in our hearts and soul that brings us something we want other than what is being pushed or offered by aging adults that sold out their early dreams for a tamed boring self-absorbed life that they once frowned upon in their youth. Reckless life is an anti-state of mind that shakes the foundation of any establishment that is slowly being suffocated by cob webs in the attic. You don?t really have to reck your life. But you can be apart of the underground and stay young at heart???even if you are over fifty years old.

 :beer:

Nice Boys

This song is about some girl trying to fit into a scene that is really not cut out for her. She?s looking for a good time and wants to be a part of the rock & roll bad life and finds the bottom of the discarded ugliness that rock & roll sometimes draws. I guess she should of taken the left corner instead of the right corner. Perhaps she might have found a half way decent rock & roller who might have been the closest thing to a nice boy. But playing in the jungle is a gamble. You?ve got to watch both ways of the street before you decide to run.

Move to the City

Here?s a song that is a reflection of Axl. (I?m assuming it?s autobiographical since it?s very similar to his personal life). I like this song. But I really enjoyed the Use Your Illusion live version with the three girls improvising the brass section and than Slash jumping in towards the end with his lead.

Mama Kin

Believe or not this was one of the first songs I learned on the guitar when me and another friend of mine who plays guitar formed our first rock band in 9th grade. We were really into Aerosmith. So for us in retrospect to hear Guns picking up this song as a cover was no surprise. It?s got the great trading of verse/guitar than the whole band kicking in than back to verse/guitar again


Next stop: Use Your Illusion I .........

Let me make this faster for you.

SongMeanings.net

i would like to hear some peoples views on "my world" what was axl thinking when he recorded that  :hihi:

Right Next Door to Hell

Axl and Izzy who were two easy-going young adults that were once in a struggling band finally are faced with the band becoming a fly under a microscope. Dealing with the success was cramping their style. Record company, lawyers, press, hanger-ons, one night stands. It has its good side. But there is a Hell to it to. The most important part of the members of G&R was now slowly being controlled and pressured. They didn?t like being told what to do. Axl certainly didn?t like being pushed by anyone. It occurred to him that now he had to shield himself from the Hell already dwelling in the G&R camp. Weather it was internal issues within the band that was being invoked by people outside of the band or the operators that were employed to guide the rock group through the business machine, the innocence of having fun in a rock band had left the stage were all five members stood on. At a slow rate the once steady pulse pumping the blood, sweat and tears of G&R was starting to drain the magic they some how stumbled upon only a few years prior launching the rocket into space??..: )

DUST AND BONES

Life on the road as a rock star. The highs and lows in between each show. Izzy certainly was tasting the benefits of being a high-profile rock band. The gang was getting larger. Many more girls who wanted to sleep with the band. The excitement of getting to the stage and trying to deal with the difficult maze that a band has to go through just to create that hour of magic. In this tornado of excellence which a successful band lives upon there is that Pandora?s Box that releases the question of how long can I keep going like this. This is getting too crazy for me. ?Sometimes these things just seem to rip you right in two, oh no man don?t let em get ta you? I?m sure the band had to start shielding themselves from those unnecessary pressures. You?d think from a fan?s point of view or musicians who envy a band who made it are thinking ?Yeah, right. They are living a miserable life. Making all that money and having cart blanch? I?m sure these benefits are not what pressures a band, but the actual physical and mental work to bring it to each town. This is the dark side of being a successful band. And you realize that you really are not immortal and life is very short??and in the end we?re just Dust & Bones.

Not to beat a dead horse, but when it was released, the band was taking a lot of crap over this song,and others(think Tipper Gore), and I think the Slash comment might have been an effort to "calm the waters".

LIVE AND LET DIE

This song as you know was the main theme song for the James Bond movie of the early ?70?s which bought Roger Moore into the role of 007 to replace Sean Connery. Paul Mc?and Linda his wife wrote this song with the help of George Martin as arranger.
Guns & Roses must have chosen this song for the statement that this song gives when life is somewhat like a ?Do or Die? situation. ?When you?ve got a job to do ya got to do it well???was the internal struggle G&R must have been going through to record Use your Illusion I & II. It?s not easy to meet the high definition of Appetite. Plus letting Steven Adler go from the group and finding a replacement drummer was another burden on the band. I?m sure Matt had it tough as well as Izzy, Slash and Duff to remold the engine again while they are trying to lay down tracks for the new albums. And I?m sure Axl, Slash and the producer were second guessing themselves and each other on what is going to be a permanent take or mix of those songs found on these two legendary lps.
The song itself is a heavier version from the original. Including in the main melody of the horn section is ?Slash? picking out the notes that gives it a more electric guitar version than Paul?s version. Axl really put his heart into this song. He?s not just singing a cover song that will be played on those ?Classic Radio stations? that might refrain from other G&R songs because they might be just too heavy for their station to handle. He is singing it and he means it. I like the scream he releases during the main theme. I remember that year on New Years Eve special held in Times Square by Dick Clark. They showed Guns & Roses performing this song live and it was a hammer coming down onto a New Year. And in those early performances Izzy was still in the band. This song was a great choice for G&R to choose. It fit their mold of blending their hard rock sound with the landscape of horns behind them. When they did this on the DVD Illusion Tour I loved the fact that they even had one of the girls in the brass section play the piccolo (smaller version of a flute) during the song. G&R didn?t skimp on any of the parts of this song even when they played it live.
It?s fun to watch Axl perform this song. He seems to be having a convulsion of pure energy running through him as if someone plugged him into an electrical outlet and there?s an electrical current running through him and seeping out of his finger tips. Very powerful and this is what it?s about when you talk about being an Avenging angel and injecting society with some real good, good, rock and roll that makes you feel like there is nothing in this world you can?t conquer. As long as you put your heart, soul and mind to work!!!

Don?t Cry

This was the first track I heard on the radio from Use Illusion I. When I listened to it the first time I got a major chill up and down my spine. The mood of this song sets an atmosphere quite different from other G&R songs. In some ways for me it feels like Guns are taking some of the melodic sphere of the mighty Pink Floyd and giving it an American edge to it.
This song was written by Izzy and Axl. I suppose this song can go both ways. It could be a break up song between a man and a woman. Or it could also be a fight and now there?s an apology between the man or woman and everything is great again. But I like to think it?s about two people in love and one of them are going away for awhile and the other is going to miss the hell out of them. ?Ill still be thinking of you and the times we had??can echo that sentiment of missing someone while you are out on the road. This song does dances with many different interpretations for the listener to think, dream and rock by. Once again Slash comes in with a very melodic lead that is singing rather than shredding. Here is also that special thing I wrote in the beginning were David Gilmour is known for. Not just laying any guitar lick but the one that tells a story that is in reference to the sentiment of the song. Slash is one of the few American guitarists that can do this compared to other guitar players. Sometimes being technical is not what a song is about. I?d like to think that Slash first whistled the lead into a tape recorder. Than picked up his axe and found the notes and told the engineer: ?Hey, MF-ucker??que up the section of the lead. I?m putting this down right now and it?s going to be the first and last take!!!?  So the engineer ques it up. Points to Slash and says recording. As Slash is putting it down, the producer and engineer look at each other in awe. And Axl and Izzy smile at each other???..: )

 :smoking:

PERFECT CRIME

This one was written by Izzy, Slash and Axl.  I?m no 100% sure about the true meaning of this song but I?m getting the impression it?s about outlaws who strive to commit a perfect crime and it blows up in their face. ?I got the time and I got the muscle???.I ain?t afraid of your smoke screen-hustle?
These types of criminals here are the high-stake ones who like the George Thorogood song ?Bad to the bone? is about. They are bad in the sense of if you get in their way you are risking your life. They will fight and perhaps kill if you get in the way of their plan. The risk of a perfect crime is of course the payoff without getting caught. The ones that do get caught usually get a life time sentence or even last rites. Of course in the real world there is no such thing as a perfect crime. If there was a perfect crime and you achieved it you wouldn?t have to do anymore crimes afterwards. But it?s not so. After that perfect crime most criminals will have the urge to go out and commit another crime or two and get caught. Thus not walking away and retiring from it all but spending their days and nights behind bars. I think here Izzy, Slash and Axl are being sarcastic in the sense that there is no such thing as a perfect crime. And I?m sure in the rock & roll business they?ve had their share of crimes that they?ve witnessed as far as their careers go. I?m sure when Axl sings about lawyers in another song he is referring to some illegal actions against G&R and camp.

