Religious interpretation of Prostitute / Your interpretations of Prostitute?

[BucketEgg]

 

 

Normally I don’t pay that much attention to song lyrics, but the meaning of Prostitute confused me, I felt compelled to look at it more. so I chunked the lyrics into one paragraph, and removed the "oh yeas" and "oohs" because I wasn't sure if they were relevant to the message, or were just there so the song sounds better. I decided on where the punctuation might be based on audio recording, or what might sound natural when spoken aloud. Also it’s the last song on Chinese Democracy, so I wondered if there might be something about it. Also Mike Jagosz made inflammatory comments about Axl being a prostitute. I’m not sure if it’s true or it was just Jagosz being mean and thinking up of any insult he can, but I was wondering if there’s a chance a song titled Prostitute might be heavier among all its vagueness.

 

 

Apologies if there’s mistakes throughout, it’s long, and sometimes I find it hard to keep track of everything.

………..

PROSTITUTE LYRICS CHUNKED:

 

 

Spoiler

Seems like forever and a day. If my intentions are misunderstood, please be kind, I've done all I should. I won't ask of you what I would not do. I saw the damage in you, my fortunate one, the envy of youth. Why would they tell me to please those that laugh in my face? When all of the reasons they've taught us fall over themselves to give way? It's not a question of whether my heart is true. Streamlined, I had to pull through. Look for a new beginning on you. I got a message for you. Up and away, it's what I got to do. Forgive what you have for what you might lose. What would you say if I told you that I'm to blame? And what would you do if I had to deny your name? Where would you go if I told you I love you and then walked away? And who should I turn to if not for the ones that you could not save? I told you when I found you, if there were doubts, you should be careful and unafraid. Now they surround you, and all that amounts to is love that you fed by perversion and pain. So, if my affections are misunderstood, and you decide I'm up to no good, don't ask me to enjoy them just for you. Ask yourself why I would choose to prostitute myself. To live with fortune and shame? When you should have turned to the hearts of the ones that you would not save. I told you when I found you, all that amounts to is love that you fed by perversion and pain.

 

…….

 

I don't really think it's the meaning Axl had in mind when writing this, but maybe this song is referencing religion or religious figures, and the cusp between believing in something, and leaving it for good. That's the feeling I get when reading it chunked. What first nudged me into interpreting the song is this way was reading the lines about “those you could not save”, “the hearts of the ones that you would not save”. What kind of person is out there having to save people’s hearts specifically? So I thought it might have been referencing saviour figures you might find in a religion. And then I tried seeing the rest of the song under a religious interpretation, to see if it worked.

I’ll try and provide what I’m seeing below. Because I’m not sure if it’s the song was written with that perspective in mind, some of the justifications are going to be awkward, or might not really match well with what’s going on in the song.

(I use “he” to refer to the song’s narrator, because Axl is the one singing the lyrics, but the narrator might be an invented character in an invented story, and might not necessarily be a man.)

 

…….

 

LOOKING AT THE LINES OF THE SONG:

 

 

Spoiler

-        “Seems like forever and a day. If my intentions are misunderstood, please be kind, I've done all I should. I won't ask of you what I would not do.”

Perhaps the narrator is meeting with some high ranking religious person (I’ll refer to that other character, as Religious-Authority throughout), like from a church or something. Someone Narrator used to know and trust. And it’s been a long time since he last saw that person. (so forever and a day).

Narrator is aware that maybe the Narrator has a bad reputation, and the person he’s meeting might be suspicious of his intentions (“If my intentions are misunderstood”). The narrator wants to meet on friendly terms (please be kind), because prior to the meeting, the narrator has prepared himself by putting his best effort at doing something ( I've done all I should ). Maybe he’s already tried his hardest at understanding religion, and the religious perspective, and already tried his hardest at being faithful.

I think “I won't ask of you what I would not do” is, during the meeting, Narrator won’t ask Religious-Authority to do anything Narrator wouldn’t do. Maybe the Narrator won’t demand Religious-Authority to answer any questions that Narrator won’t dare answer, or take actions the Narrator wouldn’t dare take.

 

-        “I saw the damage in you, my fortunate one, the envy of youth.”

This is one of the awkward lines in this interpretation. Maybe narrator is referring to himself, when he was somewhat younger? Narrator became fortunate, all the other young people envied him, but by then, some damage from his even earlier life was already done to him.

But the sudden switching of “you” to mean himself instead of Religious-Authority would be strange, and the only indicator that this “you” is different to the other “yous” is that it’s followed up by “my fortunate one, the envy of youth “

Or maybe the Religious-Authority was somehow fortunate, and the children around Religious-Authority envied and looked up to him, but Narrator knew there was something bad about Religious-Authority.

Or maybe when the narrator was young, the narrator looked up to Religious-Authority, and considered him something to envied, but when Narrator came back nowadays, he sees damage in Religious-Authority. He has a personal connection to Religious-Authority by referring him with “my”.

 

-        “ Why would they tell me to please those that laugh in my face? When all of the reasons they've taught us fall over themselves to give way?”

He’s asking questions about the religion, and about the people he has met, who are also possibly religious, and disapprove of narrator.

For “Why would they tell me to please those that laugh in my face?”, it might reference one of the attitudes found in Christianity about “But I tell you, do not resist an evil person. If anyone slaps you on the right cheek, turn to them the other cheek also.”, and the narrator being taught to placate people that had hurt and mocked him.

But narrator finds being taught that sort of attitude is ridiculous.

I found the use of the word “taught” interesting, because it might imply there’s a higher authority over both of them that is doing the teaching, like God or just the religious institution in general.

For “fall over themselves to give way”, imagine you're in a crowded hallway, but then some idiot is driving a motorcycle down the hallway. You'd imagine a crowd of people trying very hard to get out of the way of the motorcycle, to give it way, but the people fall down in the process. To give way may also refer to collapsing.

So the narrator is thinking that he’s been taught to placate people for certain reasons, but the reasoning for abiding by that attitude, falls away very quickly when something bad is about happen.

 

-         It's not a question of whether my heart is true.

Religion often questions people on their faithfulness.  Maybe during the meeting, Religious-Authority asked Narrator about his heart being true. Narrator says the question on whether the narrator intends to stay faithful is no longer relevant.

 

-        Streamlined, I had to pull through. Look for a new beginning on you.

The question about being faithful is no longer relevant, because something happened to the narrator. He had to quickly/efficiently (streamlined) go through/solve the problem (pull through). He had to do something to quickly survive. Because of this, he had to reconsider his perspective, his relationship with religion, or Jesus, or Religious-Authority (being the "you") Or reconsidering his perspective on religion/Jesus/ Religious-Authority was vital to efficiently going through that problem.

 

 

-        I got a message for you. Up and away, it's what I got to do. Forgive what you have for what you might lose.

Narrator has a message to God directly/some religious figure/Religious-Authority. Narrator is leaving religion. He must go. Or he must move far away.

I’m not sure if “Forgive what you have for what you might lose.”  is the narrator giving advice to himself, or to God/Religious-Authority.

