Guns N' Roses - Paradise City - About the song
This was the first song that the original Guns N' Roses lineup of Slash, Steven Adler, Duff McKagan, Axl Rose and Izzy Stradlin wrote together - all five members are credited as writers. According to McKagan, they started working on it during one of their first rehearsals, and it started with some lyrics he brought from a notebook.
Much like "Welcome To The Jungle," this was inspired by Los Angeles, where the band was living. The verses deal with the rough life on the streets, but the chorus was based on Axl Rose's memories of the Midwest, with images of green grass, innocence and possibility.
Slash wanted the chorus to be: "Take me down to the Paradise City where the girls are fat and they got big t--ties." He hated the "Grass Is Green" line, but the band overruled him to make the song more radio-friendly.
Paradise City - 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? 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? Just an urchin living under the street, I'm a Hard case that's tough to beat I'm your charity case, so buy me something to eat I'll pay you at another time, take it to the end of the line Rags and riches, or so they say, you gotta Keep pushing 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 capital crime, everybody's doing the 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 who 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, oh yeah So far–away So far–away So far–away So far–away 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 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, home I wanna go, I wanna know Oh, won't you please take me home? I wanna see, how good it can be 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) 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 Oh, won't you please take me home? Take me down (oh yeah), spin me 'round Oh, won't you please take me home? I wanna see, how good it can be Oh, won't you please take me home? I wanna see, how good it can be 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 wanna go, I wanna know Oh, won't you please take me home? Baby
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