To me, perfect crime is about their record label. Or maybe about some past or (then-)present producer, or studio staff in general.
People who hover around the band and get paid from it, or get their share of royalties while (from band's POV) doing jack shit to earn their wage.
Thus,legally  stealing from the band and  committing a perfect crime.

Most vivid image going on when  reading through the lyrics would have to be that of some old nagging producer.
He hasn't lived in hell house, or seen what L.A looks when it's 4.30 on Sunday morning, he  hasn't fucked all these trashy women or shot all that heroin and so on.
Yet, there he is nagging how something in  lyrics just doesn't sound quite real or personal enough. Come Saturday night, band exits the studio and fucks those trashy women, and shoots the heroin, and so on. Sunday, producer is calling everybody, being all "stop shooting that fucking heroin guys, come on. we are trying to make a record here. Oh, but do come in here and open your diary and make a song  out of it. What is it like, to shoot all  that heroin?"
I think

Keep the demons down
And drag the skeletons out...


is all about the hypocrisy and contradiction going on there

Very good Left-to-Decay.........I like....I like...... :beer:

You Ain?t the First

I like the waltz feel of this song. It?s a kind of song that reminds me of many Heartbreak Hotel songs of the past. Mans quest for a lover who he can find all the things he wants from a woman but finds out that she is not the one. Love tangled blues is what you get from the love street of dating. Some will get lucky and find what they are looking for and others will suffer the rocky road of a relationship gone haywire. Izzy writes obviously from some shattered experiences that are piled in the corner of his life that it?s becoming a bad routine. Something you thought that might have been the diamond you where looking for turns into a pillar of salt. That thing we call love is certainly an illusion we set our selves up for. And if the counter-partner doesn?t fit into the missing space in the puzzle we?ve built, you see love?s illusion come tumbling down like a cartoon anvil we?ve seen on those old Bugs Bunny cartoons.

You two should get a room :)

I wouldn't mind. :love: :love:
You wanna join?:)

You guys are twisted-freaking-sisters man........ :rofl:

BAD OBSESSION

Yes. That evil recurring emotion that pushes you to do something you may or may not like.
(And you know what I?m talking about). Izzy uses some examples in this song to describe that Bad Obsession weather its drugs, girls or anything that?s twisting you up to the point you start fucking up your own life or another persons life. Yeah you hear about it in the news every day. Hell we?re fucking waiting for a release from G&R and are obsessed with that notion. And from what I?m reading we?re on a bad obsession right now as I write this. Even I am obsessed with the idea to the point that I?m ready to place a collect call to Axl himself and ask him what?s your fking problem boy?? Or better yet go to his record company and tell them you guys have turned into a bunch of corporate terminators that have become a slave to the very system you?ve created. Now looks who?s obsessed??? We?re talking about a cd of music here.
Meanwhile we?ve got some real bad obsession with our glorious Wall Street kitties that have their own Bad obsession over who is screwing who, inside trading and anything else that can cause the public to lose many nights of sleep. Remember the notorious Enron obsession??? Right up their now with two obsessed political candidates that are convinced they should be elected to fix America.
It?s a Bad Obsession??it?s always messin? my mind???.Too bad?.you?re fucked up!!!
(Maybe you?ll do better next time????.PUNK!!!)   lolo

Back off Bitch

There are good women in this world. Perhaps the count is below 50% now since evil is preceding good in the world. Axl sure likes to not beat around the bush when he has something to get off his chest. In his experiences and what he sees in what the modern world has developed in the female species certainly is an eye opener. Those want on woman who are gold-diggers and bitches from families who have no moral ground grow up in an environment that turns them into human-killing- sex machines determined to rip a man?s soul out and leave him for dead is not just a horror movie conjured up in some writers head. It is very real. Some may turn into a witch if provoked enough. But the real core of it is there are woman who don?t need to be provoked. I like to think of them as Lucifer?s sisters and daughters that take human form and live on Earth. Their appetite for destruction is to seek a wealthy man. Entice him and romance him to bed, than at the proper moment at rip a man?s heart out and discard his soul until there is nothing left.
If that don?t work than the marriage proposal is the second best thing. After some time when she is ready she will divorce that man and take half if not all of that man?s earnings and leave him for dead and not look back or have any remorse. Back off Bitch is one male warning to his other male friends that while we do still have a very high regard for woman and we do want to find one that fits our illusion or dream, we also must be armed with weeding out those bad woman who we really don?t have the time of day to even consider giving them any chance in knocking down our protective wall. There are many evil men in this world who do the same to all the good women in this world. This song is to remind us that Venus can also have it?s demented power trips.

DOUBLE TALKING JIVE


It?s kind of funny that I?m writing about this little gem that Izzy wrote considering what?s going on in the economy. Double Talking Jive indeed!!!
For all the hardships in life that one can bare one thing that still stands the test of time is working for a living and expecting compensation. This holds true across the board. The first time I heard this song I really liked the arrangement of drums kicking in than slash/izzy coming in with that guitar lick. It?s an intense song that offers the edge of saying to the whole world ?F-you, give me what I worked for in hard cold cash!!!! I?ve got no more patience with your lame ass excuses!!! Axl sings this song as if he wrote it!!! And I agree with him in every expression he makes. I love his live performance as well on the USE ILL DVD.
The middle-eastern/Spanish (however who want to look at it) of the music towards the end adds a touch you wouldn?t expect from a hard rock band. Slash really plays some real superior guitar licks echoing the sentiment of the song. Towards the end I love the fade out into the acoustic-guitars. Again I feel like I?m somewhere in Spain listening to those traditional acoustic guitars ringing away. Or a take off on those old-Clint Eastwood movies. You know the ones like : The Good, the Bad and the Ugly!!!  : )

November Rain

Well most of us here know already all the side-bar writing about what the song was about. This highly praised MTV-Video was somehow the Stairway to Heaven of the early nineties. Above all this the song was written by Axl Rose. For a man who was better off just singing songs written by Izzy or other members of G&R, Axl hits home and than some with this number.
The first time I heard it I thought it wasn?t even G&R. I thought Axl put out a solo cd at the same time as Use your Illusion. The mood of the song really struck a cord in me. It showed me yet another side of Axl that he wasn?t just a hard rock singer who sang and wrote only straight ahead rock & roll. It showed me that he can work on a song for many years that was going to be an iconic hit and probably will be covered by pop-singers who need a hit to break them into the music business in the future.
On the Use your Illusion DVD I didn?t even know that Axl can ?fool around? on a piano and actually can play it. (Even if he didn?t know how to play the piano, Axl showed me that he has the discipline to prove that he can.)
The song has some fantastic arrangements set with orchestral back rounds and voices. Mr. Slash offers some leads throughout the song filled with melodic phrases. No need for shredding here. Slash is a smart guitarist who knows what to lay down to make the song shine. That?s a plus!!!
The climax of the song is the first ending where we have a nice long rest for all listeners to catch their breath and minds from just experiencing Axl?s personal vision of November Rain. You think that?s the end of the song until the piano comes in like some western frontier flick of a man on a horse taking off down the dusty road. With that comes the mantra repeating over and over ?Don?t you think you need somebody, everybody needs somebody, and you?re not the only one?. The song is clearly a fantastic sad song about love and broken relationships. The rain heard after the song is finished is the sound many of us have experienced in our own minds that go through such a thing. Both woman and men have one time or another went through it. It?s not a pleasant feeling. It?s just one of those aspects of love that you may encounter or already went through which is part of the formula of love between two people. It can be a bright sunny day. And it can be a very cold November rain.

