Madagascar

by **Soulmonster** Tue Aug 31, 2010 9:19 pm

MADAGASCAR

Albums:

Chinese Democracy, track no. 12, November 2008.

Written by:
Axl Rose and Chris Pitman.

Musicians:
Axl Rose – lead vocals, backing vocals, keyboards, piano, guitar
Robin Finck – lead guitars, keyboards
Ron "Bumblefoot" Thal – lead guitar
Buckethead – lead guitar
Paul Tobias – rhythm guitar, piano
Richard Fortus – rhythm guitar
Tommy Stinson – bass, backing vocals
Dizzy Reed – keyboards, piano, synthesizer, backing vocals
Chris Pitman – keyboards, programming, sub bass, backing vocals, bass, 12 string guitar, mellotron
Bryan "Brain" Mantia – drums, percussion
Frank Ferrer – drums, percussion

Live performances:
'Madagascar' was played live for the first time on January 15, 2001, at Rock in Rio, Brazil. In total it has, as of {UPDATEDATE}, at least been played {MADAGASCARSONGS} times.

Madagascar
From the alternative Red Hand album artwork
Credit to troccoli

Madagascar
From the alternative Grenade album artwork
Credit to troccoli

Lyrics:

I won't be told anymore
That I've been brought down in this storm
And left so far out from the shore
That I can't find my way back, my way anymore

No I won't be told anymore
That I've been brought down in this storm
And left so far out from the shore
That I can't find my way back, my way anymore

No, I...
No, I...

Forgive them that tear down my soul
Bless them that they might grow old
And free them so that they may know
That it's never too late

For the many times, what seemed like a memory
I searched and found the ways, you used to lure me in
Oh, I found the ways, oh, why it had to be
Mired in denial and so afraid

If we ever find it's true
That we have the strength to choose
Oh, freedom or the chains
We held together.

I'm gonna tell you a story
Stand up for righteousness
What? (Stand up for justice)
What? (Stand up for truth)
How can a person grow up with all this around them?
You got to call on that something
Where does it come from?
That can make a way out of no way
All this hatred?
What we've got here is
(Fear)
That power that can make a way out of now no way
Failure to communicate
I tell ya I seen the lightning
I've heard the thunder roll
Everybody's acting like we can do anything
And it don't matter what we do
Maybe we gotta be extra careful
Because maybe it matters more than We even know
Sometimes (hatred isn't somethin' you're born with)
I feel discouraged, it gets taught
Sometimes I feel discouraged, I felt this fear
He promised never to leave me
Never to leave me alone, no never alone, no never alone
Let's get something straight, alright?
Promised never to leave me
This whole thing was fucked up
Never to leave me alone
All men betray all lose heart
I don't want to lose heart, I want to believe
Black men and white men together at the table of brotherhood
I have a dream
Free at last, free at last, thank God almighty we are free at last

I won't be told anymore
That I've been brought down in this storm
And left so far out from the shore
And I can't find my way back, my way anymore

No I won't be told anymore
That I've been brought back in this storm
And left so far out from the shore
That I can't find my way back, my way anymore

Quotes regarding the song

Axl, introducing the song at Rock in Rio:

This is a brand new song. Hopefully it will express my sentiments, and I will dedicate this song to the love that you have shown us. This is a new song called 'Madagascar'

Rock in Rio, January 15, 2001

Chris would discuss how the iconic French horn intro came about:

I was up at [Axl's] house for about a week or two, and I was setting up rack mounted samplers, and you had your fake orchestra with synthesizers. One would be the strings, one would be the brass, and I was setting that up for him, and I was going "now this module here, we’re going to us this for brass instruments and here you have horns…", and he was playing while I was switching the sounds, and I switched the sounds to French horn sound and he was playing this chord progression and I went to another sound, and he goes "oh no, go back to that one". We went back and it was the French horn sound and he kept playing this progression and it sounded really cool and I turned around and turned on the tape machine and that ended up being the very intro for the song 'Madagascar'. And that’s just how that evolved and he just had this chord progression and all of the sudden it married with the French horn and it was their super-moody song and that was the start of that song. We actually recorded it really quickly up there at his house and he just sang unbelievably on it

Talking Metal, November 2008

And Axl would be asked why he chose the specific singing voice for the song:

I remember seeing on the web, somebody said, "Why'd he have to sing that song with, like, an old man's voice?" It's like, maybe 'cause one of the influences was Hemmingway's "Old Man and The Sea", fucking, y'know, just by chance, I don't know. But you know, on the web, they know everything

Palais Omnisports de Paris-Bercy, Paris, France, May, 2012

Brain would later discuss his drumming on the song:

[...] it’s got that Bonham thing too, the big long fills. The loop at the beginning I just created from the MPC. Then we went into the main parts where Axl comes in, and that’s when we added the drums, played live. It was the first time we had the drums set up in that theater, and it just sounded really Bonham-esque. In the spoken-word section we took away the baffles and had it completely opened up because we wanted it bigger. That’s totally my style and the way I like to play; I was just biting off Bonham the whole time on that track.

Modern Drummer, May 2009

And mention it was one of his favorites:

I like "Madagascar." It's got that huge Bonham thing going on.

Steve Sun-Angell, November 2008

by **Soulmonster** Mon Jun 26, 2017 9:51 am

This quote suggests the song was written in 1999:

Betsy Kendrick, 1999 wrote:I enjoyed his company so very much. There were many interruptions. Tommy Stinson walked in, and Axl began telling us about a song called Madagascar he had just written, and how he wanted us to hear it. Later on, after Axl had mingled a bit, he was nowhere around, and they motioned for me to come into his studio. Axl was wonderful, and talked openly about many things, and proceeded to let me hear some of the new music - including Madgascar.

by **Uli** Mon Jun 26, 2017 1:32 pm

Where is that quote from?
I think many of the songs which ended on the "final version" of CD, were written between 1993 and 1999. But in many cases we just don't know exactly.
Anyway, "Madagascar" is a good one when I'm in the right mood for it! Cool

by **Soulmonster** Mon Jun 26, 2017 3:48 pm

Uli wrote:Where is that quote from?
I think many of the songs which ended on the "final version" of CD, were written between 1993 and 1999. But in many cases we just don't know exactly.
Anyway, "Madagascar" is a good one when I'm in the right mood for it!

I can't remember exactly, but I know it is part of the Chinese Whispers story that was originally published at GNRevolution.

by **Soulmonster** Tue May 11, 2021 2:07 pm

Before the release of Chinese Democracy, Tom Zutaut - who was involved with the making of the album in 2001-2002, would talk about the importance of the Martin Luther King speech to Axl:

Axl feels that particular speech is at the core of the message that he is putting across in that song, and he told me that if the Martin Luther King estate would not give permission for that to come out on the final record that, that track would not be on it without it.

I subsequently found out that the recorded rights to that speech belong to Universal so I figure that – Coretta King [wife of Martin Luther King] is dead now – so unless her kids are violently opposed to him being associated with Axl Rose, Universal should be able to work that out.

Classic Rock, March 2008

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