This song is Axl's masterpiece. It lulls you in with it's apologetics and gentleness, then hits you with some of the most damning lyrics and gutwrenching music I've ever heard in a rock song.
It seems to fuse and express Axl's total life philosophy, all the way from the early years to today. This song sometimes echoes the lyrics of the defiant "Don't Damn Me" but with the overtures and musical depth of "November Rain". The inspiration seems to be an amazing combination of everything in Axl's public and private life, the ex bandmates, the record industry, past loves. There are no doubt elements that are known only to Axl and possibly one or few others (the "you" in "I told you when I found you...", the "ones" and "you" in "the ones you could not save", I would kill to know the exact story there), all piled together into a somehow consistent philosophical whole.
The serene fadeout comes across as an all-too-unrealised longing, almost an attempt to make peace with all that has come before.
This song is Axl's masterpiece. It lulls you in with it's apologetics and gentleness, then hits you with some of the most damning lyrics and gutwrenching music I've ever heard in a rock song.
It seems to fuse and express Axl's total life philosophy, all the way from the early years to today. This song sometimes echoes the lyrics of the defiant "Don't Damn Me" but with the overtures and musical depth of "November Rain". The inspiration seems to be an amazing combination of everything in Axl's public and private life, the ex bandmates, the record industry, past loves. There are no doubt elements that are known only to Axl and possibly one or few others (the "you" in "I told you when I found you...", the "ones" and "you" in "the ones you could not save", I would kill to know the exact story there), all piled together into a somehow consistent philosophical whole.
The serene fadeout comes across as an all-too-unrealised longing, almost an attempt to make peace with all that has come before.
Brilliant; in my opinion, his finest work.