Guns N’ Roses – Paradise City Live In Tokyo 1992

Guns N’ Roses takes us to Paradise City

Released as a single in November of 1988, “Paradise City” was featured on Guns N’ Roses debut studio album, Appetite for Destruction.

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.

This video captures how powerful the band’s impact was. The crowd goes NUTS for this song. Between Slash’s iconic solos, and Axl’s hard hitting high notes, there isn’t much more you could ask for from a G N’ R show.

Fun Facts!

• 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.
• 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.
• It was also ranked #21 on VH1’s 40 Greatest Metal Songs of All Time,  number 3 in “Total Guitar” magazine’s list of the 100 greatest solos of all time, and has won various similar awards over the years.

+Paradise City lyrics below+

Take me down
To the paradise city
Where the grass is green
And the girls are pretty
Take me home
Just a’ urchin
livin’ under the street
I’m a hard case
that’s tough to beat
I’m your charity case
So buy me somethin’ to eat
I’ll pay you at another time
Take it to the end of the line

Ragz to richez or so they say
Ya gotta-keep pushin’
for the fortune and fame
It’s all a gamble
When it’s just a game
Ya treat it like a capital crime
Everybody’s doin’ their time

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

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 losin’ my mind-
“Are you blind?”
I’ve seen it all a million times