Ain't Goin' Down

by **Soulmonster** Thu Jun 28, 2018 6:16 pm

AIN'T GOIN' DOWN

Also known as:
Ain't Goin' Down No More

Albums:
Appetite for Destruction Remastered. Sound City Demos 1986 (instrumental).

Written by:
Lyrics & music: Guns N' Roses.

Musicians:
Vocals: Axl Rose; lead Guitar: Slash; rhythm guitar: Izzy Stradlin; bass: Duff McKagan; drums: Steven Adler.

Notes:
This song was written during the period before the recording of Appetite For Destruction. Although only an instrumental demo of it (as "Ain't Goin' Down No More") from 1986 was included on the Appetite For Destruction box set (released in 2018), the band had already written lyrics to it since it was performed live at least once in 1986. It was later considered for inclusion on the Use Your Illusion albums (a rough mix with vocals has appeared on a bootleg along with other recordings from the Illusions sessions) and then for The Spaghetti Incident? Finally, it was partially featured on the Guns N' Roses pinball machine that was released in 1994.

Live performances:
The song has been played at least once live, on August 23, 1986 at the Whisky.

Lyrics:

Ooh, I'll be laughing when you're crying
Push me and you lose
Ooh, I'll be dancing when you're dying
Your paid dues

You got me out of indecision
You can slash me out of fear
Good intentions get me nowhere
It’s always nothing, all your love
Tell me about your overview
And I'll, try to show you how it looks from here

I ain't goin' down
Ain't goin' down
Ain't goin' down no more
I ain't goin' down
Ain't goin' down
Ain't goin' down no more

No, no, no

I can see your true colors
I see red
When you hide all of your lovers under the bed

Instigate a simple life
And who's to say what's black or white?
Just because, you're curious
I've earned another brought me near
Through all the dreams that I could use
Now I know there's nothing I could do
For you!

I ain't goin' down
Ain't goin' down
Ain't goin' down no more
I ain't goin' down
Ain't goin' down
Ain't goin' down no more

No, no, no

I ain't goin' down
Ain't goin' down no more

I ain't goin' down
Ain't goin' down
Ain't goin' down no more
I ain't goin' down
Ain't goin' down
Ain't goin' down no more

No, no, no

[Spoken]
That'll change, don't worry about it

I ain't goin' down
Ain't goin' down
Ain't goin' down no more
I ain't goin' down
Ain't goin' down
Ain't goin' down no more

I ain't goin' down
Ooh, ain't goin' down
Ain't goin' down
No, no, no

Quotes regarding the song

This is a new one. This one's called "Ain't Going Down."

Whisky A Go Go, Los Angeles, USA, August 23, 1986

[Talking about songs that would be on the next album] Let's see, there’s "Ain’t Goin’ Down," "Don't Cry,” “You Could Be Mine,” "Perfect Crime,” another one called “Night Crawler" and one called “Back Off Bitch.”

RIP Magazine, February 1990

Out of the 13 songs we’ve done [for the new record], there’s about five old ones. If that. ‘Back Off Bitch’, ‘Don’t Cry’, ‘Ain’t Going Down’. These were songs which could have surfaced on the first album, but we weren’t really working on them at the time. We were concentrating on the songs that came on that first album, so we saved them for later.

Raw Magazine, April 18, 1990

I do actually, I do remember [The Alpine Valley shows in May 1991]. [...] When we played Alpine Valley we hadn’t released the “Illusions” records yet and we actually finished a couple of the songs on the album over there in Wisconsin, there was a recording studio (Royal Recorders, Lake Geneva) and I remember me and Duff had to go in there and do background vocals and I think Axl had to sing a lead vocal. We did a song called “Don’t Damn Me” and another song called “Ain’t Goin Down” which is actually only on the Guns N’ Roses pinball machine so I remember all that stuff yeah (laughs).

Legendary Rock Interviews, March 17, 2014

As far as the Punk thing goes, there’s gonna be a new song on there that we didn’t finish for ‘Use Your Illusion’. It’s finished as far as all the backing tracks were done, but we didn’t finish the words. It’s called ‘Ain’t Going Down’ and it’s one of those songs that we wrote in the streets in Hollywood just walking around.

Raw Magazine, March 4, 1992

There’s a song called Ain’t Going Down, which we just never finished, and we have a chorus for it, so I figured we’d use that [on the pinball machine], you know, and finally get it out there. So now that we’ve done it we have to actually record it.

MTV, November 11, 1994

[Asked if there are any unreleased GN'R songs that could be used for a future box set] There's nothing available. (Laughs) There really isn't... Everything that I know about is out already. [...] The only track I can think of is the one on the pinball machine, but I don't even think we ever finished that.

Gunsnroses.gr/HTGTH, August 30, 2006

by ludurigan Fri Jul 03, 2020 9:57 am

oh this one has been played live at least once and there is a complete audio recording of it in circulation

it is noting short of brilliant

by **Soulmonster** Fri Jul 03, 2020 3:31 pm

ludurigan wrote:oh this one has been played live at least once and there is a complete audio recording of it in circulation

it is noting short of brilliant

You are right. It was played on August 23, 1986, at the Whisky. I have updated the first post.

by **Soulmonster** Sun Aug 21, 2022 6:56 am

I do actually, I do remember [The Alpine Valley shows in May 1991]. [...] When we played Alpine Valley we hadn’t released the “Illusions” records yet and we actually finished a couple of the songs on the album over there in Wisconsin, there was a recording studio (Royal Recorders, Lake Geneva) and I remember me and Duff had to go in there and do background vocals and I think Axl had to sing a lead vocal. We did a song called “Don’t Damn Me” and another song called “Ain’t Goin Down” which is actually only on the Guns N’ Roses pinball machine so I remember all that stuff yeah (laughs).

Legendary Rock Interviews, March 17, 2014

by **Blackstar** Wed Aug 24, 2022 12:24 am

I have added some more quotes.

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