Civil War (song)

"Civil War"
Single by Guns N' Roses
from the album Use Your Illusion II
A-side	"Civil War" (LP Version)
B-side	"Garden of Eden" (LP Version) "Dead Horse" (LP Version)
Released	May 3, 1993
Format	CD single
Recorded	1990
Genre	Hard rock, heavy metal
Length	7:44
Label	Geffen
Writer(s)	Axl Rose Slash Duff McKagan
Producer	Mike Clink, Guns N' Roses
Guns N' Roses singles chronology
"Yesterdays" (1992) "Civil War" (1993) "Ain't It Fun" (1993)

"Civil War" is a song by the rock band Guns N' Roses, which originally appeared on the 1990 compilation Nobody's Child: Romanian Angel Appeal and later on the 1991 album Use Your Illusion II. It is a protest song on war, referring to all war as 'civil war' and that it only "feeds the rich while it buries the poor." In the song, singer Axl Rose asks, "What's so civil about war, anyway?"

Background

"Civil War" was the brainchild of the Guns N' Roses artists Axl Rose, Slash and Duff McKagan. Slash stated that the song was an instrumental he had written right before the band left for the Japanese leg of its Appetite for Destruction world tour. Axl wrote lyrics and it was worked into a proper song at a sound check in Melbourne, Australia.^[1] On September 27, 1993, Duff McKagan explained where the song came from in an interview on Rockline: "Basically it was a riff that we would do at sound-checks. Axl came up with a couple of lines at the beginning. And... I went in a peace march, when I was a little kid, with my mom. I was like four years old. For Martin Luther King. And that's when: "Did you wear the black arm band when they shot the man who said: 'Peace could last forever'?. It's just true-life experiences, really."

Track listings

UK CD (The "Civil War" EP)
No.	Title	Length
1.	"Civil War (LP Version)"
2.	"Garden of Eden (LP Version)"
3.	"Dead Horse (LP Version)"
4.	"Interview with Slash (March 1993)"

Germany CD
No.	Title	Length
1.	"Civil War (LP Version)"
2.	"Garden of Eden (LP Version)"
3.	"Interview with Slash (March 1993)"

Australia and Japan CD
No.	Title	Length
1.	"Civil War (LP Version)"
2.	"Don't Damn Me (LP Version)"
3.	"Back off Bitch (LP Version)"
4.	"Exclusive Interview with Slash (March 1993)"

Reception

• "Civil War" reached number four on the Mainstream Rock Tracks chart in Billboard magazine.

Performances

• Guns N' Roses performed the song at Farm Aid IV on April 7, 1990, which was their last concert with Adler on the drums. This performance was televised.

• "Civil War" is the first track on Use Your Illusion II. It also appears on the compilation Use Your Illusion and Guns N' Roses' Greatest Hits.

• During live performances of "Civil War" at the end of the song Slash will sample the opening riff of the Jimi Hendrix song Voodoo Child (Slight Return)

Allusions and samples

• The song samples Strother Martin's speech in Cool Hand Luke ("What we've got here is... failure to communicate. Some men you just can't reach. So you get what we had here last week, which is the way he wants it... well, he gets it. I don't like it any more than you men.").^[2]

• It also quotes a Peruvian militant general's speech ("We practice selective annihilation of mayors and government officials, for example, to create a vacuum, then we fill that vacuum. As popular war advances, peace is closer").

• The song also plays homage to American Civil War song "When Johnny Comes Marching Home" with snippets of the tune used in the introduction, and then again in the outro.

Personnel

• Axl Rose - lead vocals, production
• Izzy Stradlin - rhythm guitar, backing vocals, production
• Slash - lead guitar, acoustic guitar, production
• Duff McKagan - bass, backing vocals, production
• Steven Adler - drums
• Dizzy Reed - piano, production

External links

• Songfacts

References

1. ^ Bozza, Anthony, & Slash (2007). Slash. Harper Entertainment: New York. p. 239
2. ^ Bond, Callan (February 8, 2006). "Questions and Answers". Cool Movie Trivia. http://www.cool-movie-trivia.com/Question_Answers_02_08_06.htm.