The Garden

This song is something of a mystery. I get the feeling it?s a song describing the later days of rock & roll when LSD came into the picture. Under these magical experiences ?the flowers seem to tease you at the Garden?. The bass riff that Duff McKagan is trippy. I like the way Alice Cooper comes in with his villain like voice: ?Turned into my worst phobia, a crazy mans utopia?.  It?s a fair warning to those who want to mess around in the Garden. You can find yourself in a maze and never come out thinking the same. It?s also a place to get away from it all. When realty is getting you down and life is filling your head with bullshit, perhaps it?s time to visit the Garden for some serious flushing of bad spells hovering over your mind by people who want to control you with their power.
Slash lays down some very cool leads in this song. The power behind the drums also offer some giant bangs from Matt. I like Alice singing ?Lost my virginity there to a gypsy with blond hair? ?Wandering round for daze with a smile upon my face I never want to leave this place?
Yeah man??..I can groove with that!!!!

Garden of Eden

This rocker apparently has nothing to do with the biblical Garden of Eden. It?s about the paradise we?re desperately trying to achieve on Earth, but some how it?s gone hay-wire.
According to Axl ,all institutions weather it?s the government or religious places of worship have moved so far away from the real truth of what should be done and how to deal with it in a civilized intellectual way. On top of all this are the social issues that confront us everyday with the writing on the wall. The in-your face reality of it can drive any sane person to the brinks of insanity.
But there is a bright side to all of this that Axl and all of us already know. Its rock & roll. That?s the one thing in our lives that levels the playing field even if it?s not on a large scale to change the current bullshit that is served on our breakfast table every morning. If we get knocked down and get the blues or are frustrated to the point of losing our cool we turn up our favorite rock & roll song and in less than a half and hour (at least for me) all the negative irritating thoughts are blown out the window with one good swift kick from the magic formula of heavy drums, bass, electric guitars and a singer who chants and screams at these sick parasites out of our system.
In short: ?Thank you God for giving us Rock & Roll? !!!!!

 

Don?t Damn Me

The first thing I love about this song is the guitar riff Slash wrote. I?ve heard great riffs before but this one has got to be the longest riff as far as measure wise I?ve ever heard. You can even whistle this one and it gets you in an up beat mood.
The lyrics by Rose/Lark are following the riff. (Probably difficult to come up with a different melody line on top of the riff Slash layed down.) It works well. I can identify with the lyrics here because I?ve felt the same way in my own life from time to time. I feel what I write that?s coming from the bottom of my heart and experiences that I?ve been through rather than writing about dreams all the time. I like the line: I never wanted this to happen didn?t want to be a man. So I hid inside my world. I took what I could find. I cried when I was lonely. I fell down when I was blind. (Becoming a man is one thing. But becoming a man that I didn?t approve of when I was a child is going to make me a hypocrite. This is not my scene.) So it goes to say Don?t Damn Me for speaking out the truth that no one wants to hear is a double-sided sword that most of us don?t want to face because it becomes a moral issue that you have to analyze yourself and you may not like what you find.
I like the break in the middle just right after ?If I damned your point of view could you turn the other cheek?? Slash comes in with a higher register copy of the main riff and goes off in shred mode to rip the cheek in half. Don?t damn me is a great song for all the songwriters who?ve been accused in one form or another for influencing the public in a bad way. But truth be it known it was really some folks who couldn?t stand to look at themselves in the mirror for what they have become. Instead of trying to change their way of thinking that may be corrupting our youth the wrong way, they go and condemn the artists for what he or she might of said as a reaction to things in life that are wrong and need to be addressed.


 

STOP THE PRESSES: I'm listening to C.D. (bought it last night) Right now as I'm writing this I'm listening to Better into Street of Dreams. It's so freaking good to hear Axl!!!! This cd is a modern bitch-slap rockin album. Some of the reviews of critics who put this cd down are a bunch of wankers and nerds. (Get a fuckin' life). This is a killer cd and I'm only up to the 4th song.
The music is wonderful. Even though the old crew are not here on the cd the guitar players, bass and drummers did their job as far as painting the best they could for each song.
Love the synth-noises. Love the Spanish-intro of If the World.
As I predicted the long wait was worth it. This cd has more substance and artistic rock creditably than any of the current groups that are on the Billboard charts. Modern rockers take notes. You can learn allot from this album!!!!! A++++++++++++ and than some!!!!!! :beer: :beer: : ok: : ok: : ok: : ok: 8) 8) 8) :smoking: :smoking: :smoking: :smoking: :smoking: :smoking:
(And yet there is a backlog of songs.....expect some more G&R in the future!!!!!!

Bad Apples

One of those songs that was written by the four original members of G&R.  I like this song in respect to the artist that wants to make it in the music business and live like a rock & roll king. Yes hitting the big time and receiving the fruits of your labor. Now you?re on top and can buy anything you dream of. Have many girlfriends. Throw the best rock & roll parties one can think of with a drop of a hat and not worry too much about how much money you?re spending because the money is rolling in. Buy the best guitars and recording equipment. ?Is that a Lamborghini in your drive way?? Why of course it is!!!
Of course with the sugar you also have to taste the bitter fruits as well. ?Why is there one bad apple in the whole bunch?? I?m quite sure one time or another the members of this band could agree on that statement and stand on common ground. Slash, Doug, Izzy and Rose must agree on that sentiment. Perhaps they might have felt that way about Steven Adler. Too much gravy on the plate can drown you unless you are wise enough to know when to step back and take a break from it all. When you become so successful like a band like Guns & Roses in a short time you may find yourself caught in a hurricane of madness. I like the line in this song that best describes this kind of situation: ?Hollywood is like a dryer and we?re down on sunset strip an you?ll be suckin? down the Clorox ?til your life?s all nice and crisp!

keep them coming! its nice reading through this stuff. its shame everyone is all boring and non contributing, shame on  you all!!

Before I go on with the last two tracks of Use your Illusion I like to comment on the DVD I bought recently of the MTV videos of G&R. When Use your illusion I & II came out I didn't have access to MTV or VH1 back than. So I missed those videos that were made for those two cds. (I had seen the early videos for Appetite when nobody even knew who G&R were. The first being Welcome to the Jungle. After seeing that video I already knew G&R were going to be a huge group.)
Paradise City video was exactly what I had seen when they opened up for Deep Purple and Aerosmith. This was the original line up. Yup. Izzy and Steven were there. Axl had his white outfit on. And there was some chaos in the audience. I was sitting in the first tier at Giant Stadium. Fans were holding on to the rails and letting themselves drop onto the field and running towards the floor audience to get to the stage. While hundreds of fans were trying to do this many security guards were trying to catch the fans before they disappeared into the ever growing floor audience. That short clip of the security guard in front of the stage in the Paradise City Video reminds me of this. : )
Now the Don't cry video really impressed me. Didn't realise that the song had some hidden Axl secrets going on there. I like the part were Slashes girlfriend is screaming at him in the car. And Slash just smiles and drives the car off the cliff. The November Rain video really carved out a better idea of what that song was about. My favorite part that I found very funny was when it started raining and everyone was running for cover, Duff decided to hang out under one of the tables. : )  The Garden video was exactly what I had thought of and was right on the nose. My review explains it to the tee. The Garden of Eden video made me laugh. It was funny to see those guys playing in a fish-bowl kind of view. My favorite was when Duff and Slash would come up close to do the backing vocals with Axl. Just hysterical to see it in that scope. Axl smiling and trying to keep up with the words that are coming out of his mouth and watching the bouncing ball hitting every word on the bottom of the screen was equally funny as hell.
The Dead Horse video was great to see. Axl playing guitar in the beginning and singing "Sick of this life. Not that you care. I'm not the only one with whom these feelings I share." Reminds me of the sentiments that me and my friends were thinking and talking about on a Friday night of partying until sunrise!!!
Now Estranged video. Well let's just say that I'm going to save that song and videos review when I get to it for the reviews on the 2nd Use Your Illusion cd. It's one of my favorite G&R songs of all time and is up there with one of my favorite songs from all the artists that I admire.
Stay tuned............... :smoking:

Dead Horse

Sometimes I feel like I?m beating a dead horse. This expression has been around for centuries. It?s a sarcastic line that has the same sentiment as ?you sound like a broken record?. Since this song is written by Axl Rose I?m assuming at the time he wrote it he was engaged with several repeating situations and dialogue that had no conclusion and those two occurrences was better left alone because there was no life left to squeeze an answer from them. Some topics are best left alone and we?ve had are fair share of exploring them to the point of pulling out a gun and shooting one?s self in the head. Or in this case a horse that has broken its leg and the best thing one can do is to shoot the horse dead and put it out in its own misery. I know there are many topics that I?ve learned to not to engage in with certain people because they either won?t listen or they just don?t have the mental capacity of understanding another point of view. What is really illuminating is if we press play now and forward in time from the point when Axl wrote this song and the release of the song Chinese Democracy, we find Axl writing a self-discipline antidote: ?It don?t really matter. Gonna find out for yourself. No it don?t really matter. Gonna leave this thing to somebody else!?

