This I Love - Erin, Seymour or other?

[BangoSkank]

If it was written '93 then it's almost definitely Stephanie. Hard to believe he would write about Erin when that relationship would've been more fresh in his mind.

As an aside: outside of Finck's solo, it's really the only track in GN'R's songbook I can't stand.

Edited August 28, 2014 by BangoSkank

[trqster]

The song might blow but it's ironic that's by far the most popular CD song, either recorded or live....

[spgunner]

"We really haven't really sat down to collaborate on songs yet. [...] I've just been working on where my head's at on things so I can approach the next record in a way that lets me go to farther extremes. [...] I wrote and recorded a new love song that I want on the next record called This I Love, that's the heaviest thing that I've ever done." (Axl, Hit Parader, 1993)

At the same interview he talks about vacations and Stephanie, which means they were stil together so he either wrote the song when they had a fight/issue/whatever but things were ok again or it's probably about Erin or someone else.

This interview was released in two parts. The beginning was inside a regular Hit Parader. The second part came at the next edition, in a mini special magazine dedicated only to Axl's interview, full of pics. I'm glad Robin did the solo, it's amazing.

[trqster]

+2 million views and +10.000 likes for a non-existent official video or live performance - not too bad for a 'shitty' song is it...?

[maynard]

The shittiest songs tend to have the most views on YT.

[Jordan Rose]

That's because it's not shitty.

I don't like The Beatles. Does that make them shitty? Obviously not.

I can't get my head around why adults can't figure out why things they don't relate to and like aren't necessarily shitty. Complete lack of imagination.

[GUNNER PT]

Yes, because people are all stupid ... Why don't you listen to PC, the iluminati?

[trqster]

The fact is that Gn'R is basically still mainstream popular for the Axl ballads, especially November Rain and nowadays This I Love.

Like or not Mr. Axl Rose sings the song with such a feeling and passion that leaves probably just a few people here untouched...

[dando]

+2 million views and +10.000 likes for a non-existent official video or live performance - not too bad for a 'shitty' song is it...?

This I love is one of Axl's best works, properly brilliant

[Nosaj Thing]

The fact is that Gn'R is basically still mainstream popular for the Axl ballads, especially November Rain and nowadays This I Love.

Like or not Mr. Axl Rose sings the song with such a feeling and passion that leaves probably just a few people here untouched...

Yes, This I Love was a song where Axl put a lot of energy into. It's just him and a piano which is awesome. I find the piano parts to be great but a bit just a bit "too" slow.

The real problem with the song is the cheesy, crybaby, still bitter lyrics.

Edited August 28, 2014 by Nosaj Thing

[RandallFlagg]

It oughta be cheesy but it's stark somehow and heavy in a different dynamic and sublime, buzzing with high emotion, like a lot of Axl's pieces, you have bands that make a living pretending they're so emotional yet you have this guy who breathes the pain that went into such songs, it clearly comes at a cost to create things like this, it's a rare talent to channel something as common place as lost loves into this kinda energy.

[Nosaj Thing]

No.

However, what you said applies to November Rain, Don't Cry and Estranged. You're giving too much praise to a shit song.

[Jwalker19]

I always thought it was his mom.

[trqster]

I always thought it was his mom.

Beta or the old one?

[Nosaj Thing]

Didn't he hate his mother? If I remember correctly, he had problems with his family for talking about his mother in an interview. He talks about it in a rant in Chicago 1992.

[niceguy]

Good lord, how can anyone not understand that TIL is about Stephanie Seymour?

Either that, or Steven Adler.

[GUNNER PT]

The fact is that Gn'R is basically still mainstream popular for the Axl ballads, especially November Rain and nowadays This I Love.

Like or not Mr. Axl Rose sings the song with such a feeling and passion that leaves probably just a few people here untouched...

Wonderful ...

Edited August 28, 2014 by GUNNER PT

[tinyrobot]

That's because it's not shitty.

I don't like The Beatles. Does that make them shitty? Obviously not.

