So Fine

by **Soulmonster** Mon Aug 09, 2010 9:21 pm

SO FINE

Album:
Use Your Illusion II, 1991, track no. 10.

Written by:
Duff McKagan.

Musicians:
Drums / Percussion: Matt
Bass: Duff
Lead and Rhythm Guitars: Slash
Rhythm Guitar: Izzy
Piano: Howard Teman
Vocals: Duff, Axl
Background Vocals: Matt

Live performances:
'So Fine' was played live for the first time at Worchester Centrum Centre (?), USA, on December 5, 1991. In total it has, as of {UPDATEDATE}, at least been played {SOFINESONGS} times.

Lyrics:

How could she look so fine
How could it be she might be mine
How could she be so cool
I've been taken for a fool so many times

It's a story of a man
Who works as hard as he can
Just to be a man who stands on his own
But the book always burns
As the story takes it turn
An leaves a broken man

How could she be so cool
How could she be so fine
I owe a favor to a friend
My friends they always come through for me
Yeah

It's a story of a man
Who works as hard as he can
Just to be a man who stands on his own
But the book always burns
As the story takes it turn
An leaves a broken man
If you could only live my life
You could see the difference you make to me
To me

I'd look right up at night
And all I'd see was darkness
Now I see the stars alright
I wanna reach right up and grab one for you
When the lights went down in your house
Yeah that made me happy
The sweat I make for you
Yeah...I think you know where that comes from

Well I'd look right up at night
And all I'd see was darkness
Now I see the stars alright
I wanna reach right up and grab one for you
When the lights went down in your house
Yeah that made me happy
The sweat I make for you
I think you know where that comes from

How could she look so good (So good)
How could she be so fine
How could she be so cool
How could it be she might be mine

Quotes regarding the song and its making:

But yeah, then Duff asked me to come in and help him write the song... not write it, just help him put together the, you know, the pre-recording for, what's the song? So Fine on Use Your Illusion II. And I went down the studio with him and I played drums while he, you, know he played all the other instruments, guitar and bass and guitar, I did the guitar solo. We did the pre-production, we did So Fine before it was put together, before the band even heard it. And I played piano and drums on it. And then they asked me to come down to the studio and I went down the studio and the whole band was there and they had just gotten back from their hiatus. And that was the hiatus where they hadn't even seen each other for like two or three months. That's the one where Axl got in a fight in Paris and all that stuff. So I walk in and they're all telling stories about what they've been doing for the last three months and everything, and everybody's laughing. Then they played the song and Axl said, you know, "Great work on that, Howard. When we do the album I want you to play piano on it." I said, "Fuck yeah!" So then Steve gets kicked out of the band and so they go... you know, it takes a whole year to get a new drummer and start recording again and out of the blue I get this call and it's Axl, "Are you ready to do your part?" That's why you got to give it to Axl. Axl is... you could say this about him, or that about him, or he's bipolar, he's an asshole - he's a man of his word, he's got integrity and he, you know, he called me before Duff called me to say, "Are you ready to do your parts? We're ready for you." That was a year later. Yeah, it's really cool.

Appetite for Distortion, October 29, 2018

Well, when we had the song down, we realized that it sounded a lot like a song that Johnny Thunders would have done. And, you know, he was in the New York Dolls and then had his own band, Johnny Thunders and the Heartbreakers. And he’s one of Duff’s biggest influences, you know, in getting involved in rock ‘n’ roll to begin with. Everybody in the band are big New York Dolls fans and Johnny Thunders’ death wasn’t something anybody was very thrilled with. I mean, I actually had problems with the guy, but I really liked his music. And when we realized that the song sounded a lot like something he would have done, we just thought [dedicating the song to Thunders] was the best thing to do, you know. And so the people would ask the question like you are.

Rockline, November 27, 1991

[Being asked about the inspiration for the song]: An incident, but it's kind of personal.

Popular 1, September 1993; translated from Spanish

Umm... Uuh, Johnny Thunders is... kind of... He was in a band called New York Dolls back in the early seventies. And then he did his solo thing... And his style and his coolness and... Just his whole thing was a big influence of mine and I know a lot of people... umm, you know, Joe Perry from Aerosmith emulated Johnny Thunders, you know. And we became friends and he just died recently. So, that's what [the dedication is] about.

Rockline, September 27, 1993

Duff brought in 'So Fine,' complete with music and lyrics

Bozza, Anthony, & Slash (2007). Slash. Harper Entertainment: New York. p. 299

by **Soulmonster** Tue Apr 02, 2024 6:58 am

Howard Teman, discussing how he was involved in the making of So Fine:

But yeah, then Duff asked me to come in and help him write the song... not write it, just help him put together the, you know, the pre-recording for, what's the song? So Fine on Use Your Illusion II. And I went down the studio with him and I played drums while he, you, know he played all the other instruments, guitar and bass and guitar, I did the guitar solo. We did the pre-production, we did So Fine before it was put together, before the band even heard it. And I played piano and drums on it. And then they asked me to come down to the studio and I went down the studio and the whole band was there and they had just gotten back from their hiatus. And that was the hiatus where they hadn't even seen each other for like two or three months. That's the one where Axl got in a fight in Paris and all that stuff. So I walk in and they're all telling stories about what they've been doing for the last three months and everything, and everybody's laughing. Then they played the song and Axl said, you know, "Great work on that, Howard. When we do the album I want you to play piano on it." I said, "Fuck yeah!" So then Steve gets kicked out of the band and so they go... you know, it takes a whole year to get a new drummer and start recording again and out of the blue I get this call and it's Axl, "Are you ready to do your part?" That's why you got to give it to Axl. Axl is... you could say this about him, or that about him, or he's bipolar, he's an asshole - he's a man of his word, he's got integrity and he, you know, he called me before Duff called me to say, "Are you ready to do your parts? We're ready for you." That was a year later. Yeah, it's really cool.

Appetite for Distortion, October 29, 2018

So Fine

So Fine

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