COMA

This song has got to be one of the better guitar arrangements that came from Slash in regards to exploring his personal guitar work in a longer piece. It is every lead guitarists dream to record one or two showcases of what he can do with his guitar in a song-format arrangement rather than just music-guitar arrangement like the great Jeff Beck had done.
Axl wrote some serious lyrics here. I don?t know if Slash gave some ideas as far as what the song is about but who really cares. Coma here is what a person does to himself when he or she no longer can stand what?s going on in life. It doesn?t have to be personal. It could be the view of where the world stands and is conducting itself. If one starts not approving and turns away they may find themselves in a level of a Coma. In other words, turning off the mind from the world and clicking the mind into a sleep mode. I like to think of this as level three Coma.
Level two Coma would be introducing any type of drugs that takes you somewhere else other than the current reality of life. Temporary relief from a world created by other minds that are so full of shit it?s a miracle how most of us live from day to day and put up with it.
Finally a level one Coma is what most people call a ?Death Wish?. It?s to the point of a person wanting to exit stage left for what ever reasons that the person chose to commit to a self-suicide.
He or she had reached the breaking point in their lives and weather they have many riches in their lives or close to nothing it has nothing to do with it. It?s more to do with the current script the world is following because they haven?t a clue how to replace it with another script.
Of course on the brink of a coma-state of suicide it is mandatory for those who run the world to save that person from his or hers death. If they succeed in saving you than you will undergo a process that perhaps will change you to deal with the sick world we live in. Or you just may find yourself doing yourself in again after they are convinced you are cured and can now leave the hospital for mental disabled people. See a suicide is real and most of the times that person wanted out of this world anyway. So unless the psychologists have a magic wand that can take away what truth that person may see of the world, chances are they are not going to reach that person anyway. It all depends on what level of ?Coma? you fall under.

Use Your Illusion II is next on this thread. Stay tuned for the first track from UYI-II : )
 :smoking:

i love this thread!!!

CIVIL WAR

This first track on Use Your Illusion II was the last studio track (as far as I know) that had the complete original line up of G&R.
The intro of this song which was a line from a movie called Cool Hand Luke is an accurate statement of disagreements that may flame into a civil war. “Some men you just can’t reach……….” Paul Newman was Luke who was the man who filled that part of the line: “Which is the way he wants. Well he gets!”
Axl describes his and many views on the hypocrisy that takes place when one is fighting for some type of justice or freedom that in some way we find our selves becoming the very enemy we were fighting in the first place.
The first verses are focusing on the ever vicious circle of war. Every century that passes another war pops up for what ever political agenda either side is waging for what they seem to believe is the right way. In the end the only thing that was accomplished was many lives dying for some cause that only reappears again. Slash and Izzy strum their guitars lightly. The lead is a light melody that kind of echos Axls whistle before he begins to sing. Than with the power of Steven Adler and Duff combined lead the whole band onto the battle field of the song.
The second verse screams Axls truth behind civil wars and its glory which was fed to the public ears as complete fairy tales to captivate their support of a war. Axls look of seriousness on this topic can be seen when he sings this song live in the Use Your Illusion II DVD. He is not joking around.
Slash steps in with a Jimi Hendrix wah lead that burns into you like a biological weapon. In many ways this song can be compared to Black Sabbaths War Pigs. Ozzy is singing the truth than handing the sentiment over to Tony Iommi to riff away on the guitar lead. Axl and Slash are delivering us the same message again. It’s a message that needs to be alerted to all of us because we’re a part of it.
In the third verse Axl shares his awaken truth from his childhood memories as many had experienced when we discovered many governments are not going to war for legitimate reasons. Rather they are hiding behind a lie only to make money to increase their power as a country.
One of my favorite lines in this song is: We got the wall of D.C. to remind us all
that you can't trust freedom when it's not in your hands, when everybody's fightin'
for their promised land. (I often wonder is there such a place on Earth that is a promise land?)
The band slams back in for Axl to sing: I don't need your civil war
It feeds the rich while it buries the poor
Your power hungry sellin' soldiers
In a human grocery store
Ain't that fresh
I don't need your civil war
Yes indeed!!!! Sometimes I think this is some type of script used for a new movie that has the same elements of another movie we well know of. But the producers and directors are so happy to keep using the same script since everyone still goes to the movies to see that same old plot. I guess if the majority of movie goers decide when they had enough of the same script and are not going to buy into it anymore maybe those producers, directors and writers will actually try to come up with some new fresh material. A new script? Yes Mr.Millionare Politician.
Look at the shoes your filling
Look at the blood we're spilling
Look at the world we're killing
The way we've always done before
Look in the doubt we've wallowed
Look at the leaders we've followed
Look at the lies we've swallowed
And I don't want to hear no more
---Those above lines in the third soft section are bone chilling. There is no left or right wing sentiment here. These words are the truth no matter how you try to get around it. For me it’s right up there with what Jesus said to a few standing below Him when he was crucified to the cross. He said: “Forgive them Father, for they do not know what they do.” Now Axl is no messiah. But he is a singer who likes to write the truth down on paper and sing it in a song. The band as well is playing with their best performance to get the point across. The band that were once a simple rock & roll band singing about survival on the streets are now delivering a higher message to their growing fans and media. As they learn more about business and power within the music business they are also quite aware of their political emergence upon America. I’m sure many powerful people in America were intimidated by G&R. Axl was not going to be any ones puppet from acquiring fame and fortune. Like his previous heroes Bob Dylan and Jim Morrison, Axl was going to shake the very foundations that were responsible for living a life of Hypocrisy.
In the end Axl speaks “What’s so civil about war anyway?”  I find myself asking that same question from time to time. : )

14 Years

This classic rocker is a song written by Izzy and Axl. But the song is sung mostly by Izzy.
My guess here is this song is the sentiment that Izzy felt from day one he decided to be a rock-guitarist-songwriter and devoted his time and life to making a living from it. It?s allot of fun, work, and many disappointments on the way. The funny thing about it is the years go by and than you realize that you?ve spent (in this case) 14 years of your life dealing, wheeling, compromising for the art you?ve created and worked very hard for. Izzy must have reached his point of tolerance of the music business and dealing with the members of G & R to the point of preparing a plan to depart from it all. Obviously he played a very pick part in G & R which most fans don?t see. It?s kind of a minor slap in the face when a band like G&R has so much success that loyalty and respect go out the door to the man who started the band in the first place. I?m sure Izzy held on for as long as he could. He delivered all he could from Appetite to Use Your Illusion. He was even there for the beginning of the tour for UYI. But 14 years is a long time. Izzy was really the smart one of the group. So he gracefully made a detour and decided to leave the tour. Yes this song was written way before all these events took place. But relationships in a band and outside influences to stir members in another direction from being a team can really drive nails into a coffin of a brotherhood within a band that is the key to a successful rock & roll band. Lose the brotherhood with your mates and it is a safe bet that one or two members will start holding grudges and leave a band in the height of success. Izzy doesn?t blame all of the mishaps on his band mates. In the words: Bullshit and contemplation Gossip's their trade --- tells it all.
The songs music is well written filled with some great piano. Slash?s guitar lead gives the song a nice touch of the blues for which he is a master on. Axl sings the chorus lines and even though he has given Izzy enough grief from time to time he still agrees on some of the sentiments that are felt in a high pressured band like Guns & Roses.