I’m interpreting “Forgive what you have for what you might lose” as, do not hold anger or resentment for the problems you have, for the sake of what might be lost. Perhaps Narrator is asking the Religious-Authority to forgive any existing problems Religious-Authority might have with Narrator, because if Religious-Authority doesn’t forgive the problems, he will lose all contact with Narrator.

 

-        What would you say if I told you that I'm to blame? And what would you do if I had to deny your name? Where would you go if I told you I love you and then walked away? And who should I turn to if not for the ones that you could not save?

The narrator starts asking questions. What would God/Religious-Authority do if Narrator finally confesses to be a sinner of his own volition?

With “deny your name” , there’s some stuff in Christianity about how it’s not good to deny God being true, or to deny being a Christian when someone asks you about it. So the narrator is asking what will happen to him, if he felt like he had to deny God. Maybe as in something really bad happened, and the situation was so bad, the suffering pushed Narrator into thinking “there is no god”, denying God’s existence.

For “Where would you go if I told you I love you and then walked away?”, Narrator used to love God, but then left the religion. So the Narrator might be asking Religious-Authority, where would you go, would Religious-Authority follow Narrator in walking away to whatever trouble the Narrator is facing? Or is the Religious-Authority going to stay put and not help Narrator after walking away?

Narrator was in trouble, had no one else to turn to for help, except for unrepentant sinners. (And who should I turn to if not for the ones that you could not save?) And the narrator asks, if it weren’t for those people that were there for me, those sinners, then who should I have talked to instead when I needed help? Because maybe the religion/Religious-Authority sure as heck wasn’t helping the narrator.

I guess this section is about the Narrator saying, if I did all of these “bad” things, what would you do? Who am I supposed to ask for, for help, if not for those sinners?

Also note “Could not save”. There’s a “could” here. I’ll talk about this later.

 

 

-        I told you when I found you, if there were doubts, you should be careful and unafraid. Now they surround you, and all that amounts to is love that you fed by perversion and pain.

 

I also got the interpretation that the narrator was meeting with someone from “I told you when I found you”. It’s been a long time since Narrator and Religious-Authority met, so Narrator had to go and find Religious-Authority.

I think the line “if there were doubts, you should be careful and unafraid”, is referring to the start of the song, “If my intentions are misunderstood, please be kind, I've done all I should. I won't ask of you what I would not do”. The Narrator didn’t want Religious-Authority to have any doubts meeting him again, just be careful and unafraid. But unfortunately, the Religious-Authority is unrelenting in his doubts, so the doubts “surround” him.

The “love” part, I think might be referencing the Religious-Authority’s love for his own religion. It’s not a and pure great love, Religious-Authority has enforced and stayed by his religion by twisting it, perverting it, making it painful.

 

-        So, if my affections are misunderstood, and you decide I'm up to no good, don't ask me to enjoy them just for you. Ask yourself why I would choose to prostitute myself. To live with fortune and shame?

This is another one of the awkward lines for this interpretation.

I interpret “affections” as “things I like”. So the Narrator is saying what he likes is misunderstood by Religious-Authority, maybe because Religious-Authority kept pushing Narrator to “like” the godly Christian way, but that was off for what Narrator truly liked.

“And you decide I’m up to no good”, is the Religious-Authority being judgmental of Narrator.

“Don't ask me to enjoy them just for you” could be, don’t demand me to join your religious ways just so you can enjoy me obeying you. Or don’t say I’m enjoying this sinful life just because you think everyone sins just because they enjoy doing it.

The “Ask yourself why I would choose to prostitute myself” line is difficult. To take literally, or figuratively? There’s interpretations of the song about the prostitution being about figuratively not doing bad stuff in the music business for money, not selling your creative soul by churning out crap. But because I’m trying to see a religious interpretation here, and prostitution counts as sinning, and sinning would be related to a religious interpretation of the songs lyrics, I’ve decided to take this line literally.

Taken literally, as in “I sold sexual access to my body, for money”, the narrator wants the Religious-Authority to seriously consider and think about, why the narrator chose to become a prostitute. The narrator wants the Religious-Authority to not assume Narrator went and did prostitution just to have some money, fortune, and some afterwards shame. To really think about drove the Narrator to those kinds of measures.

There’s the word “fortune” again. Perhaps the “fortune” in this context, is when the narrator had a breakthrough and became the envy of youth? He lives with that fortune, and with the shame of being a prostitute.

So this section, especially with these two “asks” coupled together, “don't ask me to enjoy them just for you. Ask yourself why I would choose to prostitute myself.”, I get the feeling the Narrator is really bitter. Don’t ask me to just join your religion again, ask me why I became a prostitute, truly understand what lead me there.

 

-        When you should have turned to the hearts of the ones that you would not save. I told you when I found you, all that amounts to is love that you fed by perversion and pain.

The narrator believes the church/Religious-Authority, should not have shunned those they considered sinners damned to hell. Also note, this time it’s not “could” not save, it’s “would” not save. Narrator realises those sinners aren’t just people who couldn’t be reached by the messages of godly people, but godly people willingly do not reach out to those considered dirty. And when I connect it with the previous lines,

Ask yourself why I would choose to prostitute myself. To live with fortune and shame? When you should have turned to the hearts of the ones that you would not save.

Put together, I think the narrator is saying, you should have turned to me, someone you wouldn’t save. It should’ve been like that, instead of narrator being becoming a prostitute.

Narrator has a complex relationship with religion/the person he’s meeting. He “loves” them, but is it really love, when it’s enforced by pain and perversion? Maybe he tells the Religious-Authority that.

Maybe the “that” in “I told you when I found you, all that amounts to is love that you fed by perversion and pain”, is that earlier in the conversation, when the Religious-Authority asked Narrator to rejoin him on the religious ways and loving God, the Narrator doesn’t want to “to enjoy them just for you”, the Religious-Authority, because all that amounts is love for the religion that Religious-Authority fed by perversion and pain. Or maybe the “that” is referring to the meeting, the entire “I told you when I found you” phrase, and the narrator is referring to the meeting just amounting to feeling like the connection and love they had only existed by being enforced in some sick twisted way. Or maybe that whole section should be chunked together,

Ask yourself why I would choose to prostitute myself. To live with fortune and shame? When you should have turned to the hearts of the ones that you would not save. I told you when I found you, all that amounts to is love that you fed by perversion and pain.

And “that” refers to the fortune and shame. All his fortune and shame amounts to love, but he only loves that kind of stuff because Religious-Authority somehow fed that twisted love using perversion and pain.

 

 

 (Instrumental section at the end).

The narrator parts ways, disappointed, but at peace. All the rage-moments (the loud music) happened during the conversation.

 

….

 

 

So, in trying to make sense and capture the emotions of the religious interpretation of the song, I’ve attempted to turn the lyrics’s “story” into prose form, chronological order of when the events happened, including backstory of the characters. Some parts of it will be awkward during the lines I found awkward to fit into this interpretation. :

 

 

Spoiler

First up, the Narrator knew the Religious-Authority, had a personal connection with him. Probably trusted him at some point. Maybe envied him when Narrator was young, and considered Religious-Authority to be fortunate to be so blessed by god.

