The only Catcher In The Rye thread you need!

[AC]

Everyone I know who has heard this song didn't like it, but I LOVED it from the get go. The melody is great. It's one of those songs that you forget about, but when you hear it again you really appreciate it.

a.

[The Catcher]

I think all the speculation on this song can be laid to rest now. Axl Rose's post on Catcher In The Rye:

Ok, I've never actually tried to put this into words this way before and this'll probably get me in trouble with someone but here goes...

The piano started while watching a documentary or A&E type show on Chapman and wanting to write something for Lennon and his family.

W/the book it started as fascination and curiosity with Holden Caufield Syndrome and what was or could possibly be in the book that obviously certain vulnerable people have seemed to become so passionate about and resort to outrageous public attempts or acts of violence. That and the question most have in regard to Lennon's death...why?

Can't say I have those answers but I feel our song pays the emotional tribute to John Lennon in the end that I'd wanted to write since the night he was killed and also since first listening to Elton and Bernie's Empty Garden.

I read the book. I fell into a deep dark sleep. Went to the studio and sang as a joke what I refer to as the Holden parts off the top of my head and felt at the time at least imo I had stumbled on a way of thinking that had a pattern and a flow but was broken up like a television station going out and coming back slightly off course intermittently and not making sense with it's earlier portion.

Where this unease helped to justify or even demand taking action and feeling the power of taking that action against whoever your mind felt was somehow involved or the root of this unease and alienation.  Accompanied by a calming surreal almost religious (but totally insane) vibe I think that if some were to experience having limited capabilities, insecurities or are mentally and emotionally challenged in some way could find a false sense of solace and take comfort in like being on some type of drugs or meds but with an added completely false sense of an imagined calling or purpose.

It certainly could and very well often would feel better than some individuals real world or having to experience or live with a clearer perspective of their true reality...

All of which of course could be imagined and hooked together by events like Lennon's murder, reading the book, wanting to write a song about someone being insane, John Lennon, Chapman, people shooting people and watching Mel Gibson's Conspiracy!

And when I got home not in any dramatic way but more like cleaning off the dinner table I threw my book away.

Don't know if any of that's really what any of that's about but that's how it hit me and just like an instant cake we got the basis for a song.

[ShotgunBlues1978]

This was one of my least favorite tracks amongst the leaks, but has become one of my 3-4 favorite tracks on the album based upon the final version.  It was always brilliant lyrically but I thought the leak, aside from Brian May's solo, was kind of flat and dull.  The final version is a thing of beauty, the guitars during the final verse are just great

My favorite line is the final one, "Sometimes the only thing we counted on when no one else was there"

Because that's how I feel about Guns music.  May sound corny but there have been some real tough times where Axl's music and lyrics helped pulled me through.  I'll never know the guy but it's a comfort knowing someone as talented and successful as him experiences the same feelings and emotional struggles that I do.  Awesome song

That's not corny at all.  That's how I feel too.  I am anything but ashamed of that.  I'm proud actually.

Ali

Oh yeah I'm not embarrassed to admit it, some people just don't understand it because they don't connect with music that way.  I just like that line because Axl's talking about Lennon's music and now there are a bunch of people who feel the same way about his own music, it kind of lends to the timeless value of the song

Very cool to see Axl's description of how he came up with the idea

[overmatik]

I don't know if I got right but I understood that Axl doesn't like the book, is that right?

Wow, I really thought he loved the book, and that's why he had written a song with that title.

[Skunk]

I don't know if I got right but I understood that Axl doesn't like the book, is that right?

Wow, I really thought he loved the book, and that's why he had written a song with that title.

Yeah but it makes a lot more sense now. Considering the nature of the book, it pays more tribute to Lennon when you know it's not a tribute to the book, i think.   

[italysfinest1985]

This was one of my least favorite tracks amongst the leaks, but has become one of my 3-4 favorite tracks on the album based upon the final version.  It was always brilliant lyrically but I thought the leak, aside from Brian May's solo, was kind of flat and dull.  The final version is a thing of beauty, the guitars during the final verse are just great

My favorite line is the final one, "Sometimes the only thing we counted on when no one else was there"

Because that's how I feel about Guns music.  May sound corny but there have been some real tough times where Axl's music and lyrics helped pulled me through.  I'll never know the guy but it's a comfort knowing someone as talented and successful as him experiences the same feelings and emotional struggles that I do.  Awesome song

That's not corny at all.  That's how I feel too.  I am anything but ashamed of that.  I'm proud actually.

Ali

Oh yeah I'm not embarrassed to admit it, some people just don't understand it because they don't connect with music that way.  I just like that line because Axl's talking about Lennon's music and now there are a bunch of people who feel the same way about his own music, it kind of lends to the timeless value of the song

Very cool to see Axl's description of how he came up with the idea

Yes sir. The "You took our innocence beyond our stares, sometimes the only thing we counted on when no one else was there" line is one of my favorites in GNR history. Really powerful and true.

[uzisuicide2002]

i have this song on now. and its just so good. 

[italysfinest1985]

i have this song on now. and its just so good. 

Me too. When it's played live, I wouldn't mind Axl introducing the song to the audience, many who may be only familiar with the GNR classics  , as a tribute to the life and legacy of John Lennon. This would make everyone tune in on the lyrics and emotionally absorb the song.

