Crucify the Dead

This is the 100% correct meaning of this songs lyrics. Plus the correction of some incorrect lyrics up there.

First of all, Slash did come up with the lyrics and they just said Ozzy did it because like @eighteencandles said above Axl would never sue Ozzy but he would sue Slash. Some of what the others have said is right but some is very wrong. It's not through the fans perspective. It's through Slash's, and it's pretty much about how much he hates Axl. Now for the interpretations. Lyrics on the left, translation on the right.

The fire started long ago - The 'fire' is the hatred between Slash and Axl.

The flames burned down but embers glow- Through the years they lost the fieriness of their hate but they still hat each other.

So charred and black there's nothing left to burn- They've exhausted their hate for each other with the fact that there's no reason to keep hating but they still do.

We had the same dream- They both wanted to be rock-stars

Lived life to extremes- They lived the insane life in Guns 'n' Roses

A loaded gun jammed by your rose- A reference to the name Guns 'n' Roses, meaning indeed that they were a band that were loaded and ready to become great but got jammed by their Rose. Namely, Axl Rose

The thorns are not around your head- Slash telling Axl that he's not Jesus.

Your ego cursed you til you bled- Axl's ego made the band (Mainly Slash) hate him

You cannot crucify the dead, to me your dead- Slash would like to crucify Axl but Axl is dead to slash and you can't crucify something that's not living

The future isn't set in stone, decisions past leave you alone- A reunion is possible in future but the decisions Axl made in the past will most likely leave him alone

Betrayed us all with your own selfish greed- Axl betrayed his band-mates by making everything what he wanted, which was extremely greedy

New soldiers now stand- The new members of Guns 'n' Roses

To your beck and command- They follow what Axl tells them to do

Recruited and paid by you- Axl recruited them and pays them to be in his band which is why their so loyal

We were like brothers with the world in our hands- They used to be good friends and their music was commanding the attention of millions of people

You always had to much to say- Axl was a spaz who couldn't stop insisting about the things he wanted

Some day you'll look back and you'll wonder why you let it all slip away- One day in the future, as Guns 'n' Roses gets less and less popular, and Axl is old and broke and miserable, he will look back and and hate himself for being such a spaz and letting the opportunity of a lifetime slip away.

And that's it! -Shredd108

I don't know if it's the actual meaning, but that's the way I interpret it.

It seems to me like it's the fan's opinion about Guns N' Roses "breakup".

"The fire started long ago" --> The feud between Axl and Slash "The flames burned out, still embers glow So charred and black There's nothing left to burn, to burn" --> There's nothing left to say, though people still talks 'bout it

Especially the line "A loaded gun jammed by a rose" as if Guns N' Roses was a loaded gun, ready to fire at anytime, but Axl Rose fucked it all up ("jammed by a rose")

"The thorns are not around your head "Your ego cursed you till you bled" --> Means it's not Axl's fault, but his ego's. "You cannot crucify the dead" --> Even if you always tell shit 'bout Slash & co., it won't give you anything. "To me you're dead" --> Means that without the other members, he is kinda worthless.

"We were like brothers with the world in our hands" --> comparing his (Ozzy Osbourne) popularity to Guns N' Roses' popularity. "You always have too much to say" --> He did too much shit and it resulted in the band leaving him alone. "Someday you look back and you wonder why You let it all slip away, yeah" --> One day, Axl may regret what he did.

Yeah, I forget where, but I remember reading that Ozzy (who wrote the lyrics) said it was about Axl. "A loaded gun jammed by a rose" makes it blatantly obvious.

The lyrics are actually, "the thorns are knots around your head" if you listen carefully you can hear him say knots and thats what is written in most other lyrics

UHHHHHHH.... Who wrote it?

