lilacmess

Thanks for doing this!

1 hour ago, MillionsOfSpiders said:

I'm an Axl fan and voted for Slash 

I'm a Slash fan and voted for CD

I've always liked this one: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2WMY-n9MF6o

5 hours ago, Blackstar said:

- What Do You Want To Be? and Take It Away: I agree that these two are about Axl.

- Good To Be Alive: to me this is most likely about Axl as well. Which parts do you find strange?

- Beggars & Hangers On: I agree; it doesn't seem to be about Axl.

- Back And Forth Again: Although your analysis is very plausible (and I agree with you, @Asia, @giuls and @Frey that the lyrics are not "romantic" or anything like that), I have some doubts about this one. Its mood is different than the other two songs (or three, if we count Good To Be Alive in); these are angry, nasty even, while Back And Forth is more empathetic and affectionate. And it doesn't reflect so much the situation in the band, as Slash has described it (with Tobias and all that), at the time when he supposedly wrote all these songs (i.e. during 1994). It fits more to the period during of after the Snakepit tour and a little before Slash quit. Of course he could have written this earlier than the other songs, when he wasn't so angry.

I have a little bit of information about this. There are some quotes on Chinese Whispers, where Slash explains who wrote the lyrics for what song.

"I think it's pretty easy to tell which songs he wrote and which ones I wrote: all of my songs are directed at one person... though no-one picked up on it at the time. I used the record as an opportunity to vent a lot of shit that I needed to get off my chest." (Slash, Autobiography)

"I had two songs with lyrics I'd finished myself, 'Be the Ball', and 'Take It Away'... 'What Do You Want to Be' is me and Eric... 'I Hate Everybody But You' is the closest I ever got to a love song, I wrote most of the lyrics for that... 'Back and Forth Again' was my title but Eric had the lyrics. It's about people not being able to come to some cohesive understanding and breaking up." (Slash, Metal Edge Magazine, 04/95)

"One of the first songs Eric did was a song called 'Beggars and Hangers-On', where he wrote the whole song in one night. I was really impressed with that... It's about everybody we know! Half the girls I've met in my career to this point... So we went to Rumbo in the Valley and wrote the lyrics and melodies for 13 songs in one day." (Slash, Metal Edge Magazine, 04/95)

Personally I don't think 'I Hate Everybody But You' is about Axl, but I'm open for crazy over the top, yet insightful song interpretations by the Slaxl Club Members and their Chairman! @Frey