But at one point, the narrator saw the damage in Religious-Authority, and had to leave. (Or the Narrator left for unspecified reasons, and when he came back to remeet Religious-Authority, that's when Narrator saw the damage in Religious-Authority).

When the narrator left, he had become a prostitute. He had to, for survival, to pull through the problems he faced. He had to rely on dirty unrepentant sinners, the kind of people that wouldn't listen to what his former church would say and couldn't be saved by the church. And that experience as a prostitute was so awful, he strayed and began to deny the God he used to believe in.

Then the narrator strikes fortune, but still holds the shame of becoming a prostitute.

Eventually, after the Narrator had become fortunate, a long time has passed. The Narrator decides to seek out Religious-Authority, someone he used to know.

(The song begins at this point of the story)

When he meets Religious-Authority, the Religious-Authority is nervous, and is uncertain on what Narrator wants and his intentions. Narrator tells Religious-Authority that he's here on sincere earnest terms, and wants Religious-Authority’s kindness. Narrator, before this meeting, had tried his best to understand and stick by this religion, and that Narrator won't annoy Religious-Authority with any requests or questions the Narrator wouldn't do or answer himself.

And when the Narrator remeets the Religious-Authority, the Narrator notices Religious-Authority  is remarkably different from how the Narrator used to see him. He used to envy Religious-Authority, but now he sees the damage, the twisted aspects, in Religious-Authority upon remeeting him when older.

Then Narrator unloads his questions in his conversation with Religious-Authority. Narrator asks, why would the church teach us to turn the other cheek, to please and placate those that laugh at me and hurt me? All the reasons for abiding by that, and doing that to honour God are clumsy and flimsy, they fall away in the face of real issues.

This line of questioning annoys Religious-Authority. Religious-Authority asks Narrator if Narrator's heart is really true, if he really dedicates himself to the religion. The narrator says the question about him being faithful isn't relevant, what's relevant is the fact that he got into a bad situation, where he had to quickly do something to endure it and survive. And because he had to do that solution to survive this dire situation, he had to reconsider everything he knew about religion, God, and Religious-Authority.

The narrator announces he's got something to say to Religious-Authority. Narrator is leaving the religion, he feels that he has to do it. And Narrator says to Religious-Authority, forgive any problems you have with me, because if you don't, you're going to lose me.

I don't think the Religious-Authority forgives the Narrator. So then Narrator gets upset, and starts firing more questions at Religious-Authority.

Narrator says, Religious-Authority, would you forgive me if I finally said that I'm to blame and admit I'm a sinner? But if I did, what would you do if I denied God and your teachings? Would you punish me and hate me for denying God? And if you know that I love you because I told you that, if I walked away from you and God and religion, where will you be? Would you still follow me and support me, and love me back, or would you stay put, pent up in your church? And if you and your church and your righteous people aren't there to support me when I walk away, when I need help, who should I turn to, if not those other unrepentant sinners who won't listen to God and be saved?

Narrator notices the mood of the conversation shift afterwards. Narrator remarks that upon first remeeting Religious-Authority, that the Narrator wanted Religious-Authority to understand that Narrator was sincere, and that the Religious-Authority didn't have to be afraid about Narrator's intentions. But by now in this conversation, Narrator notices that Religious-Authority is surrounded by doubts about Narrator. Religious-Authority is closing himself off, he's choosing to love his religion and his doubts over connecting with the Narrator, and Religious-Authority's love for his religion is this perverted and painful thing.

Religious-Authority becomes judgemental of Narrator, accusing Narrator of loving to sin, or saying that Narrator should truly only love God instead of loving sinful things. And Narrator says to Religious-Authority, no, you're misunderstanding me, don't say I sin just because I enjoy sinning, don't say I should only love God. Religious-Authority, don't ask me why I enjoy sinning, just so my actions can fit into a worldview that you enjoy. Did you know I became a prostitute?! Instead of judging me, ask, and think about it deeply, why did I prostitute myself? Did you really think I would prostitute myself just because I liked money and sin and feeling shameful? No, I should be the person asking you, because when I was in such a desperate situation, you godly people should have been there. But you weren't. It's not that people like me can't be saved, it's because you righteous people wouldn't want to save people like me.

The conversation ends.

The Narrator didn't get what he was looking for out of this conversation. The narrator was looking for someone he used to love and trust, but all this meeting amounted to was realising the former love he had for Religious-Authority and religion, even the Religious-Authority's love for his own religion, it was just made out of perversion and pain. The Narrator didn’t ask Religious-Authority to do anything the narrator wouldn’t do, the Narrator only asked the Religious-Authority for forgiveness.

But the Narrator has made peace with it. If Religious-Authority won’t forgive him, that’s just how it’s going to be. Narrator leaves.

 

 

….

What do you think? Does this interpretation make sense? A bunch of baloney? Reading a whole bunch of something out of nothing? I hope you at least had fun reading it

 

Edit:

I've changed the title to open up the discussion. I'm curious on what other people think Prostitute is about!

Edited April 26, 2023 by BucketEgg

[D4NNY]

I think it’s just about love and betrayal and not “prostituting” himself in any way to please others. 

Edited April 26, 2023 by D4NNY

[Stay.Of.Execution]

4 hours ago, BucketEgg said:

 

 

What do you think? Does this interpretation make sense? 

 

No.

[allwaystired]

I think it's about shagging. 

[SoulMonster]

I think it is written in such a way that many interpretations are valid. As such, any detailed interpretation where one tries to make it fit into a particular narrative, is likely a waste of time.

[BucketEgg]

1 hour ago, SoulMonster said:

I think it is written in such a way that many interpretations are valid. As such, any detailed interpretation where one tries to make it fit into a particular narrative, is likely a waste of time.

i don't think it's ever a waste for people to engage with lyrics in ways that excite them, and look at a song with a new perspective, even if it's just one of many perspectives

if a song keeps providing fun, i think that's what matters the most to me

 

edit:

I think I should speak more about the fun, the one that inspired the first post up there.

It's the initial confusion of hearing it again and actually paying attention to the lyrics. It's looking up online what other people think, and seeing that those opinions are varied and different. I listen to the song with those opinions in mind, and I'm like "yeah! This could totally fit!"

It's wanting to still keep going, seeing if I could come up with my own interpretation.

It's reading the lyrics and listening to the track over and over, and seeing if the words I'm seeing or listening is reminding me of anything.

It's singing along with the music, seeing if singing the lyrics yourself, performing it, evokes any new emotions or changes its intensity, compared to listening it

It's having all these images and emotions form in my mind as I try and see the song from a specific perspective.

It's writing it down, trying to arrange all these thoughts into some sense of order.

And maybe it's a reader, coming across this strange new interpretation, and maybe not entirely agreeing with what I wrote, but it still inspires them to look at the song in a new way they hadn't thought of. And perhaps it could be the stepping stone to that reader coming up with their own, new interpretation!

