Pretty tied up appreciation thread

[willl]

Izzy: My Mexican friend Tony took me to meet this woman named Margot at her house. She gave us some tequila or something and she goes in the bedroom and we walk in and there's this big fat naked guy with an onion in his mouth. He's wearing women's underwear and high heels and he's tied up with duct tape against the wall. Me and Tony were like, What the fuck is going on here? Cracking up laughing. She was this dominatrix chick. We sat around her living room for the rest of the afternoon, listening to records, and she'd go in the bedroom and do her thing. At the end of the day she turned him loose and he paid her all this money. She took us out to eat. There was this whole scene of dominatrix chicks who worked in the S&M clubs. They'd beat on guys and after work, they'd take a musician out to dinner, let you stay at their place sometimes [Musician, 1992].

Slash: We kept rehearsing, and once we'd gotten a few songs all together, we went over to Izzy's place on Valley Vista and Sepulveda in the Valley to do some writing and see where his head was (...) Axl showed up that day, and regardless we started working on a song that became 'Pretty Tied Up.' I remember that Izzy had taken a cymbal and a broomstick and some strings and had made a sitar out of it. Needless to say...Izzy was pretty fucking high [bozza, Anthony, & Slash (2007). Slash. Harper Entertainment: New York, p258].

Duff, talking about working on songs in Chicago without Axl and Izzy: We did get some work done. We finished 'Civil War' and wrote 'Get In The Ring' and 'Pretty Tied Up,' to name a few [Duff's autobiography, "It's So Easy", 2011, p. 151].

Duff, being asked about his favourite Guns N' Roses song to play: I don't know, there's a load of songs I like. For many a year "My Michelle" was the song I loved to play the most, but towards the end of the Illusions tour my favorite was "Pretty Tied Up" [Popular 1, July 2000].

Cool! I think this snippet might relate to the "I just found a million dollars that someone forgot"?... from Classic Rock 2001 interview with Mick Wall:-

[...] He has a plugged-in electric guitar balanced on his knees. Is he going to

play us a song? Yes, he is. He picks it up and begins strumming. At first I don't recognize it, then it

hits me: 'Pretty Tied Up', one of his own from 'Use Your Illusion II'. He starts singing: "I knew this

chick... lived down on Melrose..." Axl sang it on the album, of course. But that lazy Midwestern

drawl belongs entirely to the guy who wrote it, the one with the low-slung 'tood and the cigarette

dangling from his gob.

These days, of course, Axl isn't around to sing it for Izzy. The cigarettes are gone, too: banished to

the same dark place as the booze and drugs. He recently celebrated his 39th birthday and yet he

looks younger, leaner, than he ever did back in the ba-ba-bad old days. Which throws the memory

of our last meeting into even sharper relief. Back then, Izzy was wasted. But, hey, this was LA in

1989 and we all were. He had a check for $900,000 in his pocket, he said, but no bank account to

put it in. "Give it to me," I joked. "I'll take care of it for you." He staggered to his feet, appeared to

actually consider the possibility for a moment, then folded it up and put it back in his pocket.

"Later, man." he said. And now here we are. Much later...

[GivenToFly]

Such a great song!

What is the connection between the first verse and the second and third? Is he likening the band to a sex-hungry perverted nymphomaniac, because of all the excesses and greed or is the industry/media/public the dominatrix and the band the 'victim'? What do you guys think?

[double talkin jive mfkr]

Such a great song!

What is the connection between the first verse and the second and third? Is he likening the band to a sex-hungry perverted nymphomaniac, because of all the excesses and greed or is the industry/media/public the dominatrix and the band the 'victim'? What do you guys think?

i think its just a vignette of a day in the life during those times and the people,environment and some crazy S&M chick right

[Blacula]

I've always thought this song was about Motley Crue. At least that's what I assumed from those sick Nick Kent's interviews.

[ludurigan]

those 2 Rio 1991 performances are absolutely brilliant

the studio version is a bit flat to my liking

[wasted]

Axl showed up that day.

Edited October 10, 2014 by wasted

[hausofaxl]

Great to see Pretty Tied Up get so much love. Definitely one of my favorites.

[Chuzeville]

Had never heard it live. I'm surprised by the vocal line sung by Axl on the chorus. It sounds to me like he's singing harmonies while Izzy and/or Duff have the main line from the record, if that makes sense.