Thoughts on the lyrics...

[The Linguini Occurrence]

One thing about the CD album that kind of shocked me is how little swearing it ahs. I forget fofhand, but it's something like 2 words throughout all of the songs. Or amybe even one. Too tired to think.

Two f-bombs in the entire album:

Madagascar - "Let's get something straight, alright? This whole thing was fucked up."

Riad - "I don't give a fuck"

I think the lack of swearing in the album was meant to make the songs more radio-friendly, and also to have the album appeal to a wider audience.

[uzi your illusion]

If Appetite is about a group of guys taking over the world on their own terms and breaking all the rules. And the Illusions are about those core group of guys trying to hold everything together while still coming apart at the seams. Then Chinese is how one of those guys climbs out of the wreckage, starts to piece part of his life back together, and trys to come to grips with everything that went down. From a slum in the gutter of the Sunset Strip all the way to an isolated mansion in the hills in Malibu. The albums trace how he got from one to the other, probably my favorite part of the music is trying to figure out the lyrics.

I remember Axl mentioned that he always considered Chinese Democracy a double album.

Lyrically, when I listen to what we have all the way through, it does feel like I've only heard just a part of it, not really all he had to say.

Kinda like Coma will make you think that was all of it like Prostitute did, but somehow I felt like a 'to be continued' appeared and I needed to wait for the second part of it or the rest to come out.

Better, Street Of Dreams, There Was A Time, Prostitute and especially Catcher In The Rye are great lyrically imo.

If Axl has more songs with similar lyrics and style of writing like those, It will be awesome to me. I like the dark tone Chinese had.

It wasn't all negative, I didn't feel like it was anyway.

I think I remember saying something along the lines of when Ron and Frank came in and the band was doing the last stretch of recording that they felt like creating something kind of beautiful rather then heavy and dark. I think that was close to the quote. I'm sure someone can pull it up.

[KiraMPD]

Axl spent most of his 30s in seclusion, probably depressed much of the time when he wrote these. I don't think anyone was expecting happy songs about rainbows and butterflys.

Kind of funny, because Axl also said this about Slash:

O Globo, January 2001

With Slash it wasn't much different, addicted to drugs and alcohol, the guitarist disagreed with the direction of the band:

- Nothing about happiness and love made sense to him. That was the reason why he hated "Sweet Child O' Mine". He only wanted to write songs about drugs and sadness.

Well yes, the one way to write a good song (or even a good book/poem/script) is to write what you know or what you feel. It's writing 101 neh?

I personally disliked Sweet Child when I first heard it because I had been introduced to GnR via WTTJ and Paradise City and it didn't seem to fit the image of Guns that I had built up in my head. Of course when I got a little older (~12ish) I started to appreciate the song a bit more (although its still not my fav song out of AFD).

Edited January 5, 2012 by KiraMPD

[Georgy Zhukov]

One thing about the CD album that kind of shocked me is how little swearing it ahs. I forget fofhand, but it's something like 2 words throughout all of the songs. Or amybe even one. Too tired to think.

Two f-bombs in the entire album:

Madagascar - "Let's get something straight, alright? This whole thing was fucked up."

Riad - "I don't give a fuck"

I think the lack of swearing in the album was meant to make the songs more radio-friendly, and also to have the album appeal to a wider audience.

I think it's just maturity. Axl added more to his vocabulary since UYI.

I was surprised by how much Bucket and Brain were on the album. I thought for sure Ron and Frank would record over all the parts like they did with Josh Freese. They only did a handful. Nice tribute to those guys.

[GiveNuseR]

I would say in a way I liked it having elss of it because "too" much seems kind of fake when certain people do it. More variety. What/'s HILARIOUS though is I remember seeing reviews where parents were compaling about this cd having those words in ti and how they ahd bought it to isten to with their kid or something. How can you buy a gnr cd and think 2 words is horrible language-wise comapred to past cds? haha.

Anwyay, I'm ready for the enxt cd. I hope it's not as long of a wait as this one had been.... he eneds to ahve it released by December just to be totally sure it's out before the world ends.

[The Linguini Occurrence]

he needs to have it released by December just to be totally sure it's out before the world ends.

December would be too late.

The world is going to end April 14th, when Axl and Slash shake hands

[Saphyra]

This kind of fits the topic...does anyone else think that Street of dreams is about Slash?

I mean, look at the lyrics and then it's one of the few songs on CD that has a very slashlike solo.

Naah... I don't think Axl's gay.

[Saphyra]

I like lyrics of DC. It's important that they aren't vacuous like many in these days. Otherwise, they never were. GN'R lyrics always had a point. I like all the songs, but particularly - This I Love(just epic), Street Of Dreams, Better, Shackler's Revenge and.. Goddamit! I like all album!

[GnR Chris]

I love the lyrics on Chinese Democracy.

It's simple and grammatically incorrect, but I fuckin' love when Axl utters "IT DON'T REALLY MATTER."

"What I thought was true before were lies I couldn't see. What I thought was beautiful is only memories."