That's all fun.

 

 

Edited April 26, 2023 by BucketEgg

[BucketEgg]

47 minutes ago, Oldest Goat said:

Riiight. Axl's never coming back here.

If anyone here ever gets a chance to interview Axl; please make the final question be "Is the song Prostitute about, you know, you literally being a whore?"

It's because he doesn't come here that there's this free feeling of writing this silly stuff

anyway, it could always be a story about a friend or an entirely fictional story or some other thing
 

I mean, Axl literally wrote the lyric "Ask yourself why I would choose to prostitute myself", and titles the song Prostitute, bringing more notice to that concept. There's bound to be some dumbass out there who decides to not take that lyric sarcastically or metaphorically, and takes it literally.

^ me on mygnrforum

 

edit: and I think one of the things that started this interpretation was me thinking "everyone else is doing metaphorical interpretations of it. What happens if I take it literally?"

Edited April 26, 2023 by BucketEgg

[Nintari]

Again, my interception is that this song isn't that deep. It's well written, but not deep. It's simply about Axl's experience with the original band, its break-up, people's expectations etc. That's all.

Edited April 26, 2023 by Nintari

[kanecrescente]

2 hours ago, Nintari said:

Again, my interception is that this song isn't that deep. It's well written, but not deep. It's simply about Axl's experience with the original band, its break-up, people's expectations etc. That's all.

Precisely that ^, great song though. It's really grown on me over the last year or so, but he's gone back on his words now😂

[SoundOfAGun]

3 hours ago, Nintari said:

Again, my interception is that this song isn't that deep. It's well written, but not deep. It's simply about Axl's experience with the original band, its break-up, people's expectations etc. That's all.

I agree with this, well either this or the one about shagging. 

[AxlRoseCDII]

I think Prostitute was a great song to end CD with. It’s very much about the perception of him, which fits nicely after it took a million years to release. I personally think it’s a beautiful song, but yeah I’m not convinced theres some deep message.

[SoulMonster]

15 hours ago, BucketEgg said:

i don't think it's ever a waste for people to engage with lyrics in ways that excite them, and look at a song with a new perspective, even if it's just one of many perspectives

if a song keeps providing fun, i think that's what matters the most to me

I agree with all of this

[Powderfinger]

15 hours ago, BucketEgg said:

i don't think it's ever a waste for people to engage with lyrics in ways that excite them, and look at a song with a new perspective, even if it's just one of many perspectives

 

15 minutes ago, SoulMonster said:

I agree with all of this

I said I know it's only rock 'n' roll but I like it
I said I know it's only rock 'n' roll but I like it
I know it's only rock 'n' roll but I like it, yeah
I know it's only rock 'n' roll but I like it, like it, yes, I do
Oh, well, I like it, I like it, I like it, I like it
I like it, I like it, I like it (only rock 'n roll') but I like it
(It's only rock 'n' roll) but I like it (only rock 'n' roll) but I like it
(Only rock 'n' roll) but I like it (only rock 'n' roll) but I like it
(Only rock 'n' roll) but I like it (only rock 'n' roll) but I like it
(Only rock 'n' roll) but I like it (only rock 'n' roll) but I like it
(Only rock 'n' roll) but I like it (only rock 'n' roll) but I like it
(Only rock 'n' roll) but I like it, yeah, but I like it
Oh and I like it, ooh yeah I like it

Yes. I. Do. 
 

WHAT DOES IT MEAN!!!! 

[Spaghetti4twenty]

I love prostitute. Like many songs on Chinese, the brilliant lyrics can be applied in many different ways. 

one of those songs where you don’t really know exactly what the fuck he’s talking about but it makes great sense when applied to the listeners own experience/perspective. 

Always get chills on that last verse: 

“So, if my affections are misunderstood, and you decide I'm up to no good, don't ask me to enjoy them just for you. Ask yourself why I would choose to prostitute myself. To live with fortune and shame? When you should have turned to the hearts of the ones that you would not save.”

Edited April 27, 2023 by Spaghetti4twenty

[BucketEgg]

16 minutes ago, Powderfinger said:

 

I said I know it's only rock 'n' roll but I like it
I said I know it's only rock 'n' roll but I like it
I know it's only rock 'n' roll but I like it, yeah
I know it's only rock 'n' roll but I like it, like it, yes, I do
Oh, well, I like it, I like it, I like it, I like it
I like it, I like it, I like it (only rock 'n roll') but I like it
(It's only rock 'n' roll) but I like it (only rock 'n' roll) but I like it
(Only rock 'n' roll) but I like it (only rock 'n' roll) but I like it
(Only rock 'n' roll) but I like it (only rock 'n' roll) but I like it
(Only rock 'n' roll) but I like it (only rock 'n' roll) but I like it
(Only rock 'n' roll) but I like it (only rock 'n' roll) but I like it
(Only rock 'n' roll) but I like it, yeah, but I like it
Oh and I like it, ooh yeah I like it

Yes. I. Do. 
 

WHAT DOES IT MEAN!!!! 

clearly it means someone is growing up in a terrible economic time where they have no toys, so they can only roll rocks

and then one day some person from a rich country visits and asks, "what are you doing?"

and then the poor person says that they're enjoying rolling rocks, forever immortalised in song form. and despite the simplicity of such a thing, there is joy to be found, and the simple joys are great amongst hardship. the very simple and repetitive nature of the lyrics matches the simple and repetitive nature of rolling rocks, sharing an analogue of the simple joys of rolling rocks to the listeners

Edited April 27, 2023 by BucketEgg

[adamsapple]

I think he was talking about the reunion and not putting in much which already foreshadowed on the horizon before it happened. "As yourself why I would choose to prostitute myself, to live with fortune and shame." Maybe because the reason to not do it has vanished. In like to be or not to be, that sort of thing. Who knows. I don't.

Good thing about Axl's lyrics, though leaving room for speculation and interpretation, they certainly offer food for thought.

Looking at how traditionally the last song on side B gave an outlook on the next record while concluding what happened until then (OIAM -> first appereance of a piano in GNR music later to be found on UYI albums and concerts / My World -> industrial approach for CD / LAYGG = hidden track written by a psychopath -> lost years, mental health, wasted potential etc.) it will be interesting to see whether or not a potential new album following Prositute might have more prominent string/orchestral arrangements or a peaceful or even a maritime theme (regarding the waves crashing on the beach type of sound) of some sort. Just thinking out loud here, but this is what comes to mind.

Great song, one of my favourites on CD.

[kanecrescente]

On 4/27/2023 at 6:53 AM, adamsapple said:

I think he was talking about the reunion and not putting in much which already foreshadowed on the horizon before it happened. "As yourself why I would choose to prostitute myself, to live with fortune and shame." Maybe because the reason to not do it has vanished. In like to be or not to be, that sort of thing. Who knows. I don't.

Good thing about Axl's lyrics, though leaving room for speculation and interpretation, they certainly offer food for thought.