[Annie]

I think that this song should be the next single after the BETTER video comes out. It is very relevant to what is going on in the world right now.

[Layne Staley's Sunglasses]

I think that this song should be the next single after the BETTER video comes out. It is very relevant to what is going on in the world right now.

I love this song, but I would have to say they need to go with This I Love.

I do hope Catcher is a single at some point.

[Skunk]

I really like this song, and it actually had to grow on me more than the others. I like it more and more with each listen now, and the lyrics are probably my favorite part because they are deep and meaningful and really poetic in their own right. However, i just don't understand you guys who say you really relate to the words. I mean obviously you can relate to anything ?but the words in catcher to me seem not like something you relate to, just something you appreciate. Which is also partially why i don't think it would be a good single. It wouldn't be a bad choice, but there are a lot of better ones on the album.


And for the record, i like the album version a lot better than the demo, AND i like the solo better. 

[Dead N' Bloated]

Is anybody else in love with the bass line at the start of the song?
When I 1st got the record this was my least favourite but now it is a top 3.


 

[The Catcher]

If you don't like this masterpiece you're either tone def or stupid.

[AtariLegend]

Although personally I like the Brian May version better, this version is pretty good too.

The final few minutes after the guitar solos finish and once the lyrics start to flow are spectacular.

[gunns1]

Although personally I like the Brian May version better, this version is pretty good too.

The final few minutes after the guitar solos finish and once the lyrics start to flow are spectacular.

I agree, this song (only the last verse wise) is where I appreciate Rons contributions the MOST on cd, more then any other song,

the last verse along with Rons outro solo is one of the best moments on cd for me.
where you just Have Axls voice and Rons solo , hes not finger tapping/shredding etc, hes just playing the guitar seemingly in line with Axls voice, its great.

[LunsJail]

Although personally I like the Brian May version better, this version is pretty good too.

The final few minutes after the guitar solos finish and once the lyrics start to flow are spectacular.

I agree, this song (only the last verse wise) is where I appreciate Rons contributions the MOST on cd, more then any other song,

the last verse along with Rons outro solo is one of the best moments on cd for me.
where you just Have Axls voice and Rons solo , hes not finger tapping/shredding etc, hes just playing the guitar seemingly in line with Axls voice, its great.

Absolutely agree. Best moment on the whole album for me. Ron's guitar really gave this song a kick.

[The Catcher]

Yeah, it's the best moment on any GN'R moment, no doubt. Pure magic.

[gunns1]

Although personally I like the Brian May version better, this version is pretty good too.

The final few minutes after the guitar solos finish and once the lyrics start to flow are spectacular.

I agree, this song (only the last verse wise) is where I appreciate Rons contributions the MOST on cd, more then any other song,

the last verse along with Rons outro solo is one of the best moments on cd for me.
where you just Have Axls voice and Rons solo , hes not finger tapping/shredding etc, hes just playing the guitar seemingly in line with Axls voice, its great.

Absolutely agree. Best moment on the whole album for me. Ron's guitar really gave this song a kick.

Althought I rather Mays solo in the middle more then Rons,
Ron does a better job in the outro solo then May.

[younggunner]

After recently re reading the book, I found Axls comments on CITR to be a little hypocritical.

Why should an artist be responsible for the actions of a persons interpretation of their work?

[chitowngunner]

Not sure if this has been posted or if it's in the right section...but sad nonetheless!

RIP J.D. 

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100128/ap_en_ot/us_obit_salinger

here's the first few paragraphs:

NEW YORK ? J.D. Salinger, the legendary author, youth hero and fugitive from fame whose "The Catcher in the Rye" shocked and inspired a world he increasingly shunned, has died. He was 91.

Salinger died of natural causes at his home on Wednesday, the author's son said in a statement from Salinger's literary representative. He had lived for decades in self-imposed isolation in the small, remote house in Cornish, N.H.

"The Catcher in the Rye," with its immortal teenage protagonist, the twisted, rebellious Holden Caulfield, came out in 1951, a time of anxious, Cold War conformity and the dawn of modern adolescence. The Book-of-the-Month Club, which made "Catcher" a featured selection, advised that for "anyone who has ever brought up a son" the novel will be "a source of wonder and delight ? and concern."

Enraged by all the "phonies" who make "me so depressed I go crazy," Holden soon became American literature's most famous anti-hero since Huckleberry Finn. The novel's sales are astonishing ? more than 60 million copies worldwide ? and its impact incalculable. Decades after publication, the book remains a defining expression of that most American of dreams ? to never grow up.

Salinger was writing for adults, but teenagers from all over identified with the novel's themes of alienation, innocence and fantasy, not to mention the luck of having the last word. "Catcher" presents the world as an ever-so-unfair struggle between the goodness of young people and the corruption of elders, a message that only intensified with the oncoming generation gap.

Novels from Evan Hunter's "The Blackboard Jungle" to Curtis Sittenfeld's "Prep," movies from "Rebel Without a Cause" to "The Breakfast Club," and countless rock 'n' roll songs echoed Salinger's message of kids under siege. One of the great anti-heroes of the 1960s, Benjamin Braddock of "The Graduate," was but a blander version of Salinger's narrator.