YESTERDAY


The song was written by Arkeen, James. Billy and Rose.
The song is basic enough as far as leaving the past behind and forging ahead with the future.
You can never change things that happen in the past. What memories we have of our personal lives, past political events and lost possessions and relationships are particles of dust that take off with the wind with no return. Bye bye!!!! : )
As hard as it may seem on all of us we sometimes still have total recall of a very good memories that will some how give us a smile on the face. But as Johnny Thunders once said in a song he wrote: ?You can?t put your arms around a memory!!!?

No one wants to grow old in their mind. Our physical aging is something we can not control but thinking old can be changed. We can think forever young in our minds. It?s easy. Just laugh in the face of the MAN who is chained and bound to his power trip and he will never get to control you for his master plan. As the song states: Prayers in my pocket, and no hand in destiny.
I'll keep on movin' along
With no time to plant my feet.


The music again is well arranged and has all the right elements from the beginning to the end of Axl whispering ?Yesterday?. Slash lays down a nice simple guitar lead when the minor key change kicks in that cries for Yesterdays priceless moments. But than Axl comes in again reminding us again yesterday?s got nothing for me. Heavy drums and bass. I think the new G&R should do this song for their up and coming tour to promote CD. That will put a nail in critics and some over whelming prospects of having a re-union band of the original members of G&R. After all, that was yesterday???and Dorothy honey, there really isn?t a land called OZ!!!  : )

KNOCKING ON HEAVENS DOOR

Of all the Bob Dylan songs I?ve often wondered why Axl and company chose this cover to remake.
Perhaps the fame that had struck Guns & Roses at that time overwhelmed Axl and company and the song echoed their sentiment. (Mama take this badge from me, I can?t use it any more). Axl might have not appreciated all the pressure of being the front man and central figure of what became of Guns & Roses in such a short period of time. Fame does have its drawbacks.
Overall the song was and is still today an excellent version compared to the many groups who have covered this song in the past. Slash and Izzy did a great job on the guitars. Duff and Matt added some real rock punch to the song and delivers it gives a hard edge to the song. The Use your illusion live dvd version is a great arrangement as well. Letting go of the song with audience participation was a great idea to get an entire audience to shout the main title of the song. Breaking out of the rock beat into a reggae strut was an unusual twist to the song. Slash?s lead solo on both versions is the original staple for this song. Nothing put pure melody leads that are silky clean and dirty mean. I?m sure Bob Dylan was impressed with the Guns & Roses version of his song.

Get in the Ring

Most of you are already aware of the sentiment behind this little gem of a song written by Axl Rose; Duff McKagen and Slash. (I certainly agree with them when it comes to music critics who gave the band negative reviews towards the bands actions on stage.) The first time I heard this song I was raising my fist in the air and praising G&R to have the balls to write and record a song like this.
Personally I?d like to play this song at the White House in D.C. in regards to the current bullshit the US is undergoing. Of course it wouldn?t be directed at the current administration. But at the ones you are pulling the strings above our so called devoted representatives of democracy.
The music that is played really has a wild-fury of sound that projects the lyrics right in your face and makes no mistakes as far as what the band is trying to get across. It?s not enough that the guys in the band are trying to perform their music and make money for so many people who have their hands in the G&R cookie jar they also have to put up with rock critics who are so burnt out in their brains it would take a whole battalion of bleach-blonde hair silicone babes to bring them back to life.
Some rock critics in the music business have a sense of integrity and do write great reviews. Some do write bad reviews but some how still maintain some grace. But for the ones that don?t have any moral values and no more intelligence of a lab rat can obviously be annoying to any artist. Axl makes that point clear in challenging them to get in the ring and say what you?ve got to say to his face. Hey in Rocky III Mr. T shot off his mouth to Rocky and Rocky at first didn?t think much of it and got knocked out and lost his title. But Rocky than wised up for another fight and put Mr. T in his place and than some. Yes critics can say if you can?t take criticism than you may be in the wrong business. Hey Mr. Critic we can take some criticism from you but be careful what you write about an artist and their fans. If you cross the line you are going to get a fistful in your face because you yourself subscribed to winning that prize all on your own. And remember: And to all those who oppose?????.Ha Ha??.well?

Here we go you Gunners & Rosers!!!!! Two songs: Shot Gun Blues & Breakdown.   :beer:

SHOT GUN BLUES


I hate to say this but this song was never one of my favorites. When you compare it with the rest of the songs on Use Your Illusion II it (for me) doesn?t measure up to the quality of all the other selections.
My guess here is comparing a bad day with a villain who use to live in the old west were disputes about anything were solved by the ?O.K. Coral? attitude. But I can meet the sentiment half-way here as far as if ?I was a bounty hunter? and I was hired to bring down a bad man who is a murderer ; rapist; bank robber or a man who has no regard for being a good person and only quest in life is to turn everything in his path into dust because he or she are just so rotten to the core that communicating with them no longer is an option thus a shot gun is the tune that is going to solve the problem and we can be relieved that we don?t have to feel blue about that evil person who is a big joke. I?m sure there is another sentiment for this song but I am clueless.


Break Down

Now this song is on my ?A? list. The first time I heard Break Down hit me really fast with Axl whistling against a western piano. (Axl must have a thing for the old west because there are a few songs within the body of work for both Use Illusion I & II that have that piano striking the same melodic old-west saloon style where there is a man or woman in the corner playing the piano.)

We all come in from the cold
We come down from the wire
An everybody warms themselves
to a different fire
When sometimes we get burned
You'd think sometime we'd learn
The one you love is the one
That should take you higher
You ain't got no one
You better go back out and find them

How many times have we all felt like this intro verse?
The time we try to make here on Earth all depends on some type of relationship weather it?s your friends or a lover. Heck if you take away all this and just go to work and come home and isolate yourself on the weekends to yourself you know as well as I know that is not life!!!
Yet finding the right friends that are not going to screw you to the ground or use you other than being a true brother or sister is hardly a healthy friendship. The same goes with your boyfriend or girlfriend who is trying to have a decent relationship without fighting all the time. Axl says: ?The one you love is the one that should take you higher. And if that one special lover or friends are not working out than ?You better go back out and find them!!!?

In comes the whole band adding the right elements to launch that first intro verse into action.
Music to my ears!!!
Axl comes in with the second verse:


Just like children hidin' in a closet
Can't tell what's goin' on outside
Sometimes we're so far off the beaten track
We'll get taken for a ride
By a parlor trick or some words of wit
A hidden hand up a sleeve
To think the one you love
could hurt you now
Is a little hard to believe
But everybody darlin' sometimes
Bites the hand that feeds

Yes!!!! Now you?ve got a friend and/or lover and you want to let your guard down so you can be lifted up into happy land and you feel almost like a child which is what life should be about????
Than you get taken by a left turn by an issue handed to you as if the Devil himself doesn?t want anyone to feel happy in life. Bang!!!! Now you?re on the edge of a breakdown because of ridiculous suspicions and the trust that you thought you had with your partner is out the door!!!!

When I look around
Everybody always brings me down
Well is it them or me
Well I just can't see
But there ain't no peace to found
But if someone really cared
Well they'd take the time to spare
A moment to try and understand
Another one's despair
Remember in this game we call life
That no one said it's fair

Yeah life certainly isn?t fair at all. But I guess if you are lucky enough to find the right friends that share almost half of what point of view you are based upon than that is certainly better than having so-called- friends who really don?t give a damn about you. And relationships with the one love you want to be with are no different. It?s a give and take balance that we are trying to achieve without tipping the beam to far on one side of the see-saw. When you reach that level there is no doubt that a big bang is going to hit you hard on your ass and all hell breaks loose.