I can't get my head around why adults can't figure out why things they don't relate to and like aren't necessarily shitty. Complete lack of imagination.

Because they are selfish people and immature at 40.

I agree with everything you wrote. The song is about Stephanie as I recall from the 90's too.....

[Mr. Dude]

I don't have the time or inclination to search my archives for all the interviews and references including things said by Beta, Moby, Duff, Slash, Canter, Fernando and numerous others that make it very clear that Axl felt (and with no evidence to suggest he feels any differently today) that Stephanie was his soul-mate and his perfect woman. He felt that nobody else could make him feel more alive, he hoped they'd be together forever; he wanted to start a family with her and when she left him it consumed him in a depression that lasted for years. Like I said, into the late 90s and, for all we know beyond, he'd get depressed every year around her birthday. If you aren't aware of this, spend a few days reading through the interview and article archives at HTGTH and you'll wonder why people are even questioning it.

The 'mother' thing makes no sense. When has any source ever suggested it's about his mom? It's clearly an unrequited, romantic love song, emotionally very close to NR and Estranged though about Steph not Erin. The videos that play during live performances of it are of beautiful young women. Besides, he resented his mother (and grandmother) for not protecting him from abuse as a child. No offense meant but if you think it's about his mother I can only assume you haven't read any of his interviews in the late 80s and early 90s because that makes absolutely zero sense on every level.

It's very telling that the people who despise This I Love (and Chinese generally) and think it's weak/sappy/Disney/cliche etc tend to be the same people who support the old band, clamor for a reunion and want Axl/the old and to write more Appetite-style riff-rock with similar subject matter.

I relate to This I Love for the same reasons I relate to Axl and consider myself an Axl fan first and a Guns fan second. It's been a year since I lost the girl I love more than anything and she is literally still on my mind all day every day from the moment I wake up to the moment I go to sleep. The longest period during any day when i'm not actively and consciously thinking about her might be 30 minutes of a movie before I think 'damn, I wish I could share this with her.' I know without a doubt that I will still be in love with her in several year's time, still feeling miserable without her on her birthday and at Christmas etc. I know i'll never say goodbye and i'll never forsake her for anyone else, at least not for a very, very long time.

That's why every single word of This I Love rings true to me. And the people who hate it and who want more songs like Brownstone and Easy are, I imagine, the kind of people who jump from one relationship to another, get over one girl by getting under another a few weeks later, fuck around like rabbits when they're single and generally don't get too emotionally deep on any level in general.

I imagine the people who don't like it are the kind of people who bag on about "rock n roll lyrics" - completely oblivious to the fact that rock n roll was based on the blues which was based on heartbreak. TIL is a great song.

[bran]

my favorite song off CD

[Apollo]

At first.I though it was a Seymour ballad but after listen to lyrics GNR gossip on board I thought maybe Erin. Outside shot maybe his mother, with all due respect. Or maybe God?

Has Axl never talked about the song publically?

While it might have some of the cheesiest lyrics in GnR history, I really like the song. Certainly one of the most interesting songs in the GnR catalog. And one of the best to sing while in the show or while cranking it up in your car.

[Mr. Dude]

I can just as easily envision TIL as being about Erin as Stephanie. Maybe its about both? For some reason I've always had the feeling that it was more likely about Erin. Regardless of who it is about, the arrangement is fantastic. I think its strong enough to stand on simply the piano, but Robin's solo is one of the best in the GNR canon imo.

[Nosaj Thing]

At first.I though it was a Seymour ballad but after listen to lyrics GNR gossip on board I thought maybe Erin. Outside shot maybe his mother, with all due respect. Or maybe God?

Has Axl never talked about the song publically?

While it might have some of the cheesiest lyrics in GnR history, I really like the song. Certainly one of the most interesting songs in the GnR catalog. And one of the best to sing while in the show or while cranking it up in your car.

And it's also one of the songs where Axl put a lot of effort and energy into. Whenever I want to show my friends how good Axl used to be and how terrible he is now, I use This I Love.

