Coma (song)

This article is about the song by Guns N' Roses; for other songs, see the "Songs" portion of the page that disambiguates the article title "Coma".

"Coma"
Song by Guns N' Roses from the album Use Your Illusion I
Released	September 17, 1991
Recorded	A&M Studios, Record Plant Studios, Studio 56, Image Recording, Conway Studios & Metalworks Recording Studios 1990-1991
Genre	Hard rock, heavy metal
Length	10:13
Label	Geffen Records
Writer	Slash Axl Rose
Producer	Mike Clink, Guns N' Roses
Use Your Illusion I track listing
Dead Horse (15) "Coma" (16)

"Coma" is a song by American rock band Guns N' Roses. It appears on the 1991 album Use Your Illusion I. At 10 minutes, 13 seconds it is the longest track released by the band, even though it lacks choruses.

Slash states that he wrote the music to this song in a house he and Izzy rented in Hollywood Hills, following the Appetite for Destruction tours.^[1] In an interview, Axl talks about writing "Coma":

"I tried to write that song for a year, and couldn't. I went to write it at the studio and passed out. I woke up two hours later and sat down and wrote the whole end of the song, like, just off the top of my head. It was like, don't even know what's coming out, man, but it's coming. I think one of the best things that I've ever written was maybe the end segment of the song "Coma". It just poured out." [1]

The song has only been played live four times, possibly due to its length and the strain it causes singer, Axl Rose. A rare live version was featured on Japanese and vinyl copies of the Guns N' Roses live album Live Era: '87-'93.

Towards the end of the song, the phrase "'It's so easy' to be social/'It's so easy' to be cool/Yeah 'It's so easy' to be hungry/ When you ain't got shit to lose" is considered to be reflection on Guns N' Roses between 1985 and 1989, mainly their drug use, from which the whole ending "rant" is written about. Whether or not it was actually written about a members overdose has not been proven, although many fans hold steadfast that Slash wrote it about his. The repeated use of the phrase "it's so easy" is also a reference to the song of the same name.

References

1. ^ Bozza, Anthony, & Slash (2007). Slash. Harper Entertainment: New York. p. 252