Breakdown
Let me hear it now
Breakdown
let me hear it now
Yeah
Breakdown
Let me hear it now
Breakdown
let me hear it now
Get down with yo' bad self
Alright


I've come to know the cold
I think of it as home
When there ain't enough of me to go around
I'd rather be left alone
But if I call you out of habit I'm out of love and
I gotta have it
Would you give it to me if I fit you needs
Like when we both knew we had it
But now the damage's done
And we're back out on the run
Fun how ev'rything was roses
When we held on to the guns
Just because you're winnin'
Don't mean you're the lucky ones

That last verse is bare to the bones. I?ve found myself doing the same thing as far closing the doors on a social life because at certain times in your life you may not like what is going on in the social circles. It can sometimes be so contrived and phony that you?d rather stay home on the weekends and be a semi-recluse until you are ready to get back in the game. It is refreshing to get back into the scene and you are wiser now than the same people you left behind. What?s even funnier is what you thought of those people who seemed to appear to be the lucky ones are really the ones that should take a real cold hard look at themselves because they?ve been skating on the thin ice and are about to have their own self-constructed breakdown. But in the end after the long time out we get back out there to find a life that is suitable to what we are about and not what other so called leaders of the pack are about. To coin a phrase: Be true to thy self and you will find your place in society.

Towards the end on this gem of a song Axl likes to sometimes take quotes from movies to get his point across. It?s a technique that many artists use to give a song more potency in the words that describe an artist?s sentiment so that the listener understands what the song is about and has no misconceptions of what the song is about.

"There goes the challenger being chased
By the blue blue meanies on wheels
The vicious traffic squad cars are after
our lone driver
The last American hero
The-the electric sintar
The demi-god,
The super driver of the golden west!
Two nasty Nazi cars are close behind
The beautiful lone driver
The police cars are getting closer-closer...
Closer to our soul hero in his soul mobile
Yeah baby!
They about to strike, They gonna get him,
Smash! Rape!
The last beautiful free soul on this planet


But...it is written if the Evil Spirit arms the Tiger with claws
Brahman provided wings for the Dove
Thus spake the Super Guru" *
"Did you hear that"

................Yes Axl and friends!!!!! I heard that and it's as clear as a bell ringing across the land!!!!! :peace:

^ I honestly think that last, outro bit kinda ruins the song. The rest of the song is a gem, that bit is just strange and kinda unnecessary IMO

"Tied Up"...........coming soon. :smoking:

I'm looking forward to it.....

Pretty Tied Up" (subtitled "The Perils of Rock n Roll Decadence") is a song by the hard rock band, Guns N' Roses. Written by rhythm guitarist Izzy Stradlin, it appears on the band's 1991 album Use Your Illusion II. The song opens with the sounds of a coral sitar played by Stradlin. Stradlin may have been inspired by an encounter with a dominatrix and her client, which he described in an interview:

"My Mexican friend Tony took me to meet this woman named Margot at her house. She gave us some tequila or something and she goes in the bedroom and we walk in and there's this big fat naked guy with an onion in his mouth. He's wearing women's underwear and high heels and he's tied up with duct tape against the wall. Me and Tony were like, What the fuck is going on here? Cracking up laughing. She was this dominatrix chick."

Slash has stated that the song was written one night at Izzy's house, before the band went to Chicago to write. According to him, Izzy was so high on heroin that night that he made a sitar out of a cymbal, a broomstick, and some strings, thus serving as the inspiration for the sitar heard at the beginning.   :o

When I heard this song for the first time it really hit me as a hard rock in your face song.
The build up of the song in the beginning is a missile that is about to launched. The one part that really is the lift off for this song is the short descending bass riff by Duff. That riff along with Matt doing his drum intro into igniting the song is where it?s at. The whole band jumping in with Slash and Izzy continuing that eastern guitar riff is gold!!!

Axl doing the job of singing what Izzy wrote about in his middle register voice is perfect for the song. ?She?s pretty tied up and you can ride her? is a staple of rock & roll life as a performer in any band. ?I can?t tell you she?s the right one.? Yeah well you never know if a one night stand with any girl is necessary going to be your soul mate for life. Or for that matter a few months.
Slash lays down some ill-wah-wah leads that fit the song very well. You can?t get any better than his lead here without killing that section with over playing or under playing.
And after the lead section once again Duff does that bass riff that brings you out of the stop section right back into the last verse.

It?s funny that in this song there?s a line that says: ?Once there was this rock & roll band rolling on the streets. Time went by and it became a joke. We just needed more and more fulfilling. Time went by and it became a joke. (It knocks me out that Izzy wrote this back than and yet Chinese Democracy is suffering right now as if it was a joke.) Izzy could have been seeing into the future. Or perhaps he was just talking about the band at that time when they were nobody before Appetite and now with the success he looked back at how they were dismissed as never making it big. But I guess G&R and Izzy had the last laugh when the tables turned.
The end jam of the song is also exploding with the band jamming out the riff while Slash is melting away his blues-rock riffs all over the place. While all this is going on Axl repeats ?I can?t tell you she?s the right one??..ohhhhhhhhhhh?

Rock & roll at it?s best with that kick in your hip that makes you want to actually get up and dance with that long-legged blonde haired woman who is the mistress of rock & roll and passionate nights of??????.(I?ll leave you to fill in the space!!!)   :smoking:

I'm a big fan of this song.  Referring to the verse above, not sure if Izzy or Axl wrote this bit, but most definitely it was forseeing the future of the band at that time.  Axl in his recent posting in the boards was quoted as saying "On one hand I knew the band was over before we started touring Illusions but you have hope? but I saw it more like the Titanic sinking than moving on or surviving. And in reality I went the distance with each and every one in Guns to where they felt for whatever reasons they either couldn?t or wouldn?t give what Guns required.".  I imagine Izzy also saw this coming and he obviously opted out of being part of the band for their world tour once the albums came out.  In many minds, the band was becoming overbloated with too many hanger-ons and employees.  And as is quoted in the song, time went by and it all went up in smoke! 

"Subtitle: Complicity"

I'm still working on Locomotive since it is one of the tracks that I do admire. Plus this track kind of sounds like you're strapped to a high-speed locomotive running down that train track about 500 miles an hour!!!!!!!  :rofl:

Locomotive

?I BROUGHT ME AN ILLUSION
AN I PUT IT ON THE WALL
I LET IT FILL MY HEAD WITH DREAMS
AND I HAD TO HAVE THEM ALL?

Yup! Your life and my life can be a well constructed illusion because we love to live in a world of our own that are drawn from our imaginations. But just like having a poker face and trying to bluff your opponent into thinking you have something you really don?t will certainly put you in the loser seat of life. Sometimes an illusion has to have substance. And if you don?t lay down a full house, straight flush or four aces once in awhile and back up your illusion, you?re going to lead people to believe you are bluffing all the time. Thus your illusion will be shattered like glass hitting the ground.

Slash really goes off on bitching with his lead guitar in the sections were Axl is not singing. The heavy drums and bass of Matt and Doug is the fuel or charcoal pumping the furnace of this song while Slash and Izzy are the wheels on the train track heading through several sections of Axl blowing his aggravated descriptions of a few illusions about life, personal ambitions, love and fame.

