Civil War (song)

"Civil War"
Song
A-side	"Civil War" (LP Version)
B-side	"Garden of Eden" (LP Version) "Dead Horse" (LP Version)

"Civil War" is a power ballad 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. 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.

Allusions, Sampling, and Trivia

• The song samples Strother Martin's speech in the 1967 movie, 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.".

• It 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 includes the American Civil War song, "When Johnny Comes Marching Home", whistled by Axl Rose.

• "Civil War" is the B-side track to the June 1991 release of Guns N' Roses "You Could Be Mine" single, the promotional single for Terminator 2: Judgment Day. "Civil War" was not featured in the film however.

• Of all the 30 combined tracks on the Use Your Illusion I and Use Your Illusion II, "Civil War" (Track #1 on Use Your Illusion II) is the sole track to be recorded featuring original Guns N' Roses drummer, Steven Adler, who was fired shortly after the track's recording in 1990. Adler was replaced by then The Cult drummer, Matt Sorum, the drummer for all other 29 tracks on the two-disc set.

Personnel

• Axl Rose - lead vocals, whistling, 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