Looking at how traditionally the last song on side B gave an outlook on the next record while concluding what happened until then (OIAM -> first appereance of a piano in GNR music later to be found on UYI albums and concerts / My World -> industrial approach for CD / LAYGG = hidden track written by a psychopath -> lost years, mental health, wasted potential etc.) it will be interesting to see whether or not a potential new album following Prositute might have more prominent string/orchestral arrangements or a peaceful or even a maritime theme (regarding the waves crashing on the beach type of sound) of some sort. Just thinking out loud here, but this is what comes to mind.

Great song, one of my favourites on CD.

I'll have what you're smoking!

[Chester 524]

I always took it as a message to others about his own career and a high level view of why he did (or didn't do) certain things in his career.  

[justynius]

On 4/26/2023 at 4:23 AM, BucketEgg said:

I don't really think it's the meaning Axl had in mind when writing this, but maybe this song is referencing religion or religious figures, and the cusp between believing in something, and leaving it for good. That's the feeling I get when reading it chunked. What first nudged me into interpreting the song is this way was reading the lines about “those you could not save”, “the hearts of the ones that you would not save”. What kind of person is out there having to save people’s hearts specifically? So I thought it might have been referencing saviour figures you might find in a religion. And then I tried seeing the rest of the song under a religious interpretation, to see if it worked.

This response is a little late, took me some time to collect my thoughts before chiming in. Let me start off by saying I applaud you for posting this, it takes a thick skin to throw your ideas out to the wolves here. I think many GN'R songs have lyrics worth digging into, and it provokes quality discussion at a time when there's not much else going on - not to mention, this type of discourse advances everyone's understanding of the songs and the band.

Unfortunately, my opinion is your analysis wandered a bit too far off course. 'Saved' is definitely a word with religious and specifically Christian connotations. However, it also has many other common uses. It seems like you're fixating on this one word and putting the entire song under that lens, when there's not much else in the lyrics pointing toward religion. The lyrics are your guide - you don't want to stray too far from what they directly support, or else you're basically just making stuff up that is not connected to the actual song.

As you aptly observed, on a literal level this song is a direct dialogue between two characters, who I will refer to as the prostitute and the prostitute's lover. If you want to achieve a better understanding, I'd suggest starting with the banter and lyrical wordplay going on, that is a challenge in itself. The prostitute kind of speaks in riddles, possibly unreliably, and some of the verses only make sense if you tie them back to a noun in the previous verse. Making things even more confusing, I believe several of the you's are the prostitute repeating things said towards them (i.e. *not* the prostitute addressing the lover). So the challenge is to decipher the literal conversation between the two characters, and once that's established you can start looking into more figurative applications to Axl and GN'R.

Below is my close reading of it. Just my interpretations, might be completely off base, but I hope some of this connects with you as you listen to the song over the years.

Seems like forever and a day
If my intentions are misunderstood
Please be kind
I've done all I should

"Forever and a day" is a phrase originally credited to Shakespeare's The Taming of the Shrew, which is about a newly married man 'taming' his rebellious, outspoken bride into being a subservient and obedient wife.  Axl probably didn't have that in mind when he chose to open with this phrase, but if he did then it would be a humorous allusion for his experiences in the music industry.

I'm more confident that 'intentions' was a deliberate word choice. It's important to note Prostitute dates back to the 1990's, when the album was going to be called 2000 Intentions. So 'intentions' is likely a retrospective nod to the songs themselves - irrespective of placement, this song is addressing the listener once they've finished the album.

On a more surface level, these lines introduce the principal topic of the song. The prostitute is a character who we later learn has provided love and affection - and the person they're speaking to has questioned the sincerity behind it. Was this motivated out of genuine love, or were they means to personal gain?

I won't ask of you
What I would not do
Oh, I saw the damage in you
My fortunate one
The envy of youth

For me, the line 'envy of youth' is the key to the song. If this story is a tragedy, then this character trait is the tragic flaw that set everything in motion. But more importantly, Axl leaves us with some poetic ambiguity with the delivery of that word choice. Is this an older person envious of the young? Or is it attributing envy as a trait of young people? Or is he actually addressing envy itself as an anthropomorphic being similar to a Greek god? You can make an argument that any of these work with the lyric structure.

Why would they tell me
To please those that laugh
In my face
When all of the reasons they've taught us
Fall over themselves
To give way

Ultimately, I don't think these lines are too important, though they do provide some interesting background on the prostitute. 'They' tell the prostitute to please the clients and 'they' taught the reasons to do so, this is not something that the prostitute originally pursued on their own. Since the prostitute realizes those actions 'fall over themselves', we can also conclude a change has occurred and the prostitute is not doing what 'they' want anymore.

It's not a question
Whether my heart is true
Streamlined
I had to pull through

The big takeaway here is that the song is not about *if* the speaker was a prostitute. The question of whether they are or are not doesn't matter. It's easy to get distracted by the 'misunderstood' lines and believe they're trying to deny it. They're not! Like an object streamlined through water, they 'gave way' to the natural flow of least resistance, their past was what they needed to do to get by.

Look for a new
Beginning on you
Oh, I got a message for you
Up and away
It's what I've got to do
Forgive what you have
For what you might lose

To paraphrase, this is a genuine and necessary new beginning, giving up the past in order to reclaim what would have been lost (presumably by carrying on the old ways). The relationship between the prostitute and their lover (or figuratively, Axl's new start with Chinese Democracy) is their way of escaping (and interestingly, forgiving) the misfortune of their past.

"Forgive what you have / For what you might lose" could have two applications. This could be a reference to the 'what I gotta do'; in other words, HOW the prostitute achieves the new beginning they're pursuing. Or it could be an entirely separate command towards the lover, i.e. if they can't forgive and forget the imperfect past of the prostitute, then they risk losing the love they currently share.

What would you say
If I told you that I'm to blame
And what would you do
If I had to deny your name
Where would you go
If I told you "I love you" and then walked away
N' who should I turn to
If not for the ones that you could not save

The You's and I's are all over the place, making this a tough one to follow. Our knowledge of the history surrounding the release of Chinese Democracy helps put us on track though. I think the easiest way to look at this is Axl saying to put yourself in his shoes, how would you have responded to the situations he went through....

• "If told you that I'm to blame": Axl being accused of singular responsibility for the breakup of the old lineup, perhaps with a subtle allusion to the "I know that you can love me / When there's no one left to blame" in November Rain
• "If I had to deny your name": People saying, rightly or wrongly, that the Chinese Democracy lineup is not Guns N' Roses. This could also be a rejection/breakup of a marriage, i.e. the wife denying the husband's last name.
• "If I told you I love you and then walked away": Pretty self explanatory reference to the old members leaving, with "Where would you go" as a definitely-not-subtle allusion to SCOM.
• "If not for the ones you could not save": The 'who should I turn to' would be the replacements Axl brought in to replace the 'ones you (he) could not save' from leaving the band.

