Sweet Child o' Mine
From Infocentral
"Sweet Child o' Mine" is a song by the hard rock band Guns N' Roses. It was released on their debut album Appetite for Destruction on August 21, 1987. "Sweet Child o' Mine" was Guns N' Roses' first number-one single on the Billboard Hot 100, spending two weeks at the top spot in September 1988.
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Song
The song is credited as being written by Guns N' Roses as a band; more specifically it contains Slash's riff, Izzy's chords, Axl's lyrics, and McKagan's bass line. The subject of the song is generally thought to be lead singer Axl Rose's then-girlfriend and eventual wife, Erin Everly.
Former Guns N' Roses' lead guitarist, Slash, has been quoted as having a disdain for the song due to its roots as simply a technical exercise and a joke at the time. In a VH1 special, it was stated that Slash played the riff in a jam session as a joke. Drummer Steven Adler and Slash were warming up and Slash began to play a "circus" melody while making faces at Steven. Adler asked him to play the riff again, and Izzy Stradlin came in with the chords. Axl became intrigued and started singing the poem he had written. In an interview with Hit Parader magazine in 1988, bassist Duff McKagan noted:
"The thing about 'Sweet Child,' it was written in five minutes. It was one of those songs, only three chords. You know that guitar lick Slash does at the beginning? It was kinda like a joke because we thought, 'What is this song? It's gonna be nothin', it'll be filler on the record.' And except that vocal-wise, it's very sweet and sincere, Slash was fuckin' around when he first wrote that lick."
Music video
The "Sweet Child o' Mine" video depicts the band rehearsing in an abandoned theater, surrounded by crew members. Several of the band members' girlfriends were shown in the clip. The video was extremely successful on MTV, and helped launch the song to success on mainstream radio.
In an effort to make "Sweet Child o' Mine" more marketable to MTV and radio stations, the song was cut from 5:56 minutes to 4:20, with much of Slash's guitar solo removed. This move drew the ire of the band members, including Axl Rose, who commented on it in a 1989 interview with Rolling Stone: "I hate the edit of 'Sweet Child o' Mine.' Radio stations said, 'Well, your vocals aren't cut.' My favorite part of the song is Slash's slow solo; it's the heaviest part for me. There's no reason for it to be missing except to create more space for commercials, so the radio-station owners can get more advertising dollars. When you get the chopped version of 'Paradise City' or half of 'Sweet Child' and 'Patience' cut, you're getting screwed."
On an interview on Eddie Trunk's New York radio show in May 2006, Axl Rose stated that his original concept for the video focused on the theme of drug trafficking. According to Rose, the video was to depict an Asian woman carrying a baby into a foreign land, only to discover at the end that the child was dead and filled with heroin. This concept was rejected by Geffen Records.
There is also an alternative video for "Sweet Child o' Mine" with different captures and the footage entirely in black and white.
Accolades
"Sweet Child o' Mine" placed #37 on Guitar World's list of the "100 Greatest Guitar Solos." It also came in at number three on Blender's 500 Greatest Songs Since You Were Born, and at number 196 on Rolling Stone's 500 Greatest Songs of All Time. In March 2005, Q magazine placed it at number 6 in its list of the 100 Greatest Guitar Tracks. The introduction's famous D-flat based riff was also voted number-one riff of all-time by the readers of Total Guitar magazine.
Cover versions and re-recordings
The song has been covered by many artists including most recently (in bluegrass-style) Atlanta band Stop Drop & Roll, Texas, Sheryl Crow, Most Precious Blood, Akasha featuring Neneh Cherry, Schmoof, Flat Pack, Luna, Chester the Pup, Dead Tongues, DJ Dex & A, and The Aluminium Group. The song was also performed in many live concerts by country singer Carrie Underwood, opening with her alone on acoustic guitar and using her voice to reference Slash's intro guitar tones, before launching into a full band rock-out. Bonnie Tyler performed it on the for Charity DVD Rock for Asia in 2005.
It was partially performed by Linkin Park at Rock am Ring on March 6, 2001, and was also performed by them on September 5, 2004. The Manic Street Preachers also frequently play it as an introduction to their song "Motown Junk" in live concerts. The main riff is also replayed by Red Hot Chili Peppers at the end of the song "Punk Rock Classic". The intro is also sampled in a song on the Fort Minor mixtape, titled "S.C.O.M.". Avenged Sevenfold frequently use the opening riff as a segue between songs during live concerts.
In 1999, the song was re-recorded with the then-new Guns N' Roses members and was in the film Big Daddy.It was not featured on the original soundtrack album of the movie, but can be heard during the movie's ending credits The song was also featured in the 1990 film State of Grace, in a bar during a brawl.
It was performed on December 2, 2006 at the Nokia Theater in New York City by Jam Band Umphrey's McGee.
Black Eyed Peas usually covers the intro riff and the first verses of this song as well during their live shows. Turbonegro uses the intro as Introlick for the Song Bad Mongo played live.
It was also featured as a playable track in the video game Guitar Hero II.
Part of the song is featured at the beginning of the CBS show NCIS episode "Witch Hunt". Part of the song is used in the shows scenes of a little girl. The song ends when a sound of a gunshot is heard indicating that the girl in the scenes is the deceased daughter of the shows main character Leroy Jethro Gibbs.
Mashup
In May 2007 Norwegian Recycling mashed the instrumental of this song with the acapella of Scissor Sisters' "Take Your Mama" into a mashup called "Sweet Mama o' Mine".
Live intros
During the Use Your Illusion Tour, Axl Rose would sometimes sing a few lines from songs by other artists as an 'introduction' to the song. The songs used were:
- Grand Funk Railroad's "Bad Time" (this was often preceded by a few lines of Queen's "Sail Away Sweet Sister". An example of this can be seen on the second half of the band's Live in Tokyo DVD)
- The Skyliners' "Since I Don't Have You" (the band would later cover this song in full on the 1993 album The Spaghetti Incident?)
- Elton John's "The One" from the album The One
- U2's "One" (the only performance of this song occurred at the May 16, 1992 show at Slane Castle in Ireland, the home country of U2)
- Nazareth's "Fallen Angel" (the only performance of this song occurred at the July 25, 1992 at the Three Rivers Stadium in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania)