According to Ozzy: "Slash sent me the music of it and I worked on the melody and some lyrics for him and what I did with the lyrics, I thought, what's always gotten me about the GUNS N' ROSES guys and I say to Slash all the time, 'Do you realize what you guys did? You'll never understand. You guys could've been the next ROLLING STONES, the next superband,'" Ozzy said. "And what I wrote in the song, 'Crucify the Dead', is if I were Slash, what I would send in a message to Axl. I've never met Axl but I would be pissed off and the lyrics are about that." http://www.skullsnbones.com/profiles/blogs/ozzy-wrote-crucify-the-dead

According to Slash: Slash:When I wrote it, I never thought of anybody else singing it besides Ozzy. [Artist Direct Interview] http://slash.ultimate-guitar.com/

Conclusion: It's obvious they knew Axl would FLIP when heard the lyrics. My guess is, it's SLASH'S interpretation but Ozzy is given credit because Axl wouldn't DARE sue Ozzy - he would however, sue Slash at the drop of his signature hat. Slash has been giving Axl positive verbal support since the start of the tour because he obviously doesn't want any complications.

His love for touring and giving the fans what Axl took away from them 20 years ago, supercedes any of his own personal history with Axl.

This is the 100% correct meaning of this songs lyrics. Plus the correction of some incorrect lyrics up there.

First of all, Slash did come up with the lyrics and they just said Ozzy did it because like @eighteencandles said above Axl would never sue Ozzy but he would sue Slash. Some of what the others have said is right but some is very wrong. It's not through the fans perspective. It's through Slash's, and it's pretty much about how much he hates Axl. Now for the interpretations. Lyrics on the left, translation on the right.

The fire started long ago - The 'fire' is the hatred between Slash and Axl.

The flames burned down but embers glow- Through the years they lost the fieriness of their hate but they still hat each other.

So charred and black there's nothing left to burn- They've exhausted their hate for each other with the fact that there's no reason to keep hating but they still do.

We had the same dream- They both wanted to be rock-stars

Lived life to extremes- They lived the insane life in Guns 'n' Roses

A loaded gun jammed by your rose- A reference to the name Guns 'n' Roses, meaning indeed that they were a band that were loaded and ready to become great but got jammed by their Rose. Namely, Axl Rose

The thorns are not around your head- Slash telling Axl that he's not Jesus.

Your ego cursed you til you bled- Axl's ego made the band (Mainly Slash) hate him

You cannot crucify the dead, to me your dead- Slash would like to crucify Axl but Axl is dead to slash and you can't crucify something that's not living

The future isn't set in stone, decisions past leave you alone- A reunion is possible in future but the decisions Axl made in the past will most likely leave him alone

Betrayed us all with your own selfish greed- Axl betrayed his band-mates by making everything what he wanted, which was extremely greedy

New soldiers now stand- The new members of Guns 'n' Roses

To your beck and command- They follow what Axl tells them to do

Recruited and paid by you- Axl recruited them and pays them to be in his band which is why their so loyal

We were like brothers with the world in our hands- They used to be good friends and their music was commanding the attention of millions of people

You always had to much to say- Axl was a spaz who couldn't stop insisting about the things he wanted

Some day you'll look back and you'll wonder why you let it all slip away- One day in the future, as Guns 'n' Roses gets less and less popular, and Axl is old and broke and miserable, he will look back and and hate himself for being such a spaz and letting the opportunity of a lifetime slip away.

And that's it! -Shredd108

This is the 100% correct meaning of this songs lyrics. Plus the correction of some incorrect lyrics up there.

First of all, Slash did come up with the lyrics and they just said Ozzy did it because like @eighteencandles said above Axl would never sue Ozzy but he would sue Slash. Some of what the others have said is right but some is very wrong. It's not through the fans perspective. It's through Slash's, and it's pretty much about how much he hates Axl. Now for the interpretations. Lyrics on the left, translation on the right.

The fire started long ago - The 'fire' is the hatred between Slash and Axl.

The flames burned down but embers glow- Through the years they lost the fieriness of their hate but they still hat each other.

