You are not logged in. Please register or login.
- Topics: Active | Unanswered
Pages: 1
Re: Since I Don't Have You - on Madagascar
The tune is a '59 hit from the Skyliners, but I prefer the version Peter Weller (ROBOCOP) performed in The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the Eight Dimension. The film is just as breathtaking as the title lets in, btw.
I wonder if Axl ever saw the film and caught up with the song from that. Could be, it was right down his alley in 1984.
Getting back to the video, it's an interesting piece in a puzzle, really. It's overwhelmingly overlooked for a start. Sure, it's not a great one. But it's more narrative than the random compilations like The Garden; it's actually a step down on the line from Estranged as far the overarching story arc of Guns is coming together in Axl's mind.
The single was out in late May '94, according to a Gilby interview. The Interwebs date the release to 1993, so SIDHY (yes, that's the abbreviation) actually opens a window to the band as it was in the Sympathy era.
K!: The single 'Since I Don't Have You' is out next week...
G: "It's a terrible song."K!: Don't hold back! How do you really feel about it?
G: "I don't like it. When we did the Punk album (`The Spaghetti Incident?'), we'd record stuff on days off. We did 'Since I Don't Have You' in Boston in one day! I didn't think it was gonna be on the record."I dug cutting the T-Rex song - that was cool. But I thought we were making a Punk Rock cover album. And then it turned into being not a Punk Rock cover album! But, it's not my choice. When people ask me about the song, I just say, 'Look, I don't like it'."
There's an apparently highly coked-up Gary Oldman as the Devil. He's driving an Axl wearing an ill-advised cowboy hat. The Devil's curious about everything but the wheel. He bails off. Axl makes for the wheel, as if the Devil not driving was a bad thing.
The car is later found on the shore. The band's there, Duff's having the mandatory drink and some sun, while Matt's playing in the water. Gilby has been given the short shrift, he gets kitchen duty. Dizzy is either fishing ineptly, or trying to save Axl by constantly throwing the net into the sea. It's never suggested that the others are overtly concerned over the events; Matt even breaks the fourth wall by greeting the audience.
Axl is tied up, as we see him. Slash, the other main principle, is absent from the beach party. He's playing guitar in Satan's boat, while the Ol' Iniquity rows him up what seems like Styx. While most band members (aside the hapless Dizzy) are indifferent to Axl's plight, Slash is literally playing Devil's advocate.
Forgive them that teared down my soul...
Are those French horns?
Axl's being roasted. He's all tied up. The beach party continues. Dizzy's either frustrated by the lack of fish or increasingly concerned of Axl. Hard to say. The rest give as much a damn as they always do.
"It's really strange, because the band is like two separate things. There's the guys, everybody except for Axl, and then there's the band with Axl. When we're on the road, we're always together. We hang out together, just like a band. But that's not including Axl.
And then there's the band with Axl. He just kinda comes in and does what he does, puts the vocals on and all that kind of stuff. So when we're in the studio, it's cool. But, you know, I'd been playing with the band for two years before we recorded stuff."
A noteworthy part is that Axl (and Slash) could've technically worked on separate days from the rest of the band. For Duff, Matt and Dizzy it was a one-day gig, Slash came out to do his bits with Gary Oldman. Axl did a scene with Oldman, but aside his turmoil shots, he's mainly seen making out with Jennifer Driver.
We get to see Axl in the car again.
'Don't buy a car with your friends,' he says with his eyes straight ahead. 'Nobody could get the wheel. Everybody had the wheel. And when you have a bunch of guys, I'm telling you, you are driving the car off the cliff.
The car does go off the cliff.
But there's only Axl there.
Axl's submerging. He seems really into doing underwater shots in videos. This is Estranged, sans the dolphins.
He cuts loose and breaks a smile.
"all the chains, we have together"
Axl was tricked by the Devil to run the car off the cliff, Slash played a helping hand there. Duff, Matt and Gilby were into the rock n' roll life, they could care less about the car or Axl. The car are Guns, and the only one doing his bit next to it is Dizzy, motivated by reasons he appears to struggle to comprehend.
What the video does allude to is that Axl felt alienated from everyone and a complete separation from the band was what he was after. As he turns upwards, there is relief, as the Guns are off his back and he is no longer bound by them. The storm hadn't brought him down, yet.
But he was certainly drifting all alone like Madagascar when it separated from India.
When you’ve robbed a man of everything he’s no longer in your power — he’s free again.
Re: Since I Don't Have You - on Madagascar
Gary Oldman was actually the embodiment of Misery, not the Devil. And I've always liked this song and video. He definitely is obsessed with the symbolism of falling and drowning. There's a similar scene in Estranged where he jumps into the sea, drowning and throws the life preserver away.
- Me_Wise_Magic
- Rep: 70
Re: Since I Don't Have You - on Madagascar
It's probably one of my top favorite Guns covers other than Sympathy for the Devil. One of the highlights of the Spaghetti Incident besides Down on the Farm for me!
Pages: 1
