What "Chinese Democracy" may look (or sound?) like
Written by Jan for GnRsource.com
I don't really want this posted elsewhere, because I got shit at a certain other forum. For that reason, I ask you to please discuss this article in a civilized way. If you don't like it, feel free to say so, but there's no need to bash me because of it. I wrote this based on the songinfo I did for
www.gnrsource.com, and I don't try to fool anyone. I'm happy if one person will read this who didn't know everything. That's my goal, and I firmly believe in everything I say. I do speculate some places, but that's also based on sources that are not good enough for me to source them. So I label it as MY speculation, instead of sourcing a fan posting at a forum.
Just some more issues I want to clear out:
1) I don't try to claim this is the tracklist for CD.
2) I can't show you the artwork. We'll have to wait and see. I guess I could've titled the article better.
3) I don't say I want to add anything new. What I wanted to do was to give people some insight into this - especially those who doesn't know everything. Sp1at did something like this a few years back, and this is better, because we have more info now. The only new issue here is about "Prostitute", and when it was actually written.
So here it goes:
I decided to take a quick look at what songs may be on "Chinese Democracy", including when they were written and who wrote the songs (I'll leave out "Silkworms", "Riyadh" and "Catcher In The Rye", since these most likely won't be on the album). I'll focus on the songs we didn't hear yet.
So here's the songs:
Chinese Democracy (Freese/Rose): Written in or before March, 2000. Josh Freese brought the song in, and Axl wrote the lyrics.
Better (Finck/Rose): Written in or before 2004. Axl wrote the lyrics, and Robin Finck most likely wrote some of the music. Rumored as the first single, and a clip was leaked as part of a Harley Davidson commercial late last year.
I.R.S. (Rose): Written in or before 1999. Axl wrote the lyrics. It's not unlikely Paul Tobias may have contributed to the music.
There Was A Time (Rose): Written in or before 1999. Axl wrote the lyrics.
The Blues (Rose): Written in or before 2000. Axl at wrote the lyrics. Robin Finck wrote the guitar melodies (which will probably be uncredited).
Madagascar (Pitman/Rose): Written in or before 2000. Axl wrote the lyrics, while at least some of the music was written by Chris Pitman. It's very unlikely someone else than Pitman could put together the solo part of the song.
The General (Mantia/Rose): Written in or before 2002. Another song that is likely to be on the album. According to Dizzy, "The General" is a song Brain brought in: "Last year Brain had this song called "The General" that was really cool." Axl wrote the lyrics and Marco Beltrami confirmed he worked on that song, adding arrangements.
Seven (Beltrami/Rose): Written in or before 2002. Beltrami also said worked on this one: "[There is] a song called "Seven," which is the one that I did the most work on, I actually did some writing on." Axl wrote the lyrics and others may have contributed.
Leave Me Alone (Rose) & Thyme (Rose): Both written in or before 2002. Marco Beltrami also worked on these two songs. Axl did at least write the lyrics.
I'm Sorry (Finck/Rose): Written in or before 2006. Very likely to be on the album. Sebastian Bach mentioned the song, and with him talking about it, the song is most likely considered for release. Bach said the song is "almost like doom metal with Axl singing really clean over this grinding, slow beat that is fucking mean. I cannot get it out of my head." Rumors indicate that Robin Finck co-wrote the song.
Prositute (Rose): "Prostitute" is another song that is very likely to be on "Chinese Democracy". The song goes back to 1996, and it was first confirmed by Spin in 1999. I did however get confirmation that it's much older through a contact who was working at Geffen. He said he heard the song, and said it was a rocking tune that reminded him of the old band. He may have said the song was kinda like "November Rain" meets "Nightrain", but this is based on a conversation that happened in 1997, so memory slips.
"Prostitute" was also a song producer Youth worked on. This was early in the process of the recording of "Chinese Democracy". Youth tried to make Axl work on music, but there was little progress. Youth said "Axl was working on a song called "Prostitute", which is a working title and everything was going real slow."
