Paradise City (Guns N' Roses)

A música a apresentar ficou em 3º lugar no top dos melhores solos de guitarra de sempre (pela Total Guitar): Paradise City!

Paradise City é uma música da banda de Hard Rock/Heavy Metal norte-americana, Guns N' Roses. Foi lançada em 1987 e inserida originalmente no álbum Appetite For Destruction.

A música foi composta por Axl Rose (vocalista da banda), Slash (guitarrista principal da banda), Izzy Stradlin (guitarrista secundário da banda) e Duff McKagan (baixista da banda)  enquanto voltavam a casa depois de um concerto em São Francisco com a banda de Hard Rock/Glam Metal, Jet Boy.
Os cinco membros da banda encontravam-se de regresso a casa na traseira de uma carrinha alugada. Todos bebiam enquanto tocavam guitarra e Slash surgiu com a introdução daquele que ia ser um dos primeiros singles da banda. Logo de seguida Duff e Izzy tocaram com ele e, após Slash ditar a melodia, Axl cantou "Take me down to the Paradise City".
Até ao final da viagem escreveram o resto da letra e Slash fez uns arranjos no riff.
Não se sabe de que cidade falam na música. Alguns dizem que se referem a Los Angeles enquanto outros dizem que Axl e Izzy falam da sua terra natal, Lafayette.

A música fechou muitos dos concertos da tour Use Your Illusion e Chinese Democracy.
Ganhou vários prémios idênticos ao já falado 3º lugar no top dos melhores solos de guitarra e foi classificada como a 453º melhor música de sempre (pela Rolling Stone).

Metade do videoclip oficial foi gravado durante a tour com a banda de Hard Rock/Heavy Metal norte-americana, Aerosmith no estádio Giants Stadium em New Jersey.
A outra metade foi filmada enquanto os membros da banda se encontravam a caminho do festival Monsters Of Rock, realizado na Inglaterra. Nesse concerto morreram dois fãs e a banda decidiu colocar algumas imagens do concerto em homenagens às vítimas.

Slash afirmou que Paradise City é a sua música favorita.

O Videoclip Oficial:

A Letra:
Take me down to the paradise city
Where the grass is green
And the girls are pretty
Take me home
(Oh, won't you please take me home?)

Take me down to the paradise city
Where the grass is green
And the girls are pretty
Take me home
(Oh, won't you please take me home?)

Just an 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

Rags to riches or so they say
You gotta keep pushin' for the fortune and fame
You know it's, it's all a gamble when it's just a game
You treat it like a capitol crime, everybody' doin' their time

Take me down to the paradise city
Where the grass is green
And the girls are pretty
Oh, won't you please take me home? Yeah, yeah

Take me down to the paradise city
Where the grass is green
And the girls are pretty
Take me home

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 that you're gonna believe

Take me down to the paradise city
Where the grass is green
And the girls are pretty
Take me home, yeah, yeah

Take me down to the paradise city
Where the grass is green
And the girls are pretty
Oh, won't you please take me home? Yeah

So far away, so far away
So far away, 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 losing my mind, are you blind? I've seen it all a million times

Take me down to the paradise city
Where the grass is green
And the girls are pretty
Take me home, yeah, yeah

Take me down to the paradise city
Where the grass is green
And the girls are pretty
Oh, won't you please take me home?

Take me down to the paradise city
Where the grass is green
And the girls are pretty
Take me home, yeah, yeah

Take me down to the paradise city
Where the grass is green
And the girls are pretty
Oh, won't you please take me home, home?

I want to go, I want to know
Oh, won't you please take me home?
I want to see, oh, look at me
Oh, won't you please take me home?

Take me down to the paradise city
Where the grass is green
And the girls are pretty
Take me home

Take me down to the paradise city
Where the grass is green
And the girls are pretty
Oh, won't you please take me home?

Take me down, oh yeah, beat me down
Oh, won't you please take me home?
I want to see, oh, look at me
Oh, won't you please take me home?

I want to see, boy, I'm gonna be mean
Oh, oh take me home

Take me down to the paradise city
Where the grass is green
And the girls are pretty
Oh, won't you please take me home?

I want to go, I want to know
Oh, won't you please take me home, baby