So charred and black there's nothing left to burn- They've exhausted their hate for each other with the fact that there's no reason to keep hating but they still do.

We had the same dream- They both wanted to be rock-stars

Lived life to extremes- They lived the insane life in Guns 'n' Roses

A loaded gun jammed by your rose- A reference to the name Guns 'n' Roses, meaning indeed that they were a band that were loaded and ready to become great but got jammed by their Rose. Namely, Axl Rose

The thorns are not around your head- Slash telling Axl that he's not Jesus.

Your ego cursed you til you bled- Axl's ego made the band (Mainly Slash) hate him

You cannot crucify the dead, to me your dead- Slash would like to crucify Axl but Axl is dead to slash and you can't crucify something that's not living

The future isn't set in stone, decisions past leave you alone- A reunion is possible in future but the decisions Axl made in the past will most likely leave him alone

Betrayed us all with your own selfish greed- Axl betrayed his band-mates by making everything what he wanted, which was extremely greedy

New soldiers now stand- The new members of Guns 'n' Roses

To your beck and command- They follow what Axl tells them to do

Recruited and paid by you- Axl recruited them and pays them to be in his band which is why their so loyal

We were like brothers with the world in our hands- They used to be good friends and their music was commanding the attention of millions of people

You always had to much to say- Axl was a spaz who couldn't stop insisting about the things he wanted

Some day you'll look back and you'll wonder why you let it all slip away- One day in the future, as Guns 'n' Roses gets less and less popular, and Axl is old and broke and miserable, he will look back and and hate himself for being such a spaz and letting the opportunity of a lifetime slip away.

And that's it! -Shredd108

This is the 100% correct meaning of this songs lyrics. Plus the correction of some incorrect lyrics up there.

First of all, Slash did come up with the lyrics and they just said Ozzy did it because like @eighteencandles said above Axl would never sue Ozzy but he would sue Slash. Some of what the others have said is right but some is very wrong. It's not through the fans perspective. It's through Slash's, and it's pretty much about how much he hates Axl. Now for the interpretations. Lyrics on the left, translation on the right.

The fire started long ago - The 'fire' is the hatred between Slash and Axl.

The flames burned down but embers glow- Through the years they lost the fieriness of their hate but they still hat each other.

So charred and black there's nothing left to burn- They've exhausted their hate for each other with the fact that there's no reason to keep hating but they still do.

We had the same dream- They both wanted to be rock-stars

Lived life to extremes- They lived the insane life in Guns 'n' Roses

A loaded gun jammed by your rose- A reference to the name Guns 'n' Roses, meaning indeed that they were a band that were loaded and ready to become great but got jammed by their Rose. Namely, Axl Rose

The thorns are not around your head- Slash telling Axl that he's not Jesus.

Your ego cursed you til you bled- Axl's ego made the band (Mainly Slash) hate him

You cannot crucify the dead, to me your dead- Slash would like to crucify Axl but Axl is dead to slash and you can't crucify something that's not living

The future isn't set in stone, decisions past leave you alone- A reunion is possible in future but the decisions Axl made in the past will most likely leave him alone

Betrayed us all with your own selfish greed- Axl betrayed his band-mates by making everything what he wanted, which was extremely greedy

New soldiers now stand- The new members of Guns 'n' Roses

To your beck and command- They follow what Axl tells them to do

Recruited and paid by you- Axl recruited them and pays them to be in his band which is why their so loyal

We were like brothers with the world in our hands- They used to be good friends and their music was commanding the attention of millions of people

You always had to much to say- Axl was a spaz who couldn't stop insisting about the things he wanted

Some day you'll look back and you'll wonder why you let it all slip away- One day in the future, as Guns 'n' Roses gets less and less popular, and Axl is old and broke and miserable, he will look back and and hate himself for being such a spaz and letting the opportunity of a lifetime slip away.

And that's it! -Shredd108