"There was a time, didn't wanna know it all. Didn't wanna know it all, and I don't wanna know it now." (The two verses in TWAT in their entirety are just awesome.)

"If I were you I'd manage to avoid the invitation of promised love that can't keep up with your adoration."

"It's like a walk in the park from a cell. And now you're keepin' your own kind in hell. When your great wall rocks, blame yourself, while their arms reach up for your help."

"You took our innocence beyond our stares — sometimes the only thing we counted on when no one else was there."

"I hoped she’d never leave me. Please, God, you must believe me. I’ve searched the universe and found myself within her eyes."

"No one is stopping you from doing what you want to do."

"I won't be told anymore that I've been brought down in this storm and left so far out from the shore that I can't find my way back, my way anymore."

"It's harder to live with the truth about you than to live with the lies about me."

"Oh, I saw the damage in you, my fortunate one, the envy of youth."

"Sometimes I feel like the world is on top of me, breakin' me down with an endless monotony. Sometimes I feel like there's nothing that's stoppin' me. All things are possible. I am unstoppable."

"Spent their time in desert winds. Nomads and barbarians. I won't bend my will to them."

Edited January 6, 2012 by GnR Chris

[JesseGoudge]

My favorite lyrics from the album is from IRS:

As when you first told me you were gone,

So long ago but I still held on

Through all the Motions, the Love and the Sex

And that's the truth, and here's the worst yet

But my favorite thing about the whole album is at 2:25 of this video:

Edited January 6, 2012 by JesseGoudge

[The Wicked Hand]

Chinese Democracy is Axl's message to the world.

[Chimera]

Axl's lyrics on Chinese Democracy range from lame to inconsequential. It's funny. Oh My God was panned as this terrible abomination when it first came out, but musically/lyrically - it's the best thing Axl's put out since Use Your Illusion. The lyrics are decent in the title track. Everything else? Woe is me, self-pitying malaise. So it's a great album to listen to when you're feeling sorry for yourself.

'Tis an awesome break-up album.

[wasted]

I find the lrics inspiring. Yes verses air some grievances but the choruses are about overcoming these obstacles.

I don't see the lyrics as any more depressing as Breakdown, Estranged, Don't Cry, Nov Rain.

Ok TIL is a nutcracker but the rest is business as usual.

[Nosaj Thing]

One thing about the CD album that kind of shocked me is how little swearing it ahs. I forget fofhand, but it's something like 2 words throughout all of the songs. Or amybe even one. Too tired to think.

Two f-bombs in the entire album:

Madagascar - "Let's get something straight, alright? This whole thing was fucked up."

Riad - "I don't give a fuck"

I think the lack of swearing in the album was meant to make the songs more radio-friendly, and also to have the album appeal to a wider audience.

Really? I don't think so.

[GivenToFly]

I find the lrics inspiring. Yes verses air some grievances but the choruses are about overcoming these obstacles.

I don't see the lyrics as any more depressing as Breakdown, Estranged, Don't Cry, Nov Rain.

Ok TIL is a nutcracker but the rest is business as usual.

The lyrics are slightly more positive on CD than on the past discography. There are some positive messages, Scraped, Riad, Chinese Democracy, Madagascar - never back down, strength in the face of adversity, "Riad and the bedouins [the villains] crossed the line and lost again", "you think you've got it all locked up inside [but] you're out of time".

By contrast, what's positive about the Illusions and Appetite? I guess Estranged and Coma ironically are the most optimistic of all. Estranged is about moving on; Coma takes you to rock bottom and the ending is about picking yourself up through sheer strength of will. Otherwise it's all loss, anger, paranoia or ironic cynicism. Even Sweet Child is painted as mere illusion when the second part kicks in: "were do we go now?" - he's losing her even as he's singing the song.

Last verse of You Could Be Mine takes negativity to a level that no song on CD can even dream of. Or maybe it's just that it's rawer and the emotion shows more.

It may be that this new found optimism is an attempt at convincing one's self that things are not as bad as they seem or that they will get better when one knows that's actually not true. Those songs do seem a bit insincere when juxtaposed with the rest of the album. Or it's just forgiveness and "look for a new beginning on you".

But it's definitely not business as usual. It's a whole different world.

[GivenToFly]

One thing about the CD album that kind of shocked me is how little swearing it ahs. I forget fofhand, but it's something like 2 words throughout all of the songs. Or amybe even one. Too tired to think.

Two f-bombs in the entire album:

Madagascar - "Let's get something straight, alright? This whole thing was fucked up."

Riad - "I don't give a fuck"

I think the lack of swearing in the album was meant to make the songs more radio-friendly, and also to have the album appeal to a wider audience.

If you listen to interviews or rants on stage from the 80s and 90s he used to swear way way WAY more than he's done in interviews, chats and on stage in the past decade. That reflects in his writing as well.