I BROUGHT ME AN ILLUSION
AN I PUT IT ON THE WALL
I LET IT FILL MY HEAD WITH DREAMS
AND I HAD TO HAVE THEM ALL
BUT OH THE TASTE IS NEVER SO SWEET
AS WHAT YOU'D BELIEVE IT IS...
WELL I GUESS IT NEVER IS
IT'S THESE PREJUDICED ILLUSIONS
THAT PUMP THE BLOOD
TO THE HEART OF THE BIZ

Do I need to explain to all you gunners now what Axl and his new cd is doing as far as his illusion and the music biz-ness interpretation.  :smoking:

BUT I FEEL AS THOUGH YOU RAPED ME
'CAUSE YOU CLIMBED INSIDE MY WORLD
AND IN MY SONGS
SO NOW I'VE CLOSED THE DOOR
TO KEEP THE COLD OUTSIDE
SEEMS SOMEHOW I'VE FOUND THE WILL TO LIVE
BUT HOW CAN I FORGET YOU
OR TRY NOT TO REJECT YOU
WHEN WE BOTH KNOW IT TAKES TIME TO FORGIVE

I?ve read or have seen a few interviews about Axl?s character from people or friends who are close to him. They admit that Axl can be a very hard man to get along with but that Axl is also one of the friendliest guys you?d ever had the privilege to meet. It comes down to the artist?s illusion which is their muse that gives them the strength to create and perform. The following line sums it up:

I'VE WORKED TOO HARD FOR MY ILLUSIONS
JUST TO THROW THEM ALL AWAY

Hey relationships are no different. Sometimes a woman expects too much from a man when we are in a head over the heels love relationship. The insanity of keeping a love affair going sometimes is enough for both a man and a woman to run off the tracks of a freaking crazy locomotive train with out of control emotions splintering a love-friendship relationship into a total cluster $%^&!@!!!!
All you can do is:

BUT MY BABY'S GOT A LOCOMOTIVE
MY BABY'S GONE OFF THE TRACK
MY BABY'S GOT A LOCOMOTIVE
GOT TA PEEL THE BITCH OFF MY BACK
I KNOW IT LOOKS LIKE I'M INSANE
TAKE A CLOSER LOOK I'M NOT TO BLAME
NO

In the dramatic arrangement of music that is reckless and in control at the same time the song comes to a partial rest:  IF LOVE IS BLIND I GUESS I'LL BUY MYSELF A CANE

LOVE'S SO STRANGE--------------------and the song comes back in with a percussion vibe jam to the many sounds of Axl reprising these words that Love?s so strange. Yes even love is an illusion that two people paint on a wall for awhile until you run out of paint and you start smashing the empty paint cans on each others heads.
Coming in and out of Axl?s chants, Slash adds some very nice-blues-wah-wah guitar licks that are slowly melting the Locomotive Train until the end of the song were all is left is a pool of hot-molting-illusions on a train track wreck for the clean up crew to come in and post: Caution, toxic left over illusions may be harmful to your health!!!!  :o
 :beer:

good stuff  :beer:

Thanks to all you have indulged themselves in this thread.
So..........what is the next one.

Oh yeah.

So fine!!!

Stay tuned...........

(At the end of the live version off of the DVD----Axl & Doug: "Why-----because she's smart!!!" "You've got that right!!"  :beer:

Hang on folks. I was very busy the last four weeks. I hope to get the next song for all of you!!!  :)

So Fine

You wouldn?t think that Duff can right a song like this one. Duff takes on the lead vocals for this gem of a song. It?s your basic love song for a girl that has it all. The phrase she?s so fine is a guy?s way of confirming a very attractive girl who not only is good looking but is also intelligent and charming. The whole package is special.
Axl helps out on vocals during the bridge parts screaming: ?I want to reach up and grab them for you!? When you want to give the moon and the stars to the one you love you know you?ve found that special person that knocks you out head over heels. That?s the kind of love you want to give the whole planet Earth to.
Slash comes up with a ?very fine? lead for this song. It?s melodic enough to put you in that romantic state of mind when you are gazing into your soul-mates eyes. The rest of the band does a very good job all around. They are not overplaying the song to the ground. All the drums and bass move the song in the right way. The piano is delicate and adds that sophistication under the lyrics of the song that coins the name of the song title itself. So fine??????yes indeed!!

Estranged...........next.  8)

ESTRANGED

Well we?ve come to the cross roads of the epic G&R song.

es?trange 
tr.v. es?tranged, es?trang?ing, es?trang?es
1. To make hostile, unsympathetic, or indifferent; alienate.
2. To remove from an accustomed place or set of associations

The most mystified part of this song now describes the social reaction and behavior of society and our uncertainty of the time we are living in. I?m willing to lay odds on the fact that many people are singing the first few lines which Axl penned:

When you're talking to yourself
and nobody's home
you can fool yourself
you came in this world alone
(Alone)

I think originally Axl wrote this song from the heartache he had experienced from a falling-in love relationship that went sour. As many of you may be aware of sometimes the broken heart opens a door in the mind that analysis ones life were your own self-esteem is crushed and fear creeps in like a spider that webs a net over its prey to the point of immobilizing yourself into an alienated state of hysteria. When this occurs your shield for sanity is removed and thinking about self-termination becomes an available choice to check out.

Video captured: In the movie-shot video we see the ambulance and police arriving at Bills home because he is at the breaking point of leaving everything behind. The police come crashing into the dark house searching for Bill. And Bill is so gone he is on a shelf lying down immobilized. (I can picture a scene that was left out of the video were one of the medics finds Bill on the top shelf and as they are lowering him down the medic mimes the words that Axl is singing and says:

So nobody ever told you baby
How it was going to be
So what'll happen to you baby
Guess we'll have to wait and see
ONE, TWO

The band plays a few measures of sympathetic music were Slash gets to play some beautiful phrases of melody that my ears have not heard since the master of melody-lead guitar David Gilmour of Pink Floyd has recorded. The sound of Slashes guitar was recorded in the right definition of tone that brings out the best possible sound from a Les Paul guitar.

Axl sings the third verse in describing the situation as if he is sitting down with a therapist telling him how he feels and what happen and what led him to feeling estranged.

Old at heart but I'm only 28
And I'm much too young
To let love break my heart
Young at heart but it's getting much too late
To find ourselves so far apart

I don't know how you're supposed
To find me lately
An what more could you ask from me
How could you say that I never needed you
When you took everything
Said you took everything from me

Video Captured:  
Bringing Axl and his team mates into the picture of what he is describing also reflects each members estranged illusions of their own sanity taking some toll from the pressures of super-stardom success. The idea of inserting real live footage of the band & crew on stage and off-stage shows what every professional musician and road crew must go through to get to the next performance of their show. Another example of when any human being spreads themselves too thin by the stressful life they have to endure, you can bet that there is a sense of estrangement knocking on the back door of the health department of our mind and spirit.

Young at heart an it gets so hard to wait
When no one I know can seem to help me now
Old at heart but I mustn?t hesitate
If I'm to find my own way out

Still talking' to myself
and nobody's home
(Alone)

In the true sense of being a Gunner we are going to do everything we can do to get through the chaos.
Even the best of us sometimes are going to get dragged down to hit the pavement and feel the crushing weight of the world. But to coin a phrase ?we never say die?.

The band goes into a reprise with Slash dangling his leads on top of the bands music which is well arranged and supplies a wide open feel and space for the melody-line of that singing guitar to shine and cut right through.

So nobody ever told us baby
how it was going to be
so what'll happen to us baby
Guess we'll have to wait and see

Now after all the sections of Axls lyrical content, Slashes guitar leads, setting up the philosophical mood of what being Estranged is all about we come to a section of the song which has a spiritual-religious mood.

A Spiritual-religious mood? What the #$%^ is Bitch Slap Rappin talking about???

Some music has a formula to it that automatically sends an impulse to activate a certain ambiance. In the case of the piano section of this song we are talking about gospel music. I don?t know if Axl & or Dizzy decided to play a gospel-mood music here but the section of music that is now being lead by the piano is gospel music. Why is it called gospel music? It?s because that certain way of playing the piano had been adapted for decades in all churches. It wasn?t gospel music for the form. It was the form (or formula) that had been adapted for the gospel. That kind of music gives a sense of serenity to the mind, spirit and soul.