With everyone talking about how "Better" is most likely the first single, I'll throw in "Prostitute" as a candidate. The song was on a list of alternative tracks for the band to play live (posted at the band's official page), and if it was there, doesn't that indicate that there could be a reason it's there? Most fans seems to agree that the band needs a rocking song, and if "Prostitute" fits that description, then why not release it as a single? I don't know, and I won't claim anything, but I personally don't regard "Better" as a perfect choice as a single.
I feel Paul Buckmaster's following quote backs up the claim that "Prostitute" may be a very strong song too: "[It's a] mid-up, kind of biting 4 minute song with an aggressive rhythm section. The way I wrote for the string section (32-piece, consisting of ten 1st Violins, eight 2nd Violins, six violas, and eight cellos) gave the song another dimension. [The song is] powerful, like fire and ice."
If The World (Rose): Written in or before 2006. Another song on the mentioned setlist was "If The World". Obviously with the song on that list, there's good reasons to believe it's a track they consider to release, and it could also be a candidate for being a single (and thus being a "big gun"). Currently, very little information is available about the song, but it could be that the title is incomplete, since GnR has a tendency to shorten titles in setlists. There's also indications that Frank Ferrer may have worked on the song.
This I Love (Rose): Possibly the new song fans has talked about most these past years. Most would know it's fairly old, and it stretches back to 1991-1993. The song has been said to be a piano ballad, and it's rumored to be the answer to the trilogy (Don't Cry - November Rain - Estranged). While the first part of this may have some truth to it, it's unknown where the rumor about the trilogy answer comes from (especially since "Estranged" could be considered an answer to it too). Axl did say back in 1993 that he wrote and recorded the song, but that's also the only quote from GnR members we have: "I wrote and recorded a new song that I want to have on the [next] record called 'This I Love.'"
The engineer Dave Dominguez confirmed that the recording took place, and it seems like it was done by the whole band, not just Axl: "This I love" is actually an old GN'R song that the original GN'R wrote and recorded for the "Illusion" records. I like that song a lot." Another engineer, Howard Karp, later said "I only worked with Axl, no one else, it was a solo piano piece. I heard nothing else. Axl was cool, two short evenings, nothing too eventful."
This quote most likely refers to a re-recording of the song. Dave Dominguez backs this up by claiming that the song was supposed to be on a soundtrack, and that it was considered for the album for that reason: "This I Love" was supposed to be for a suoundtrack to a Robin Williams movie awhile back thats the only reason any old track was even thought about by Axl that track was never going be on the record." So even if it was a piano piece then, it doesn't have to be a new "November Rain". For now, it seems less likely that "This I Love" is on "Chinese Democracy", but it may very well still be. If it really is a gem, time will tell.
Ides of March (Reed/Rose): "Ides of March" is a song only the engineer Dave Dominguez has mentioned: ""Ides of March" was a working title of one of the songs that came from a loop name that Dizzy came up with I think they kept the name but it's been years so I'm sure everything has changed by now." The song was written in or before 2004.
Oklahoma (Rose): This song was written in 1996, and will probably not be on the album. Axl said the following about the song: "I was sitting in my litigation with my ex-wife, and it was the day after the bombing. We had a break, and I'm sitting with my attorneys with a sort of smile on my face, more like a nervous thing - it was like, 'Forgive me, people, I'm having trouble taking this seriously.' It's just ironic that we're sitting there and this person is spewing all kinds of things and 168 people just got killed. And this person I'm sitting there with, she don't care. Obliterating me is their goal."
Dave Dominguez also confirmed the songtitle, saying the song "was pretty much written by the time they got to the studio [Rumbo]. Axl wrote that with inspiration from the Oklahoma City bombing (more as a tribute to those who died if I'm not mistaken)."
Other songs: Zodiac, Quick Song, Atlas Shrugged (Both possibly working titles and unconfirmed; sp1at.com brought up these titles), Cock-a-roach Soup, Suckerpunched, No Love Remains, Friend Or Foe, Zip It, Something Always, Hearts Get Killed, Closing In On You (all from Kerrang, 1999, unconfirmed songs), Strange Disease (rumoered track, source unknown).
Thanks to sp1at.com for doing some research used in this article.
----------------is a good speculative article with many sources of info. And instead of bashing should be looked at critically, objectively.
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