Axl's lyrics on Chinese Democracy range from lame to inconsequential. It's funny. Oh My God was panned as this terrible abomination when it first came out, but musically/lyrically - it's the best thing Axl's put out since Use Your Illusion. The lyrics are decent in the title track. Everything else? Woe is me, self-pitying malaise. So it's a great album to listen to when you're feeling sorry for yourself.

'Tis an awesome break-up album.

There are some interesting fragments of say 2-4 lyrics scattered all over the album, some nice rhymes, some interesting metaphors. But I agree, you're hard pressed to find a full song that's particularly interesting. I'd nominate Riad myself, could have been very good but he ruined it with a stupid lyrics ("you aggravate me") at the key moment of the song. The title track is also decent but it leaves me with the feeling that it could have been much much better; could have been the new Civil War.

[wasted]

I find the lrics inspiring. Yes verses air some grievances but the choruses are about overcoming these obstacles.

I don't see the lyrics as any more depressing as Breakdown, Estranged, Don't Cry, Nov Rain.

Ok TIL is a nutcracker but the rest is business as usual.

The lyrics are slightly more positive on CD than on the past discography. There are some positive messages, Scraped, Riad, Chinese Democracy, Madagascar - never back down, strength in the face of adversity, "Riad and the bedouins [the villains] crossed the line and lost again", "you think you've got it all locked up inside [but] you're out of time".

By contrast, what's positive about the Illusions and Appetite? I guess Estranged and Coma ironically are the most optimistic of all. Estranged is about moving on; Coma takes you to rock bottom and the ending is about picking yourself up through sheer strength of will. Otherwise it's all loss, anger, paranoia or ironic cynicism. Even Sweet Child is painted as mere illusion when the second part kicks in: "were do we go now?" - he's losing her even as he's singing the song.

Last verse of You Could Be Mine takes negativity to a level that no song on CD can even dream of. Or maybe it's just that it's rawer and the emotion shows more.

It may be that this new found optimism is an attempt at convincing one's self that things are not as bad as they seem or that they will get better when one knows that's actually not true. Those songs do seem a bit insincere when juxtaposed with the rest of the album. Or it's just forgiveness and "look for a new beginning on you".

But it's definitely not business as usual. It's a whole different world.

CD songs are kind of songs about people who screwed him over and he's saying Fuck you.

I find Estranged pretty rock bottom. Maybe you'll get right next time. Coma is like bye bye?

There was a victorious fuck up vibe to the illusions. CD can be colder at times.

To me VD lol typo CD is like There was a Time you fucked me over now I'm back and I'm calling you out. Whereas Illusions are pretty lost. but it has more swagger in adversity.

Edited January 6, 2012 by wasted

[sailaway]

I find the lrics inspiring. Yes verses air some grievances but the choruses are about overcoming these obstacles.

I don't see the lyrics as any more depressing as Breakdown, Estranged, Don't Cry, Nov Rain.

Ok TIL is a nutcracker but the rest is business as usual.

The lyrics are slightly more positive on CD than on the past discography. There are some positive messages, Scraped, Riad, Chinese Democracy, Madagascar - never back down, strength in the face of adversity, "Riad and the bedouins [the villains] crossed the line and lost again", "you think you've got it all locked up inside [but] you're out of time".

By contrast, what's positive about the Illusions and Appetite? I guess Estranged and Coma ironically are the most optimistic of all. Estranged is about moving on; Coma takes you to rock bottom and the ending is about picking yourself up through sheer strength of will. Otherwise it's all loss, anger, paranoia or ironic cynicism. Even Sweet Child is painted as mere illusion when the second part kicks in: "were do we go now?" - he's losing her even as he's singing the song.

Last verse of You Could Be Mine takes negativity to a level that no song on CD can even dream of. Or maybe it's just that it's rawer and the emotion shows more.

It may be that this new found optimism is an attempt at convincing one's self that things are not as bad as they seem or that they will get better when one knows that's actually not true. Those songs do seem a bit insincere when juxtaposed with the rest of the album. Or it's just forgiveness and "look for a new beginning on you".

But it's definitely not business as usual. It's a whole different world.

CD songs are kind of songs about people who screwed him over and he's saying Fuck you.

I find Estranged pretty rock bottom. Maybe you'll get right next time. Coma is like bye bye?

There was a victorious fuck up vibe to the illusions. CD can be colder at times.

To me VD lol typo CD is like There was a Time you fucked me over now I'm back and I'm calling you out. Whereas Illusions are pretty lost. but it has more swagger in adversity.

Wasted I think you captured it with "Victorious Fuck-up vibe"

CD songs are colder,more calculating but no less intense.

[wasted]

whereas on CD the lyrics are more no bullshit, straight talking. Only really wallowing a bit on TIL but that was Illusion era so.

[sailaway]

whereas on CD the lyrics are more no bullshit, straight talking. Only really wallowing a bit on TIL but that was Illusion era so.

Exactly, fewer innuendos and full on frontal assault!

[GiveNuseR]

If we're talking favorite lyrics from this aprticular album, for me it has always been Better.