Slash vs Paradise City

Paradise City

General

Paradise City was written by Guns and Roses and was track 6 on their debut album Appetite for Destruction. The album was released on the 30th of November 1988 by Geffen records.

Producer – Mike Clink

Genre – American 80’s Hard Rock

Tempo – 100 BPM, Outro 208 BPM

Style – The style of this song is a hard rock anthem from Guns and Roses and can be classed as Stadium rock.

Structure

- Form – A,B,B,A,B,B,A,A

- Intro, Chorus, Verse 1 and 2, Chorus, Solo, Verse 3 and 4, Chorus, Middle 8, Chorus, Double time outro with Chorus’s.

- The length of the song is 6.46 minutes

Rhythm

-       The time signature is 4/4 and it is written in the key of G Major. The recording of the track was captured in this key but guitars and Bass were tuned down a half step (semitone) to give the song a heavier feel.

-       The rhythmic patterns of the song have an underlying straight downbeat rock feel. The intro is more laid back than the rest of the track with the drums providing a sparse bass drum and snare hit only with cymbal crashes to separate the phrases. The song then enters its moderate tempo before hitting a double time pattern to take the song to a climax.

-       It is easy to anticipate the rhythm in this song as it has a standard repetition through the structure.

-       The whole track overall rhythmically is loud and heavy.

Melody/Vocal line

-       The scale for the vocal line used is in G Major. The main vocal line starts on a high G note and goes all the way up to a high D at one point in the Chorus.

-       The phrasing expresses and shapes the song in line with the rhythmic patterns you hear and could be described as a slow scat or rap.

-       I would describe the vocal line as harsh rhythmic lines and for the chorus you can hear very clearly where head voice is used.

-       Looking at the score you will see that the singer sings the main melody in the verse around the notes E, F and G. This gives the song a high energy backed by the thundering guitar riffs you can hear.

-       The whole band wrote the lyrics. It is said that the song was written in the back of rental van on the way back from a gig in San Francisco. The guitarist was playing the riff and the singer came in wit the line, “take me down to the Paradise city” the second line was then shouted out by the guitarist “Where the grass is green and the girls are pretty” the song started to take shape from there.

It is not clear what the song is about; however there are rumors that it was about Ireland.

The Chorus is what really makes the song for me. Great use of vocal Harmonies, the guitars use power chords to beef it up. The lyrics are great also with a real catchy line.

Harmony

-       Chords used – The intro and the chorus are based are G Major, C Major and Fadd9 Major which sound massive when the two guitars play this. By watching videos and learning to play this two guitarists do different voicing’s of these chords Guitar 1 plays the traditional chords while Guitar 2 plays power chords G5, C5 and F5. The texture this give the song is very thick sounding.

-       The verses are based on a riff start on the note G, F, F*, G and help form the heavy driving point it gives across.

Texture/Timbre

Band Line up – Since starting the band has gone through many line-ups, however the classic line up they are well known for and for the song Paradise City is as follows.



Axl Rose – Lead Vocals

Izzy Stradlin – Rhythm Guitar

Slash – Lead Guitar

Duff McKagan – Bass

Steven Adler – Drums

Riffs – The open chord sequence of this song is probably the section that everyone will recognize instantly. It is based around G, C and F Major.

Features – Even though the song is a heavy riff based, high pitch vocal drum thumping track, words that best describe it is Anthem.  The dynamics of the song start light with clean guitar before bursting high-octane power chords which layer the song before bursting into the main driving riff.

The band make good use of the spacing between the instruments, the intro is a good example of this.  You will find it has country overtones to it mixed with classic distortion and octave solo sections.

Technology – This was the only track on the Appetite for Destruction album to use keyboards. You can hear these right at the beginning of the song which help put down a blanket of sound while the guitars us the same root notes and chords.

The guitars where recorded with Les Paul Standards and Marshall amps, Pearl drum kits and fender bass guitar.

In an interview with Guitar magazine the guitarist Slash said he recorded the solo in two takes Guitar world slash interview

Solo was recorded in two takes

Lyrics

Take me down to the paradise city

Where the grass is green

And the girls are pretty

Take me home

(Oh, won't you please take me home?) X 2

Just an urchin livin' under the street

I'm a hard case that's tough to beat

I'm your charity case, so buy me somethin' to eat

I'll pay you at another time, take it to the end of the line

Rags to riches or so they say

You gotta keep pushin' for the fortune and fame

You know it's, it's all a gamble when it's just a game

You treat it like a capitol crime, everybody' doin' their time

Take me down to the paradise city

Where the grass is green and the girls are pretty

Oh, won't you please take me home? Yeah, yeah

Take me down to the paradise city

Where the grass is green and the girls are pretty

Take me home

Strapped in the chair of the city's gas chamber

Why I'm here, I can't quite remember

The surgeon general says it's hazardous to breathe

I'd have another cigarette but I can't see

Tell me that you're gonna believe

Take me down to the paradise city

Where the grass is green and the girls are pretty

Take me home, yeah, yeah

Take me down to the paradise city

Where the grass is green and the girls are pretty

Oh, won't you please take me home? Yeah

SOLO

So far away, so far away x 2

Captain America's been torn apart

Now he's a court jester with a broken heart

He said turn me around and take me back to the start

I must be losing my mind, are you blind?

I've seen it all a million times

Take me down to the paradise city

Where the grass is green

And the girls are pretty

Take me home, yeah, yeah

Take me down to the paradise city

Where the grass is green

And the girls are pretty

Oh, won't you please take me home? X 2

I want to go, I want to know

Oh, won't you please take me home?

I want to see, oh, look at me

Oh, won't you please take me home?

Take me down to the paradise city

Where the grass is green

And the girls are pretty

Take me home

Take me down to the paradise city

Where the grass is green

And the girls are pretty

Oh, won't you please take me home?

Take me down, oh yeah, beat me down

Oh, won't you please take me home?

I want to see, oh, look at me

Oh, won't you please take me home?

I want to see, boy, I'm gonna be mean

Oh, oh take me home

Take me down to the paradise city

Where the grass is green

And the girls are pretty

Oh, won't you please take me home?

I want to go, I want to know

Oh, won't you please take me home, baby