Hard School
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Hard School

Album:
Unreleased.
Written by:
Lyrics & music: Guns N' Roses.
Musicians:
Vocals: Axl Rose. The rest unknown..
Live performances:
This song has to our knowledge never been played live.
Unreleased.
Written by:
Lyrics & music: Guns N' Roses.
Musicians:
Vocals: Axl Rose. The rest unknown..
Live performances:
This song has to our knowledge never been played live.
Lyrics:
All cautions made
Every chance was given
No effort spared
To save what we had
All in good faith
I would not hesitate
To extend myself
And lend you my hand
But you had to play it cool
Had to do it your way
You had to be a fool
Had to throw it all away
Too hard-school
And you thought you were here to stay
If that weren't true
it wouldn't matter anyway
As tempers fade
And lies forgiven
??????
? break what we had
And in its place
A storm is lifting
I would've thought you could be more of a man
But you had to play it cool
Had to do it your way
You had to be a fool
Had to throw it all away
Too hard-school
And you thought you were here to stay
If that weren't true
it wouldn't matter anyway
(Solo)
(Bridge)
But you had to play it cool
Had to do it your way
You had to be a fool
Had to throw it all away
Too hard-school
And you thought you were here to stay
If that weren't true
it wouldn't matter anyway
(Solo)
Too hard-school
And you thought you were here to stay
If that weren't true
it wouldn't matter anyway
All cautions made
Every chance was given
No effort spared
To save what we had
All in good faith
I would not hesitate
To extend myself
And lend you my hand
But you had to play it cool
Had to do it your way
You had to be a fool
Had to throw it all away
Too hard-school
And you thought you were here to stay
If that weren't true
it wouldn't matter anyway
As tempers fade
And lies forgiven
??????
? break what we had
And in its place
A storm is lifting
I would've thought you could be more of a man
But you had to play it cool
Had to do it your way
You had to be a fool
Had to throw it all away
Too hard-school
And you thought you were here to stay
If that weren't true
it wouldn't matter anyway
(Solo)
(Bridge)
But you had to play it cool
Had to do it your way
You had to be a fool
Had to throw it all away
Too hard-school
And you thought you were here to stay
If that weren't true
it wouldn't matter anyway
(Solo)
Too hard-school
And you thought you were here to stay
If that weren't true
it wouldn't matter anyway
Information:
A song recorded in the Chinese Democracy era but that didn't make it onto the 'Chinese Democracy' album. Short clips of the song had been leaked but the full version leaked first in August 2019. One of the first leaks were given the name 'Checkmate' but Axl would mention that the working title was 'Jackie Chan'. The leaked full version went by the name of 'Hard School'.
Band member quotes:
Axl: "And Checkmate is a bogus title. The working title is Jackie Chan" [htgth.com, December 12, 2008].
A song recorded in the Chinese Democracy era but that didn't make it onto the 'Chinese Democracy' album. Short clips of the song had been leaked but the full version leaked first in August 2019. One of the first leaks were given the name 'Checkmate' but Axl would mention that the working title was 'Jackie Chan'. The leaked full version went by the name of 'Hard School'.
Band member quotes:
Axl: "And Checkmate is a bogus title. The working title is Jackie Chan" [htgth.com, December 12, 2008].

Last edited by Soulmonster on Mon Aug 26, 2019 8:23 am; edited 2 times in total
Soulmonster- Stage manager
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Re: Hard School
Lyrics (most of it - maybe one or two mistakes):
All cautions made
Every chance was given
No effort spared
To save what we had
All in good faith
I would not hesitate
To extend myself
And lend you my hand
But you had to play it cool
Had to do it your way
You had to be a fool
Had to throw it all away
Too hard-school
And you thought you were here to stay
If that weren't true
it wouldn't matter anyway
As tempers fade
And lies forgiven
??????
? break what we had
And in its place
A storm is lifting
I would've thought you could be more of a man
But you had to play it cool
Had to do it your way
You had to be a fool
Had to throw it all away
Too hard-school
And you thought you were here to stay
If that weren't true
it wouldn't matter anyway
(Solo)
(Bridge)
But you had to play it cool
Had to do it your way
You had to be a fool
Had to throw it all away
Too hard-school
And you thought you were here to stay
If that weren't true
it wouldn't matter anyway
(Solo)
Too hard-school
And you thought you were here to stay
If that weren't true
it wouldn't matter anyway
All cautions made
Every chance was given
No effort spared
To save what we had
All in good faith
I would not hesitate
To extend myself
And lend you my hand
But you had to play it cool
Had to do it your way
You had to be a fool
Had to throw it all away
Too hard-school
And you thought you were here to stay
If that weren't true
it wouldn't matter anyway
As tempers fade
And lies forgiven
??????
