The Garden

by **Soulmonster** Sat Aug 07, 2010 9:18 pm

THE GARDEN

Album:
Use Your Illusion I, 1991, track no. 11.

Written by:
West Arkeen, Del James and Axl Rose.

Musicians:
Drums / Percussion: Matt
Bass: Duff
Lead and Rhythm Guitars / Slide Guitar / Acoustic Guitar: Slash
Acoustic Guitar: West Arkeen
Vocals: Axl, Alice Cooper
Background Vocals: Axl, Shannon Hoon

Live performances:
'The Garden' was played live for the first time at Frank Erwin Center, USA, February 23, 1993. It was only played during 1993. In total it has, as of {UPDATEDATE}, at least been played {THEGARDENSONGS} times.

Lyrics:

You know you're all alone
Your friends they aren't at home
Everybody's gone to the garden
As you look into the trees
You can look but you don't see
The flowers seem to tease you at the garden
Everybody's there, but you don't seem to care
What's it with you man, and this garden

Turned into my worst phobia,
A crazy man's utopia
If you're lost no one can show ya,
But it sure was glad to know ya
Only poor boys take a chance,
On the garden's song and dance,
Feel her flowers as they wrap around,
But only smart boys do without

You can find it all inside
No need to wrestle with your pride
No you ain't losin' your mind
You're just in the garden
They can lead you to yourself
Or you can throw it on the shelf
But you know you can look inside
For the garden

I wasn't really scared
Lost my virginity there,
To a gypsy with blond hair
But now no one seems to care
Like a mouse inside a maze
Wandering round 4 daze
With a smile upon my face,
I never wanna leave this place
Only poor boys take a chance,
On the garden's song and dance,
Feel her flowers as they wrap around,
But only smart boys do without

Turned into my worst phobia,
A crazy man's utopia
If you're lost no one can show ya,
But it sure was glad to know ya
Bye bye
So long, bye bye
It's glad to know ya
Bye bye
Bye bye
Aw...so long

Quotes regarding the song and its making:

[West Arkeen] wasn't the type who wanted to be in a band, but he was an incredible guitar player. He ended up writing songs with several of us. He had a hand in an unreleased song called 'Sentimental Movie,' and in 'Yesterdays' and 'The Garden,' which eventually turned up on Use Your Illusion. All of those songs were written there on El Cerrito [where Duff lived] together with various members of our band.

Duff's autobiography, "It's So Easy", 2011, p. 86-87

But, like, there’ll also be, like, Wes playing on “The Garden”. You know, we’ll try and record that with Wes actually playing guitar. Because Wes plays that song the best. And Slash wants to do the solo. He’s like, “I’m gonna nail that motherfucker this time!” He’s been trying to nail the solo for “The Garden” for the last three years. Now he’s like, I’m gonna get it. And Wes can just play it, you know?

Mick Wall, GUNS N' ROSES: The Most Dangerous Band in the World, Sidgwick & Jackson, U.K. 1991, 1993

[...] For 'The Garden,' where it's got a big solo session, and slide all the way through it, I did that overhand [...] I came up with it that day in the studio, so there wasn't much practising involved. I had the basic idea, improvised it, and did it a couple of times.

Guitar For The Practising Musician, April 1990

Axl sang a part in 'The Garden,' and it sounded exactly like Alice Cooper. I mean, it sounded exactly like Alice. So we were like, 'Let's get Alice to do it,' you know, rather than just steal his style. So Alice came down and sang it. It was cool.

RIP, June 1991

I came up with [the slide part] that day in the studio, so there wasn't much practising involved. I had the basic idea, improvised it, and did it a couple of times. I played it overhand. This solo is particularly focused, in terms of where your energy is. I thought of Jeff Beck. That's cool. I like Jeff Beck. That's another one that was one take. It's aggressive. I think I have my regular Les Paul with the Alnico pickups that I use most of the time. The same one I used on the last record.

Guitar, April, 1992

I’m used to doing things in an hour. I know Axl likes to take his time, but if you can’t get a vocal like that in an hour, there’s something wrong. So I told him upfront, ‘I have a tee-off time tomorrow at seven. We’re doing this in about an hour.’ I did it in two takes. I don’t know how long it took him to do all of his takes, but it ended up sounding really, really good.

Rolling Stone, September 16, 2016

And [West Arkeen wrote on] The Garden. That was an old, that was like from '85.

Let There Be Talk, September 17, 2018

by **Soulmonster** Fri May 18, 2018 6:39 am

by **Soulmonster** Sun May 28, 2023 10:30 pm

I’m used to doing things in an hour. I know Axl likes to take his time, but if you can’t get a vocal like that in an hour, there’s something wrong. So I told him upfront, ‘I have a tee-off time tomorrow at seven. We’re doing this in about an hour.’ I did it in two takes. I don’t know how long it took him to do all of his takes, but it ended up sounding really, really good.

Rolling Stone, September 16, 2016

by **Soulmonster** Wed Mar 13, 2024 1:34 pm

And [West Arkeen wrote on] The Garden. That was an old, that was like from '85.

Let There Be Talk, September 17, 2018

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