Don't Cry

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"Don't Cry"

Single by Guns N' Roses
from the album Use Your Illusion I & II
Released	1991
Format	CD
Recorded	1991
Genre	Hard Rock
Length	04:45
Label	Geffen
Writer(s)	Axl Rose Izzy Stradlin
Chart positions
#10 (Billboard Hot 100)
Guns N' Roses singles chronology
"You Could Be Mine" (1991)	"Don't Cry" (1991)	"Estranged" (1994)

"Don't Cry" is a song by Guns N' Roses, two versions of which were released simultaneously on different albums. The version with the original lyrics is the fourth track on Use Your Illusion I; the version with the alternate lyrics is the thirteenth track on Use Your Illusion II. Only the vocal tracks differ, and even then only in the verses; however, in those verses, not only are the words entirely different, but the meter and melody are also slightly different.

[edit] Song

The song features Shannon Hoon of Blind Melon, who grew up with Rose in Indiana, on backing vocals. He also appears in the video for the song.

"Don't Cry," the first song ever written by the band, forms a segment of the Illusions Trilogy, according to singer Axl Rose. Along with "Estranged" and "November Rain," it forms a narrative inspired in part by the short story "Without You" by Del James.^{[citation needed]}

Rose has stated that the song is about a girl that Izzy Stradlin once dated. Rose had been attracted to the girl himself.^{[citation needed]} Sitting outside The Roxy, Rose was crying as the girl said goodbye; she told him, "Don't cry,"^{[citation needed]}, and Rose wrote the song with Stradlin the following night in five minutes.

Ron Thal, more commonly known as Bumblefoot, one of the guitarists of the newly assembled Guns N' Roses line-up, has, on occasions, played a solo instrumental version of the song on Guns N' Roses' 2006-2007 leg of their current tour.

The song peaked at #10 on the Billboard Hot 100, becoming the band's fifth Top 10 hit there.

[edit] Music video

The video for this song, like several videos for the Illusions albums, was much more cinematic than the band's previous videos had been. It depicted the central character in his courtship with his eventual wife as well as his internal battle with emotional issues. Although a sharp turn away from what fans were used to, it is still regarded as one of the best videos the band produced in its short time together.

Guitarist Izzy Stradlin, who is credited as one of the co-writers of the song, is absent from the video, but Slash can be seen with a hand-written poster that reads, "Where's Izzy?" Rose can be seen very briefly, at around the same point in the video, wearing a St. Louis Cardinals baseball cap. This may be a reference to the infamous 1991 incident in which Rose dove into a St. Louis crowd in the middle of a song in pursuit of a man with a video camera, was arrested, and incited a riot.

A Nirvana baseball hat is visible to the side of Axl's left leg when he is lying down in the psychiatrist's office. Rose was a big fan of Nirvana and even asked the band to play on two occasions during the Use Your Illusion tour. However, Nirvana frontman Kurt Cobain loathed Guns N' Roses (as documented in Come As You Are by Michael Azerrad, among other sources) and declined the invitation.

v • d • e Guns N' Roses

Axl Rose • Dizzy Reed • Robin Finck • Tommy Stinson • Chris Pitman • Bryan Mantia • Richard Fortus • Bumblefoot • Frank Ferrer

Ole Beich • Rob Gardner • Tracii Guns • Steven Adler • Izzy Stradlin • Gilby Clarke • Slash • Matt Sorum • Duff McKagan • Josh Freese • Paul Tobias • Buckethead