? break what we had
And in its place
A storm is lifting
I would've thought you could be more of a man
But you had to play it cool
Had to do it your way
You had to be a fool
Had to throw it all away
Too hard-school
And you thought you were here to stay
If that weren't true
it wouldn't matter anyway
(Solo)
(Bridge)
But you had to play it cool
Had to do it your way
You had to be a fool
Had to throw it all away
Too hard-school
And you thought you were here to stay
If that weren't true
it wouldn't matter anyway
(Solo)
Too hard-school
And you thought you were here to stay
If that weren't true
it wouldn't matter anyway
Blackstar- ADMIN
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Re: Hard School
I really like the frenetic drumming throughout the song. Very sharp fill by, I assume, Josh Freese. And I don't agree with those who say this is obviously a demo. I think it is ready to be released, although Axl know no bounds to tinkerings and may disagree. Someone on mygnrforum had analysed the song and pointed out it was compressed and this and that, also indicating it has been finalized.
Anyway, love the song. I actually like the breakdown in the middle with Finck and Huge's guitar interplay. Nice melodies. But especially the ending with the simple guitar riff that goes upwards while Freese is drumming away in the back, and then Axl's singing of the last chorus with Finck's high, melodic tones in the back. Could have dropped Bucket's tapping at the end to make it a bit less "crowded".
Anyway, love the song. I actually like the breakdown in the middle with Finck and Huge's guitar interplay. Nice melodies. But especially the ending with the simple guitar riff that goes upwards while Freese is drumming away in the back, and then Axl's singing of the last chorus with Finck's high, melodic tones in the back. Could have dropped Bucket's tapping at the end to make it a bit less "crowded".
Soulmonster- Stage manager
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Re: Hard School
Interestingly, in this interview from July 1996, Duff talked about the band (likely minus Slash) working on a song for a Charlie Chan movie: http://www.a-4-d.com/t4304-1996-07-25-the-howard-stern-show-interview-with-duff-and-steve-jones
As you know, when Axl in 2008 was asked about the song 'Checkmate' he said the working title was "Jackie Chan." Of course, in 2000 when the song leaked its title was "Hard School", but it could be that Axl remembered it by its first, working title, "Jackie Chan". That the song was worked on very early is also implied by the fact that it seemed to be completed by 2000.
The May-July sessions of 1996 was without Slash, he played with them for a few weeks in August/September as the last thing he did before he left the band. The vocals of the song seems to be about Slash, so maybe Axl wrote them when Slash left?
Any thoughts?
As you know, when Axl in 2008 was asked about the song 'Checkmate' he said the working title was "Jackie Chan." Of course, in 2000 when the song leaked its title was "Hard School", but it could be that Axl remembered it by its first, working title, "Jackie Chan". That the song was worked on very early is also implied by the fact that it seemed to be completed by 2000.
The May-July sessions of 1996 was without Slash, he played with them for a few weeks in August/September as the last thing he did before he left the band. The vocals of the song seems to be about Slash, so maybe Axl wrote them when Slash left?
Any thoughts?
Soulmonster- Stage manager
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Re: Hard School
I think all this is very likely. It must have been one of the "12 rockers" Duff had referred to in other interviews of that time. It's possible that Axl had written it with Paul Huge/Tobias during the band's unofficial hiatus.@Soulmonster wrote:Interestingly, in this interview from July 1996, Duff talked about the band (likely minus Slash) working on a song for a Charlie Chan movie: http://www.a-4-d.com/t4304-1996-07-25-the-howard-stern-show-interview-with-duff-and-steve-jones
As you know, when Axl in 2008 was asked about the song 'Checkmate' he said the working title was "Jackie Chan." Of course, in 2000 when the song leaked its title was "Hard School", but it could be that Axl remembered it by its first, working title, "Jackie Chan". That the song was worked on very early is also implied by the fact that it seemed to be completed by 2000.
The May-July sessions of 1996 was without Slash, he played with them for a few weeks in August/September as the last thing he did before he left the band. The vocals of the song seems to be about Slash, so maybe Axl wrote them when Slash left?
Any thoughts?
Unless Axl referred to it in 2008 just jokingly like that because he was a fan of Jackie Chan and it had nothing to do with the song Duff was talking about.
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Re: Hard School
I like to think it is a Paul Huge song, too. But who knows?
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