Edited August 29, 2014 by Nosaj Thing

[wasted]

I don't have the time or inclination to search my archives for all the interviews and references including things said by Beta, Moby, Duff, Slash, Canter, Fernando and numerous others that make it very clear that Axl felt (and with no evidence to suggest he feels any differently today) that Stephanie was his soul-mate and his perfect woman. He felt that nobody else could make him feel more alive, he hoped they'd be together forever; he wanted to start a family with her and when she left him it consumed him in a depression that lasted for years. Like I said, into the late 90s and, for all we know beyond, he'd get depressed every year around her birthday. If you aren't aware of this, spend a few days reading through the interview and article archives at HTGTH and you'll wonder why people are even questioning it.

The 'mother' thing makes no sense. When has any source ever suggested it's about his mom? It's clearly an unrequited, romantic love song, emotionally very close to NR and Estranged though about Steph not Erin. The videos that play during live performances of it are of beautiful young women. Besides, he resented his mother (and grandmother) for not protecting him from abuse as a child. No offense meant but if you think it's about his mother I can only assume you haven't read any of his interviews in the late 80s and early 90s because that makes absolutely zero sense on every level.

It's very telling that the people who despise This I Love (and Chinese generally) and think it's weak/sappy/Disney/cliche etc tend to be the same people who support the old band, clamor for a reunion and want Axl/the old and to write more Appetite-style riff-rock with similar subject matter.

I relate to This I Love for the same reasons I relate to Axl and consider myself an Axl fan first and a Guns fan second. It's been a year since I lost the girl I love more than anything and she is literally still on my mind all day every day from the moment I wake up to the moment I go to sleep. The longest period during any day when i'm not actively and consciously thinking about her might be 30 minutes of a movie before I think 'damn, I wish I could share this with her.' I know without a doubt that I will still be in love with her in several year's time, still feeling miserable without her on her birthday and at Christmas etc. I know i'll never say goodbye and i'll never forsake her for anyone else, at least not for a very, very long time.

That's why every single word of This I Love rings true to me. And the people who hate it and who want more songs like Brownstone and Easy are, I imagine, the kind of people who jump from one relationship to another, get over one girl by getting under another a few weeks later, fuck around like rabbits when they're single and generally don't get too emotionally deep on any level in general.

Great post.

It is actually the Ill never say goodbye line that makes me think. Never say goodbye, makes think never? It's like she's dead. But his mother dead later i think. Then there's that story about how Erin wouldn't even say goodbye to Axl.

But your stuff about Seymour as the ideal woman fits and the time it was written. It might be a composite but I think your right.

Although the her hearts the same she holds the pain inside is very Erin/Axl. Seymour seems more like a siren than being in pain.

SOD, TWAT, Prostitute seem like the Seymour trilogy.

I guess as a Rosé song it is a target and example of what AFD hard rock metal fans didn't want. UYI has some but it's balanced out by YCBM or whatever. TIL is Axl is going all the way out there where "the band" or that engine and chemistry isn't used. Even less than Nov Rain. If the World and Peostitute are the same in different way. Some people got over it, some like it. Guns meant a lot to them or they just hate it that much.

It comes from the same place of emotional honesty as anything on AFD. It's not so different from UYI material IMO.

Edited August 29, 2014 by wasted

[Kittiara]

The fact is that Gn'R is basically still mainstream popular for the Axl ballads, especially November Rain and nowadays This I Love.

Like or not Mr. Axl Rose sings the song with such a feeling and passion that leaves probably just a few people here untouched...

Yes, This I Love was a song where Axl put a lot of energy into. It's just him and a piano which is awesome. I find the piano parts to be great but a bit just a bit "too" slow.

The real problem with the song is the cheesy, crybaby, still bitter lyrics.

I personally love the lyrics. I mean "I've searched the universe and found myself within her eyes" is just wonderful. Add to that the emotion in the vocals, and the beautiful guitar solo... It's by far my favourite CD song.

I appreciate that tastes differ, though!