Civil War (song)

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Civil War
Guns N 'Roses
publication May 3, 1993
length 7:40
Genre (s) Hard rock
Author (s) Axl Rose
Slash
Duff McKagan
album Use Your Illusion II

Civil War [ ˈsɪvəl ˈwɔ: r ] is a song by the American rock band Guns N 'Roses . The power ballad appeared in 1990 on the compilation Nobody’s Child: Romanian Angel Appeal and in 1991 on the album Use Your Illusion II . The protest song against war refers to the fact that all wars are in some way civil wars since they "feed the rich and bury the poor".

background

The song was the intellectual work of Guns N 'Roses band members Axl Rose , Slash and Duff McKagan . According to Slash, the song was initially an instrumental that he composed before the band left for Japan on their Appetite for Destruction tour. The singer Axl Rose wrote the lyrics . The elaboration of a decent song took place during a sound check in Melbourne, Australia .

On September 27, 1993, Duff McKagan explained the origin of the song in an interview with the US radio station Rockline :

“Basically it was a riff that we would do at sound checks. Axl came up with a couple of lines at the beginning. And… I went in a peace march, when I was a little kid, with my mom. I was like four years old. For Martin Luther King. And that's when: 'Did you wear the black arm band when they shot the man who said: "Peace could last forever"?' It's just true-life experiences, really. "

“It was basically a riff that we used in sound checks. Initially, Axl added a few lines of text. And ... as a small child, I often went on peace marches with my mother. I was about four years old. For Martin Luther King . And that was when someone asked, 'Did you wear a black bracelet after they shot the man who said,' Peace could last forever '?' It was a real life experience, really. "

- Duff McKagan

Track list

Great Britain CD ( Civil War EP)

  • Civil War (LP Version)
  • Garden of Eden (LP Version)
  • Dead Horse (LP Version)
  • Exclusive interview with Slash (March 1993)

German CD

  • Civil War (LP Version)
  • Garden of Eden (LP Version)
  • Exclusive interview with Slash (March 1993)

Australia and Japan CD

  • Civil War (LP Version)
  • Don't Damn Me (LP Version)
  • Back off Bitch (LP Version)
  • Exclusive interview with Slash (March 1993)

Civil War was featured on the B-side of You Could Be Mine single, the promotional single for the feature film Terminator 2 - Reckoning Day . The song is also the sixth track on the Greatest Hits compilation from 2004.

reception

Civil War reached number 4 on the mainstream rock tracks chart on Billboard Magazine .

song lyrics

The song begins with an audio sample by Strother Martin from the US film Cool Hand Luke from 1967: “What we've got here is… failure to communicate. Some men you just can't reach. So you get what we had here last week, which is the way he wants it ... well, he gets it. I don't like it any more than you men. "(German:" What we have here is ... a failure to communicate. Some men just can't be reached. That's why you get what we had here last week, whatever the way as he wants it ... well, he'll get it. I don't like it any more than you do. ")

In the middle section, the commanding Peruvian military general Otto Guibovich is quoted: “We practice selective annihilation of mayors and government officials, for example, to create a vacuum, then we fill that vacuum. As popular war advances, peace is closer. "(German:" We practice the selective annihilation of mayors and government officials in order to create a vacuum that we then fill. The further the people's war advances, the closer the peace is. ")

The song uses a Civil War song called When Johnny Comes Marching Home , whistled by Axl Rose during the intro and outro. At the end of the song, Axl Rose asks rhetorically “What's so civil about war, anyway?”.

occupation

Web links

  • Civil War at Songfacts.com, accessed August 24, 2019.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Anthony Bozza: Slash: The Autobiography . Harper Entertainment, New York 2007, ISBN 978-3-8419-0068-5 , pp. 239 .
  2. ^ Callan Bond: Questions and Answers . In: Cool Movie Trivia . February 8, 2006. Retrieved March 21, 2014.