Don't Damn Me

by **Soulmonster** Sat Aug 07, 2010 9:35 pm

DON'T DAMN ME

Album:
Use Your Illusion I, 1991, track no. 13.

Written by:
Slash, Dave Lank and Axl Rose.

Musicians:
Drums: Matt
Bass: Duff
Lead and Rhythm Guitars: Slash
Rhythm Guitar: Izzy
Organ: Dizzy
Vocals: Axl

Live performances:
'Don't Damn Me' has never been performed live.

Lyrics:

Don't damn me
When I speak a piece of my mind
'Cause silence isn't golden
When I'm holding it inside
'Cause I've been where I have been
An I've seen what I have seen
I put the pen to the paper
'Cause it's all a part of me

Be it a song or casual conversation
To hold my tongue speaks
Of quiet reservations
Your words once heard
They can place you in a faction
My words may disturb
But at least there's a reaction

Sometimes I wanna kill
Sometimes I wanna die
Sometimes I wanna destroy
Sometimes I wanna cry
Sometimes I could get even
Sometimes I could give up
Sometimes I could give
Sometimes I never give a fuck

It's only for a while
I hope you understand
I never wanted this to happen
Didn't want to be a man
So I hid inside my world
I took what I could find
I cried when I was lonely
I fell down when I was blind

But don't damn me
When I speak a piece of my mind
'Cause silence isn't golden
When I'm holding it inside
'Cause I've been where I have been
An I've seen what I have seen
I put the pen to the paper
'Cause it's all a part of me

How can I ever satisfy you
An how can I ever make you see
That deep inside we're all somebody
An it don't matter who you wanna be
But now I gotta smile I hope you comprehend
For this man can say it happened
'Cause this child has been condemned
So I stepped into your world
I kicked you in the mind
An I'm the only witness
To the nature of my crime
But look at what we've done
To the innocent and young
Whoa listen to who's talking
'Cause we're not the only ones
The trash collected by the eyes
And dumped into the brain
Said it tears into our conscious thoughts
You tell me who's to blame

I know you don't wanna hear me cryin'
An I know you don't wanna hear me deny
That your satisfaction lies in your illusion
But your delusions are yours and not mine
We take for granted we know the whole story
We judge a book by its cover
And read what we want
Between selected lines

Don't hail me
An don't idolize the ink
Or I've failed in my attentions
Can you find the missing link
Your only validation is living your own life
Vicarious existence is a fucking waste of time

So I send this song to the offended
I said what I meant and I've never pretended
As so many others do intending just to please
If I damned your point of view
Could you turn the other cheek

But don't damn me
When I speak a piece of my mind
'Cause silence isn't golden
When I'm holding it inside
'Cause I've been where I have been
An I've seen what I have seen
I put the pen to the paper
'Cause it's all a part of me

Don't damn me
I said don't damn me
I said don't hail me
Don't damn me

Quotes regarding the song and its making:

[Explaining the meaning behind the lyrics "Don’t hail me and don’t idolize the ink or I fail my intentions"]: It just means, you know, it’s trying to show people to realize their own personal power and their own abilities rather than going, you know, “Axl Rose is God and that’s great”. It’s like, “Whoa, don’t say I’m God”. It’s like, you know, just get your own thing together. And that’s where I say “if I fail in my intentions”. If a person is just idolizing me and not working in their own life, then we fail with things we’re trying to express in that song.

Rockline, November 27, 1991

I love that song. That's one of those songs I introduced to the band that was already complete.

Guitar, April 1992

[Talking about playing it live with The Conspirators]: No, you see, there's a reason for that, there's too many words. It's a cool song and everything but I think even Axl, we never did it because there's too many words without a breath and it just makes it really impossible to do it live.

Slashfrance.net, June, 2014

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