Guns N' Roses Songs - November Rain Lyrics

Guns N' Roses - November Rain

Guns N' Roses - November Rain Lyrics and Youtube Music Videos

Album: Use Your Illusion I
Released: 1991

November Rain Lyrics

When I look into your eyes
I can see a love restrained
But darlin' when I hold you
Don't you know I feel the same

Nothin' lasts forever
And we both know hearts can change
And it's hard to hold a candle
In the cold November Rain

We've been through this such a long long time
Just tryin' to kill the pain, oo yeah
But love is always coming and love is always going
And no one's really sure who's lettin' go today
Walking away

If we could take the time
To lay it on the line
I could rest my head
Just knowin' that you were mine
All mine
So if you want to love me
Then darlin' don't refrain
Or I'll just end up walkin'
In the cold November rain

Do you need some time on your own
Do you need some time all alone
Everybody needs some time
On their own
Don't you know you need some time all alone

I know it's hard to keep an open heart
When even friends seem out to harm you
But if you could heal a broken heart
Wouldn't time be out to charm you

Sometimes I need some time on my
Own
Sometimes I need some time all alone
Everybody needs some time
On their own
Don't you know you need some time all alone

And when your fears subside
And shadows still remain, oh yeah
I know that you can love me
When there's no one left to blame
So never mind the darkness
We still can find a way
'Cause nothin' lasts forever
Even cold November rain

Don't ya think that you need somebody
Don't ya think that you need someone
Everybody needs somebody
You're not the only one
You're not the only one

Don't ya think that you need somebody
Don't ya think that you need someone
Everybody needs somebody
You're not the only one
You're not the only one

Don't ya think that you need somebody
Don't ya think that you need someone
Everybody needs somebody
You're not the only one
You're not the only one

Don't ya think that you need somebody
Don't ya think that you need someone
Everybody needs somebody

Writer/s: ROSE, W. AXL / HUDSON, SAUL / MCKAGAN, DUFF ROSE / STRADLIN, IZZY / REED, DARREN A. / SORUM, MATT
Publisher: Universal Music Publishing Group
Lyrics licensed and provided by LyricFind

November Rain

The lyrics and the video are based on a short story by Del James called Without You. The story is part of a collection called The Language Of Fear , which was brought back to market in 2008 after being out of print. The new version of the book contains an intro by Axl Rose, who wrote: "Del James has a personal knowledge of most of the situations he writes about, and has a love of the gutter from having been there." James contributed lyrics to two Guns N' Roses songs: "The Garden" and "Yesterdays," and has directed several music videos. (thanks, Dejaye - Wagga, Australia)

Written by Axl Rose, the original version of this song was 25-minutes long, and was edited down to 8:59. It is the longest ever Top 10 hit and contains the longest guitar solo in a Top 10 single.

Slash actually plays two guitar solos in the song. Rose put the song's lengthy gestation period down to opposition from Slash and Duff McKagan. (thanks, Joe - Boston, MA and Cole - Watertown, NY)

The video was directed by Andy Morahan, who had done the popular George Michael videos for "Father Figure" and "Faith," and worked with GnR on "Don't Cry" and "You Could Be Mine."

A huge production, the "November Rain" video cost over $1.5 million to make, but reaped rewards for the band, as it got a lot of play on MTV. It stars actress and model Stephanie Seymour, Axl Rose's girlfriend at the time. In the video, she and Axl get married with Slash serving as best man and the rest of the band in the front row. After the wedding, it starts raining and the next scene is Stephanie's funeral in the same church.

Slash (from Q magazine, July 2004): "We got into doing these huge production videos and by 'November Rain' it was too much, just too involved. At the end of the day it was a great video but that's when I started realizing that it was getting out of hand."

This won for best cinematography at the 1992 MTV Video Music Awards, where it also received a Video Vanguard award. Guns N' Roses performed this at the end of the show with Elton John on piano.

The albums Use Your Illusion I and Use Your Illusion II were released simultaneously. This was a bold move, but the band was huge and the albums both sold very well. When they were released, Use Your Illusion II was the #1 album in the US, followed by Use Your Illusion I. The last time an artist had the top two albums at the same time was in 1974, when two Jim Croce albums held the top spots shortly after his death.

The album was released in September 1991, but this came out as a single in February 1992.

Shannon Hoon from the group Blind Melon sang backup. Hoon, who died of a drug overdose in 1995, grew up in Lafayette, Indiana near Axl Rose.

Matt Sorum replaced Steven Adler as GnR drummer in 1990. A former session drummer and bandmate of Tori Amos, his classical training helped bring a more classical sensibility to the band, which is best heard on this song. In our interview with Sorum , he explained that the drum pattern came together after they had been rehearsing the song, and Axl and Matt found themselves in the studio enjoying take-out from Greenblatt's Deli. Axl, a big Elton John fan, put on the song "Don't Let The Sun Go Down On Me," which gave Matt an idea.

"I said, 'God, listen to the tom toms on that,'" Matt recalls. "And Axl goes, 'Yeah, that's cool. So epic.' I go, 'What if I use that sort of a phrase as pieces of the song, almost like a melody that would work into the song structure.'"

Discussing the orchestral elements in the song, Matt explained: "I worked on the arrangements for those songs, the way they broke down and the dynamics. The band wasn't really that dynamic when I joined. It was a rock band, like 'Go for it.' Just loud. 'When we're on, it's loud.' And I came from an orchestral upbringing and classical music - I was in wind ensemble. I sounded crazy to them: 'We need pianissimo instrumental right here and mezzo forte right here.' And they'd go, 'What?!?'

Pianissimo means 'quiet.' And here we're doing mezzo forte. That means 'medium loud.' Now, we're going to go double forte here, which means, Okay, go back to your regular volume. I would explain all these sections to the band, and I said, 'This needs to be a journey, you need to take people on a journey to this song.' So that's what we did on 'November Rain.'"

Axl Rose was working on this as early as 1983. Former L.A. Guns guitarist Tracii Guns said: "When we were doing that EP for L.A. Guns, like in 1983, he was playing 'November Rain' on piano. Way back then. It was the only thing Axl knew how to play, but it was his. He'd go: 'Someday this song is gonna be really cool.' And I'd go: 'It's cool now. But it's not done, you know.' And like anytime we'd be at a hotel or anywhere there'd be a piano, he'd just kinda play that music. And I'd go: 'When are you gonna finish that already, you know?' And he'd go: 'I don't know what to do with it.'" (thanks, Rayan - Lincoln, England)

According to Matt Sorum, "November Rain," "Don't Cry" and "Estranged" were conceived as one song, and the three tracks form a trilogy of sorts. Sorum played the same drum fill throughout those three songs, and took some criticism for doing so - notably from former Dream Theater drummer Mike Portnoy.

Sorum points out that this was intentional, a way of unifying the songs. "That was my part in tying enough songs together to make it one voice," he told us.

The outfit lead guitarist Slash is wearing in the music video for "November Rain" can be seen at the Hard Rock Cafe in Orlando, Florida. (thanks, Anthony - Mesquite, TX)

Slash revealed in his autobiography that an early 18-minute version of the song was recorded at a session with Nazareth guitarist Manny Charlton in 1986, before the sessions for Appetite For Destruction began.

The guy who crashes through the wedding cake around the 7-minute mark of the video is Riki Rachtman, host of the MTV show Headbangers Ball. He and Axl Rose were friends.