I told you
When I found you
If there were doubts you
Should be careful and unafraid
Now they surround you
All that amounts to
Is love that you fed by perversion and pain

Many people assume 'perversion and pain' is attributed to the prostitute. I think this is actually attributed to the lover who they are talking to. The 'doubts' are the recipient doubting the authenticity of the (former?) prostitute's love. Thus, the genuine love provided by the prostitute is perverted by the recipient's doubt into an act of greed and envy.

So if my affections
Are misunderstood

The immediate thing to jump out here is that 'intentions' is now replaced with 'affections'. The word swap could be using each song as a metaphoric act of physical affection. However, another possibility is in spy talk - the code for someone who's been turned is that they're sick or affected (and if someone was affected but is now recovered, I guess that makes them BETTER). Thus, if the listener is not buying it and still believes the speaker is up to prostitution (i.e. affected), then each act/song could be an 'affection'.

And you decide
I'm up to no good
Don't ask me to
Enjoy them
Just for you

Pretty self explanatory here - if the lover still thinks the prostitute is after personal gain, don't ask them to fake enjoying the physical love.

Ask yourself
Why I would choose
To prostitute myself
To live with fortune and shame
When you should have turned to the hearts of the ones
That you would not save
I told you
When I found you
All that amounts to
Is love that you fed by perversion and pain

There is where we can return to my prior comments regarding the multiple potential contexts to 'envy of youth'. Up until now, the song has leaned toward the first way to look at it: the 'damage' is an older person envying the young. Figuratively, this would be the Chinese Democracy effort trying to gain what the original/younger GN'R lineup had.

These lines, however, are saying instead of putting Chinese Democracy under the microscope, take a look at the alternative (of continuing the old lineup) - they were the ones with an insatiable envy back when GN'R was young. Before you think this is an unfair assessment, let's digress for a second and bring up Pretty Tied Up. The first verse is about the literal prostitute, the second verse is about the rock band (which is obviously GN'R), the choruses connect the metaphoric overlap between the two. Can't get any more direct than that! This was written by Izzy, but the rest of the members chose to record and publish it - so I don't think any of them were in disagreement about what they were becoming. The UYI era band achieved historic commercial success and was a guarantee to continue doing so, continuing that downward path would have been the real act of prostitution.

This song obviously does not leave the old lineup in a very positive light. 15 years after the song was officially released (and probably 25+ years after it was written), things have changed quite a bit. Most of the Chinese Democracy lineup disbanded, the reunion did occur. Does that mean this song is a waste or that the reunion is a sellout? I don't think so. Throughout the songs on Chinese Democracy, Axl leaves the door open for the old members, it's "never too late". There is an important change at the end of Prostitute, now he refers to "the HEARTS of the ones that you would not save." The people are not permanently irredeemable, their hearts/actions are the problem and those can definitely be changed. The reunion was only going to happen under the right conditions, which might be the main reason it took until 2016. New music would certainly be nice, but beyond that we've seen a more stable, professional, and focused lineup than perhaps any other time in the band's history. (Most of) the people might be the same, but this is definitely not the same band that was going up in smoke in Pretty Tied Up.

[BucketEgg]

1 hour ago, justynius said:

This response is a little late, took me some time to collect my thoughts before chiming in. Let me start off by saying I applaud you for posting this, it takes a thick skin to throw your ideas out to the wolves here. I think many GN'R songs have lyrics worth digging into, and it provokes quality discussion at a time when there's not much else going on - not to mention, this type of discourse advances everyone's understanding of the songs and the band.

Unfortunately, my opinion is your analysis wandered a bit too far off course. 'Saved' is definitely a word with religious and specifically Christian connotations. However, it also has many other common uses. It seems like you're fixating on this one word and putting the entire song under that lens, when there's not much else in the lyrics pointing toward religion. The lyrics are your guide - you don't want to stray too far from what they directly support, or else you're basically just making stuff up that is not connected to the actual song.

As you aptly observed, on a literal level this song is a direct dialogue between two characters, who I will refer to as the prostitute and the prostitute's lover. If you want to achieve a better understanding, I'd suggest starting with the banter and lyrical wordplay going on, that is a challenge in itself. The prostitute kind of speaks in riddles, possibly unreliably, and some of the verses only make sense if you tie them back to a noun in the previous verse. Making things even more confusing, I believe several of the you's are the prostitute repeating things said towards them (i.e. *not* the prostitute addressing the lover). So the challenge is to decipher the literal conversation between the two characters, and once that's established you can start looking into more figurative applications to Axl and GN'R.

Below is my close reading of it. Just my interpretations, might be completely off base, but I hope some of this connects with you as you listen to the song over the years.

Seems like forever and a day
If my intentions are misunderstood
Please be kind
I've done all I should

"Forever and a day" is a phrase originally credited to Shakespeare's The Taming of the Shrew, which is about a newly married man 'taming' his rebellious, outspoken bride into being a subservient and obedient wife.  Axl probably didn't have that in mind when he chose to open with this phrase, but if he did then it would be a humorous allusion for his experiences in the music industry.

I'm more confident that 'intentions' was a deliberate word choice. It's important to note Prostitute dates back to the 1990's, when the album was going to be called 2000 Intentions. So 'intentions' is likely a retrospective nod to the songs themselves - irrespective of placement, this song is addressing the listener once they've finished the album.

On a more surface level, these lines introduce the principal topic of the song. The prostitute is a character who we later learn has provided love and affection - and the person they're speaking to has questioned the sincerity behind it. Was this motivated out of genuine love, or were they means to personal gain?

I won't ask of you
What I would not do
Oh, I saw the damage in you
My fortunate one
The envy of youth

For me, the line 'envy of youth' is the key to the song. If this story is a tragedy, then this character trait is the tragic flaw that set everything in motion. But more importantly, Axl leaves us with some poetic ambiguity with the delivery of that word choice. Is this an older person envious of the young? Or is it attributing envy as a trait of young people? Or is he actually addressing envy itself as an anthropomorphic being similar to a Greek god? You can make an argument that any of these work with the lyric structure.

Why would they tell me
To please those that laugh
In my face
When all of the reasons they've taught us
Fall over themselves
To give way

Ultimately, I don't think these lines are too important, though they do provide some interesting background on the prostitute. 'They' tell the prostitute to please the clients and 'they' taught the reasons to do so, this is not something that the prostitute originally pursued on their own. Since the prostitute realizes those actions 'fall over themselves', we can also conclude a change has occurred and the prostitute is not doing what 'they' want anymore.

It's not a question
Whether my heart is true
Streamlined
I had to pull through

The big takeaway here is that the song is not about *if* the speaker was a prostitute. The question of whether they are or are not doesn't matter. It's easy to get distracted by the 'misunderstood' lines and believe they're trying to deny it. They're not! Like an object streamlined through water, they 'gave way' to the natural flow of least resistance, their past was what they needed to do to get by.

Look for a new
Beginning on you
Oh, I got a message for you
Up and away
It's what I've got to do
Forgive what you have
For what you might lose

To paraphrase, this is a genuine and necessary new beginning, giving up the past in order to reclaim what would have been lost (presumably by carrying on the old ways). The relationship between the prostitute and their lover (or figuratively, Axl's new start with Chinese Democracy) is their way of escaping (and interestingly, forgiving) the misfortune of their past.