Video captured: As the gospel begins we see in the video a white house with everyone dressed in white. : ) Yes a place were someone must go when all else fails in coping with the illusion of life when it is shattered right before your very own eyes. It?s a place to re-focus ones mind.
As you see Bill turning a corner with a painting of Christ on the wall behind him you get the sense of healing and rejuvenation. Yes our hero on his way to recovery and maintaining his title with a new maturity and aspect on life. As he is escorted to the limo we see the first glimpse of hope of an image of a dolphin. The dolphin representing Bills new friend and beacon of leading Bill down the right path. I like the guy in the mirrored glasses who looks a lot like the actor Sam Elliott. He kind of reminds me of a father figure who is there to make sure no one messes with Bill because he has a job to finish and it?s very important he fulfills the mission.

Axl continues singing his new aspiration and hope of moving on. The lyrics are now sung against the gospel music with the rest of the band playing it light.

When I find out all the reasons
Maybe I'll find another way
Find another day
With all the changing seasons of my life
Maybe I'll get it right next time
An now that you've been broken down
Got your head out of the clouds
You're back down on the ground
And you don't talk so loud
An you don't walk so proud
Any more, and what for

Slash comes in with perhaps his best melodic lead guitar of all the G&R songs ever recorded.
A touch of an angel kind of lead that sends shivers down the spine.

Well I jumped into the river
Too many times to make it home
I'm out here on my own, an drifting all alone
If it doesn't show give it time
To read between the lines
'Cause I see the storm getting closer
And the waves they get so high
Seems everything We've ever known's here
Why must it drift away and die

Video captured:
Bill is shown here what it was like trying to swim in his nightmare. It?s not easy when one part of you wants to die and than the better part of one?s self is trying to save you. You?re stuck with me, my self and I. But the lucky ones whose time is not yet to expire have a guardian angel. The dolphin is the symbol of the rescue. The dolphin is a very intelligent mammal and can sense danger in the ocean. It?s well known that if you are going to get attacked by sharks and there are a school of dolphins near by, they will surround you and protect you from the sharks. Bill is lucky enough to have the dolphin swim to his rescue. In that sign it gives the better side of Bill to save himself from ending his own life.
The storm is a heavy one. So is Slashes lead guitar blistering from the depths of the ocean as he rises up from beneath the hurricane.

I'll never find anyone to replace you
Guess I'll have to make it thru, this time- Oh this time
Without you

I knew the storm was getting closer
And all my friends said I was high
But everything we've ever known's here
I never wanted it to die

Sometimes???..it?s best to lose your illusions so that you can be set free to live.

awesome review  : ok:

"You could be miiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiinnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnneeeeeeeeeeeeeee[/i]!"

is next.  :smoking:

You Could Be Mine

I some how found myself backstage for one of the very first concerts promoting the Use Your Illusion Tour. I?m walking towards the band area where the members of G&R are hanging out.
I hear a familiar voice raging and screaming at someone. Axl: ?Go *%&%* yourself you slimy rat beaten blood sucker!!!! We?re not going on the *%&^%* stage until I count all of the receipts and tally up what you owe us!!! The promoter is trying to con Axl and the rest of the band but they won?t budge. Slash is standing there smiling. Izzy is smoking a cigarette. Duff is giving the promoter his finger. I saw the new drummer Matt. He was sitting very quietly. He was anxious to get on stage and get off on tonight?s performance. The band members see me and smile. Axl sees me. He says one last line to the promoter: ?Get the ^*($ out of my site and go get the receipts bitch!!!? The promoter takes off. I really thought there was going to be no performance tonight and that would be a shame. Axl looks straight dead into my eyes. He smiles. Axl: ?Hey man come over here. You want a beer?? I said ?yes?. Axl looks at some girl with blonde hair, a beautiful smile and a rock & roll body. She brings over two beers and opens them up with a key-chain bottle opener. She hands one to Axl than me. She smiles at me and my heart melts. Axl notices this and laughs. Axl: ?Yeah she has that rap down to a science.? Axl raises his beer to toast me and I did. I said to Axl: ?So are you guys going to perform tonight? I kind of overheard the promoter making demands and stuff.? Axl laughs.
He takes a swig from his beer. Axl: ?You know I want to punch that asshole right into kingdom come. These (%*% think they can push us to do whatever they please with their piss-ass demands. It?s not enough we have to go out there and work on putting on a very good show for our fans, I?ve got to deal with the lazy-ass slick cocaine jittery punks who think we are dosed up on liquor and drugs and are under the impression they got us by the balls and can manipulate us out of some money from the top of tonight?s receipts at the door!!!?
Izzy walks over to were Axl and I are. He smiled and said hello. I said: ?Hello Izzy.? Izzy: Hey how?s it going? He shakes my hand and clinks his beer to mine. Izzy: ?We go through this shit almost every other show since we?ve got signed with our last lp. One day no one is paying any attention to you. Out of know were nine months to sixteen months after the first release all of a sudden you are in demand and everyone wants a piece of you!? Axl laughs. I laugh. Izzy laughs!!! Axl: ?Yeah and they can all be ours now!!!!! Duff comes up. Duff: ?No mother fucker, you could be mine!!!!? A few yards from us Slash screams out: ?But you?re way out of line!!!?
Slash strolls over like a sleek-lead guitarist with an open Jack Daniels in his hand. I stood there now surrounded with the four original members of G&R. Even though there were some problems I sensed at that point in time they still had some brotherhood left between them. It was very cool to feel the energy they some how tapped into. Axl: ?Hey Matt come over here you freaking drum-cannon stickler!!? Matt gets up and strolls over. I shook his hand.
Now the promoter comes back with a bag of receipts and a small book. Axl see him: ?Hey mother (&#$*& what?s it going to be?? The promoter walks up and says: ?Alright. Here it?s all there. You can count it and than you guys can get out there. You?re already running 40 minutes behind and the audience is ready to tear up the seats!!!? Axl looks and hands it to another man. Axl: ?Max, count this for me and make sure it adds up to what this place holds and tally up our share of the money to the promoters contract agreement we?ve signed!!! Hurry up so we can deliver our end of the deal for Miss. Fairy Bitch here!!!? Duff: ?Scuzz ball!!?
Afterwards all backstage guests were escorted to a special area in the front of the stage.
The lights dimmed. The crowd started screaming. The first thing we can hear is Duff. Duff: ?Welcome you impatient mother (&($#& !!!?? Matt takes his seat behind the drum set. Slash can be seen but it looks like you can only see his top hat floating around. Izzy takes his side of the stage hits a few notes. Axl comes out. Goes up to the microphone and says: ?Hey, due to a bitch-slap rappin mother *^&% trying to scam us we were held up until we could sort the bullshit out!!! Anyhow??Matt???..Give us some Termination ?cause we need to clear the air!!!!   (The band goes into You could be Mine as the opener for the concert. Needless to say?.the guys performed to their standards of excellence.  

Is that a true story??  ???

^ No, just too much pot.

It's fiction based on facts. Anyone who knows what went on behind the scenes of G&R will confirm the B.S. they went through with promoters.  :beer:

Well now that we concluded the Illusion era I'd like to fast forward to Chinese Democracy.
(I'm skipping Spaghetti Incident in light of cover songs. Let's just say G&R cranked out those favorites with good gusto!!

I'll be back to review the first track entitled Chinese Democracy.............stay tuned. : )

cool man : ok:

C.D.
Part I

On the arrival of the new release the first track was the song I heard played on K-Rock (NYC).
The song starts off with a landscape of sound quivering an uncertainty by the mood of the sounds. The intro begins to gain more sounds with the addition of people talking in the distance of the mix. As the music continues we enter a second section of drums and guitar creating a new signature still keeping that uncertainty mood. As the wound up continues a third part which is a main guitar riff plunges in to stop the uncertainty and releases a control build up to Mr. Roses scream. The build-up is like an arrow pulled back and aiming at a target until the whole band comes in with the first verse to the song. "It don't matter.......

It's been awhile since I've posted due to writing and recording my latest CD.

I found this video for the song Better. But it is done with parts of the Paradise City Video. The person who did it did a great job. It kind of brings you a visual of the original line-up doing Better.  (Maybe most of you seen this already but I think it's cool.)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cbyqqd2Lwp8&feature=related