http://www.gnrinfo.tk/Written by: "The Garden" was written by Axl, West Arkeen, and Del James. The music was generally written by West Arkeen, while Del and Axl wrote the lyrics. Del's parts are sung by Alice Cooper.
Written in: "The Garden" was written in or before 1988.
Performed live: "The Garden" was played live in February, March and April, 1993. It was performed live for the first time, in Austin, TX, on February 23, 1993.
In Their Own Words:
Slash: Axl sang a part in 'The Garden,' and it sounded exactly like Alice Cooper, I mean, it sounded
exactly like Alice. So we were like, 'Let's get Alice to do it,' you know, rather than just steal his style. So Alice
came down and sang it. It was cool."
Alice Cooper: I was in LA, staying at the Sunset Marquis. I was watching an old movie when Axl called me. It was about two in the morning and he says, 'Hey, listen, can you do the vocal on this song 'The Garden'? I went down there and I listened to it and said, 'Yeah, I'll do it.' So we do it but when Axl sings, you can't stay with him. I'm sitting there and
I'm trying to do a duet with him and I said, 'Listen guys, this is my range. I end right here.' He was two octaves
ahead of me and I'm going, 'Okay, okay. You do the real high parts and I'll stay down here.' When you're in the
studio, a one-on-one with him, it's really amazing. When he's on the other mike, you're like, 'Jeez this guy can
really sing.' Axl was a definite perfectionist . Almost to the point where you wanted to say, 'At some point, Axl,
it's gonna be good enough.' With 'The Garden,' it was an easy bit for me to do. I did my bit maybe three times but
when Axl was doing his vocals, he treated it very intricately. Rock and roll isn't supposed to be perfect. I'm afraid
of it sounding too perfect. I mean, Bob Ezrin recorded Pink Floyd's The Wall three times. They probably did it like
six times before they put it out. You never know if a person is not happy with it or if they're afraid of the
material. The Beatles must listen back to Sgt. Pepper and go, 'Oh, man, why didn't we do this?' As an artist, you
gotta know when the painting is done.
Slash: I came up with the solo that day in the studio, so there wasn't much practicing involved. I had the basic idea, improvised it, and did it a couple of times. I played it overhand. This solo is particularly focused, in terms of where your energy is. I thought of Jeff Beck. That's cool. I like Jeff Beck.?
The Garden was an old song, pre AFD or around that time so I doubt the story about Charles Manson is 100% true. There's also a drummachine demo of it.
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