"Forgive what you have / For what you might lose" could have two applications. This could be a reference to the 'what I gotta do'; in other words, HOW the prostitute achieves the new beginning they're pursuing. Or it could be an entirely separate command towards the lover, i.e. if they can't forgive and forget the imperfect past of the prostitute, then they risk losing the love they currently share.

What would you say
If I told you that I'm to blame
And what would you do
If I had to deny your name
Where would you go
If I told you "I love you" and then walked away
N' who should I turn to
If not for the ones that you could not save

The You's and I's are all over the place, making this a tough one to follow. Our knowledge of the history surrounding the release of Chinese Democracy helps put us on track though. I think the easiest way to look at this is Axl saying to put yourself in his shoes, how would you have responded to the situations he went through....

• "If told you that I'm to blame": Axl being accused of singular responsibility for the breakup of the old lineup, perhaps with a subtle allusion to the "I know that you can love me / When there's no one left to blame" in November Rain
• "If I had to deny your name": People saying, rightly or wrongly, that the Chinese Democracy lineup is not Guns N' Roses. This could also be a rejection/breakup of a marriage, i.e. the wife denying the husband's last name.
• "If I told you I love you and then walked away": Pretty self explanatory reference to the old members leaving, with "Where would you go" as a definitely-not-subtle allusion to SCOM.
• "If not for the ones you could not save": The 'who should I turn to' would be the replacements Axl brought in to replace the 'ones you (he) could not save' from leaving the band.

I told you
When I found you
If there were doubts you
Should be careful and unafraid
Now they surround you
All that amounts to
Is love that you fed by perversion and pain

Many people assume 'perversion and pain' is attributed to the prostitute. I think this is actually attributed to the lover who they are talking to. The 'doubts' are the recipient doubting the authenticity of the (former?) prostitute's love. Thus, the genuine love provided by the prostitute is perverted by the recipient's doubt into an act of greed and envy.

So if my affections
Are misunderstood

The immediate thing to jump out here is that 'intentions' is now replaced with 'affections'. The word swap could be using each song as a metaphoric act of physical affection. However, another possibility is in spy talk - the code for someone who's been turned is that they're sick or affected (and if someone was affected but is now recovered, I guess that makes them BETTER). Thus, if the listener is not buying it and still believes the speaker is up to prostitution (i.e. affected), then each act/song could be an 'affection'.

And you decide
I'm up to no good
Don't ask me to
Enjoy them
Just for you

Pretty self explanatory here - if the lover still thinks the prostitute is after personal gain, don't ask them to fake enjoying the physical love.

Ask yourself
Why I would choose
To prostitute myself
To live with fortune and shame
When you should have turned to the hearts of the ones
That you would not save
I told you
When I found you
All that amounts to
Is love that you fed by perversion and pain

There is where we can return to my prior comments regarding the multiple potential contexts to 'envy of youth'. Up until now, the song has leaned toward the first way to look at it: the 'damage' is an older person envying the young. Figuratively, this would be the Chinese Democracy effort trying to gain what the original/younger GN'R lineup had.

These lines, however, are saying instead of putting Chinese Democracy under the microscope, take a look at the alternative (of continuing the old lineup) - they were the ones with an insatiable envy back when GN'R was young. Before you think this is an unfair assessment, let's digress for a second and bring up Pretty Tied Up. The first verse is about the literal prostitute, the second verse is about the rock band (which is obviously GN'R), the choruses connect the metaphoric overlap between the two. Can't get any more direct than that! This was written by Izzy, but the rest of the members chose to record and publish it - so I don't think any of them were in disagreement about what they were becoming. The UYI era band achieved historic commercial success and was a guarantee to continue doing so, continuing that downward path would have been the real act of prostitution.

This song obviously does not leave the old lineup in a very positive light. 15 years after the song was officially released (and probably 25+ years after it was written), things have changed quite a bit. Most of the Chinese Democracy lineup disbanded, the reunion did occur. Does that mean this song is a waste or that the reunion is a sellout? I don't think so. Throughout the songs on Chinese Democracy, Axl leaves the door open for the old members, it's "never too late". There is an important change at the end of Prostitute, now he refers to "the HEARTS of the ones that you would not save." The people are not permanently irredeemable, their hearts/actions are the problem and those can definitely be changed. The reunion was only going to happen under the right conditions, which might be the main reason it took until 2016. New music would certainly be nice, but beyond that we've seen a more stable, professional, and focused lineup than perhaps any other time in the band's history. (Most of) the people might be the same, but this is definitely not the same band that was going up in smoke in Pretty Tied Up.

( i'm trying to minimise my interactions with this website for a while because I've feel like i've become rather unfocused over the past few days, but you just had to go ahead and write this fabulous thing! )

I would like to say thank you for taking out the time to write out your interpretation of the lyrics piece by piece. I like how you pointed out potential references to other literature and songs and background knowledge, and the way you try to navigate and talk about the ambiguity in some parts of the song. Your interpretation has brought a lot more clarity to lines that had confused me. ( in school, I've always hated analysing poetry myself because I often had trouble discerning why the writer wrote what they wrote, but it was always satisfying to hear someone else talk about how stuff fit together.) Your writeup is definitely the most complete piece-by-piece analysis on Prostitute's lyrics I've come across online.

Edited May 5, 2023 by BucketEgg

[Dean]

On 4/26/2023 at 4:19 PM, Oldest Goat said:

Riiight. Axl's never coming back here.

That was confirmed when that god awful image of two hands shaking, one representing the forum, the other Team Brazil, was aired publicly 😂😂😂

[BucketEgg]

6 minutes ago, Dean said:

That was confirmed when that god awful image of two hands shaking, one representing the forum, the other Team Brazil, was aired publicly 😂😂😂

yo what's this? as in it was aired on TV or something, or it was an image posted somewhere in the forum?

Edited May 5, 2023 by BucketEgg

[Dean]

28 minutes ago, BucketEgg said:

yo what's this? as in it was aired on TV or something, or it was an image posted somewhere in the forum?

Image that was posted on the forum and sent to TB also. It wasn’t any forum staff that done it, but an attempt was made to reach out to them for Axl to answer a few questions around 2013/14. 

[justynius]

On 5/5/2023 at 3:05 AM, BucketEgg said:

( i'm trying to minimise my interactions with this website for a while because I've feel like i've become rather unfocused over the past few days, but you just had to go ahead and write this fabulous thing! )

I would like to say thank you for taking out the time to write out your interpretation of the lyrics piece by piece. I like how you pointed out potential references to other literature and songs and background knowledge, and the way you try to navigate and talk about the ambiguity in some parts of the song. Your interpretation has brought a lot more clarity to lines that had confused me. ( in school, I've always hated analysing poetry myself because I often had trouble discerning why the writer wrote what they wrote, but it was always satisfying to hear someone else talk about how stuff fit together.) Your writeup is definitely the most complete piece-by-piece analysis on Prostitute's lyrics I've come across online.

