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Has anyone ever tried translating the chatter intro to Chinese Democracy?


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This just crossed my mind as i was listening to the song. As we all know, Chinese Democracy has a minute-long introduction which involves a repeated track of chatter in a foreign language (likely Mandarin). I was wondering if anyone has actually tried translating it and seeing what it says? Any ideas?

People might tell me to fuck off with the CD discussion, but i think it's an interesting topic. :lol:

Edited by Live Like a Suicide
Clarifying title and discussion
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1 hour ago, Wagszilla said:

 

I thought I remember reading it said "say something"... "you can't something something if you don't say something". 

As you can tell my memory isn't exactly crystal here. 

It was definitely something close to that combined with what I wrote earlier about asking if the child had been bewitched.

 

I never thought about it before, I always just thought it sounded mysterious and cool. But it could definitely be about the public wondering why Axl went silent for all those years. And wondering what was wrong.

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1 hour ago, Wagszilla said:

Yeah, could be.

The unreleased artwork is the key that opens pandora's box on the meaning behind the album and songs and what Axl was thinking.

The reason why I like the record is because it's really abstract but that booklet kind of fills it all in IMO. 

Can you elaborate on what you think about the alt. artwork? 

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3 hours ago, Wagszilla said:

The alternative booklet contains four crucial things which in my view signify the meaning of the album: (1) the note how Chinese Democracy was his summer project in 1997 and with the help of some friends he was able to save his own life (2) the essay Fear N' Freedom which is Axl's commentary on China and a brief commentary on American democracy and (3) a story about his friend Riad explaining capitalism (4) the artwork itself

In regards to the artwork itself, there's the controlling red hand on Chinese Democracy and anguished face on Madagascar, the former which is essentially about the combination of hate and nihilism in a totalitarian state and the latter is essentially about overcoming and personal redemption. Those are the two sides of the coin that I think he was going for. Something about the duality of man, sir! Then there's Slash and Matt Sorum as the conjoined skeleton twins on Sorry. Putin and Mao's homoerotic relationship, etc.

In short, I think Axl was thinking about the changing musical landscape (growth of electronica/industrial), the geopolitical landscape (America as the aging superpower, the rising Chinese and Russian influence), and more with the making of the record. I think the record is purposefully abstract and that all these elements got thrown into a blender but what Axl was thinking about at the time. 

My hypothesis is that CD II was the angrier of the two, a commentary on the futuristic hellscape, rising paramilitary, and so forth. Something old, something new, something borrowed, something blue. 

 

 

Great fuckin post, Wagszilla. Brilliant intepretation.

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