I'm glad some of that resonated with you. Always makes the effort feel more worthwhile when it has a positive effect.

Below is a different analysis I did on Sweet Child O' Mine many years ago that you might enjoy too. I feel like the Prostitute reading hit on a lot of key points but was still a bit clunky. However, years later I'm still fully convinced this one is spot on...

Many listeners think SCOM is a simple love ballad that transitions into aggressive heavy metal for no apparent reason. If you follow the language choices, however, you'll see that the song is less about love for a girl than it is the very, very broken mind of the guy.

The first verse reveals the girl is only important to the song in that her childlike physical features remind the speaker of his own childhood, and the last line foreshadows something is up because remembering his childhood makes him want to cry. In the second verse, the girl's physical features that were earlier related to the speaker's childhood are now related to negative metaphors, such as rain, pain, and hiding from thunder and rain. The song isn't so much about the speaker being the age of a child, than the *mentality* of a child. As a child, he was protected from the realities of cold and darkness in the world (in some ways, an understanding of evil/abuse and death) but an awareness of them kept creeping in and was something he needed to hide from. He created psychological barriers, which ultimately caused the chaos his mind is in as an adult. This is why the simple riff of the first part (which I think is intended to resemble carousel music or an ice cream truck) develops into the chaotic heavy metal of the second part. Also, you'll notice the rhyme scheme of the second verse sounds normal out loud, but completely breaks away from the first verse if you write it out on paper.

Thus, we're left with nothing but the rhetorical "Where do we go?" repeated over and over again. I know this is VERY similar to the end of the first part of the musical Hair and I haven't studied that closely enough to really analyze any connection, but looking just within the context of SCOM as a stand-alone song I'd say it could have two meanings. The first would be how Avenged Sevenfold alludes to it in Seize the Day: where do we go when we die. The speaker tries to hide in the childhood ignorance of death with promise of your soul going elsewhere afterward. That he would *pray* for the thunder and rain to pass by would be a further connection to spirituality/religion as the escape.

But there's also a far darker interpretation, which seems to be a better fit to the song. The speaker was psychologically fucked up in his childhood, and the line is repeated over and over because there's NOWHERE you can go when you're mentally trapped in that state of consciousness. Furthermore, since it is "where do WE go?", it foreshadows that the speaker's association of the girl with his own childhood means the mindfuck will cause him to be abusive until she is mentally trapped in the same way. Like a cyclical curse in a Greek tragedy, victim is destined to become victimizer in a neverending, inescapable downward spiral. So the speaker in SCOM has been literally 'caught in the rye', trapped in the illusory world of childhood, and the consequence is the hell his mind has become.

[BucketEgg]

20 hours ago, justynius said:

I'm glad some of that resonated with you. Always makes the effort feel more worthwhile when it has a positive effect.

Below is a different analysis I did on Sweet Child O' Mine many years ago that you might enjoy too. I feel like the Prostitute reading hit on a lot of key points but was still a bit clunky. However, years later I'm still fully convinced this one is spot on...

Many listeners think SCOM is a simple love ballad that transitions into aggressive heavy metal for no apparent reason. If you follow the language choices, however, you'll see that the song is less about love for a girl than it is the very, very broken mind of the guy.

The first verse reveals the girl is only important to the song in that her childlike physical features remind the speaker of his own childhood, and the last line foreshadows something is up because remembering his childhood makes him want to cry. In the second verse, the girl's physical features that were earlier related to the speaker's childhood are now related to negative metaphors, such as rain, pain, and hiding from thunder and rain. The song isn't so much about the speaker being the age of a child, than the *mentality* of a child. As a child, he was protected from the realities of cold and darkness in the world (in some ways, an understanding of evil/abuse and death) but an awareness of them kept creeping in and was something he needed to hide from. He created psychological barriers, which ultimately caused the chaos his mind is in as an adult. This is why the simple riff of the first part (which I think is intended to resemble carousel music or an ice cream truck) develops into the chaotic heavy metal of the second part. Also, you'll notice the rhyme scheme of the second verse sounds normal out loud, but completely breaks away from the first verse if you write it out on paper.

Thus, we're left with nothing but the rhetorical "Where do we go?" repeated over and over again. I know this is VERY similar to the end of the first part of the musical Hair and I haven't studied that closely enough to really analyze any connection, but looking just within the context of SCOM as a stand-alone song I'd say it could have two meanings. The first would be how Avenged Sevenfold alludes to it in Seize the Day: where do we go when we die. The speaker tries to hide in the childhood ignorance of death with promise of your soul going elsewhere afterward. That he would *pray* for the thunder and rain to pass by would be a further connection to spirituality/religion as the escape.

But there's also a far darker interpretation, which seems to be a better fit to the song. The speaker was psychologically fucked up in his childhood, and the line is repeated over and over because there's NOWHERE you can go when you're mentally trapped in that state of consciousness. Furthermore, since it is "where do WE go?", it foreshadows that the speaker's association of the girl with his own childhood means the mindfuck will cause him to be abusive until she is mentally trapped in the same way. Like a cyclical curse in a Greek tragedy, victim is destined to become victimizer in a neverending, inescapable downward spiral. So the speaker in SCOM has been literally 'caught in the rye', trapped in the illusory world of childhood, and the consequence is the hell his mind has become.

 

Oooh, that's an interestingly dark way to interpret the song!
I've always thought of Sweet Child O' Mine as one of those cheesey love songs, this definitely adds a different fun perspective to it for me! Your interpretation looks at the references of childhood, the usual and casually affectionate, oh she's so sweet and she reminds me happy innocent times and safety, and twists that into a deliberately dark choice for the narrator's wellbeing.

Your paragraph about the "Where do we go when we die", it also makes me think of what comes before dying. So the narrator is fawning over the lady reminding him of younger and happier days, but one day, they're both going to age. Where do does their relationship go now, once she's aged, and might not remind the narrator of the idyllic memories of childhood happiness and safety? And once she ages, she will die.

And the "where do we go now?" reminds me of the cluelessness in the ending of The Graduate 1967 film:

(spoilers, also can't post video due to forum restrictions):

Spoiler

The young lovebirds run away together. Then they sit in the bus, and their smiles are beaming, but they slowly fade. Well shit, they've they just run away, what are they going to do, where do they go now? The realisation that they're kind of lost settles in. Because while youth can be joyful, it doesn't necessarily come with wisdom or knowing what to do next.

 

Your interpretation in the last paragraph reminds me somewhat of Michael Jackson's deal and Peter Pan syndrome (not necessarily referencing the child-molestation allegations, but his general personality.) Building the whole Neverland Ranch to always chase that idyllic child innocence that he didn't have in his life. Always wanting that, no matter how old he grew. Even if doing something like that came across as chaotic or disturbed to people. Growing old, but never escaping the pain of his actual childhood.

(one of MJ's self portraits:

 

)

 

 

 

Edited May 7, 2023 by BucketEgg