Sorry

by **Soulmonster** Tue Aug 17, 2010 10:14 pm

SORRY

Albums:
Chinese Democracy, track no. 10, November 2008.

Written by:
Axl Rose, Buckethead, Brian Mantia and Pete Scaturro.

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:
'Sorry' was played live for the first time on December 13, 2009, in South Korea. In total it has, as of {UPDATEDATE}, at least been played {SORRYSONGS} times.

Sorry
From the alternative Red Hand album artwork
Credit to troccoli

Sorry
From the alternative Grenade album artwork
Credit to troccoli

Lyrics:

You like to hurt me
You know that you do
You like to think
In some way
That it's me
An not you
(But we know that isn't true)

You like to have me
Jump an be god
But I...
Don't want to do it

You don't know why
I won't act the way
You think I should

You thought they'd make me
Behave and submit (submit)

What were you thinking
Cause I don't forget

You don't know why
I won't give in
To hell with the pressure
I'm not cavin' in

You know that I
Got under your skin
You sold your soul
But I won't let you win

You talk too much
You say I do

Difference is nobody cares about you

You've got all the answers
You know everything
Why nobody asked you
'S a mystery to me

I'm sorry for you
Not sorry for me
You don't know who in the hell to
or not to believe
I'm sorry for you
Not sorry for me
You don't know who you can trust now
Or you should believe
You should believe
You don't know who you can trust now
Or you should believe

You close your eyes
All well and good
I'll kick your ass
Like I said that I would

You tell them stories they'd rather believe
Use and confuse them
They're numb and naive

Truth is the truth hurts
Don't you agree?

It's harder to live
With the truth about you
Than to live with
The lies about me

Nobody owes you
Not one goddamn thing
You know where to put your
Just shut up and sing

I'm sorry for you
Not sorry for me
You don't know who in the hell to
Or not to believe
I'm sorry for you
Not sorry for me
You choose to hurt those that love you
An won't see them free
Won't see them free
You choose to hurt those that love you
An won't see them free

You don't need
Anyone else to be
Sorry for you
You've got no heart
You can't see
All that you've done for me
I know the reasons
You tear me apart

Quotes regarding the song and its making:

Confirming that he wrote it together with Buckethead:

We [=Brain and Buckethead] did Shackler's and I'm Sorry.

Appetite for Distortion, January 11, 2018

Fans would speculate that the lyrics of the song was about Slash, and Axl would comment on this:

With Sorry.. like a lot of the material is drawn from a lot of different situations. The main focus on the boards w/the track seems to be either Slash or "the fans" (and the collective of "the fans" is another thing that doesn't work for me) and is much too restrictive or narrow and limits what I feel I intended. For me it's for anyone talking nonsense at mine and the public's expense and that many of those as well as the public don't know who to believe.

Also where possible I'd like to give people the opportunity to get what they can from the material for a while before clouding that with my inspirations. Of course that's not always avoidable

chinesedemocracy.com, December 13, 2008

And for the idiots,. I don't mean anyone here tonight. No, this song is not about someone I used to know.

Kyocera Dome Osaka, Osaka, Japan, December 16, 2009

When asked why he chose to sing the line "but I don't want to do it" in a different voice:

Because I like it, feel it absolutely fits the song, is a bit reggae etc and is lots of fun personally.

chinesedemocracy.com, December 14, 2008

Talking about recording the song:

‘I’m Sorry’ was more the Pink Floyd thing so I think I used a bigger kick, a 24" or a 26", on ‘There Was A Time’ we used a 22", we were just experimenting

MusicRadar, October 2012

Sebastian Bach is an uncredited singer on this song, and for more information on his contribution and how it came about, see an earlier chapter.

by **Soulmonster** Tue Oct 08, 2019 8:08 pm

It is interesting that the demo from 2000 that leaked has no vocals and is called "I'm Sorry." Did Axl come up with the name because he had a idea what the theme of the lyrics would be? Or did whoever wrote it come up with the name and then Axl was inspired to write lyrics that fir the name?

Same goes for Shackler's Revenge/Shanklers Revenge.

by **Johan** Wed Oct 09, 2019 3:01 pm

Soulmonster wrote:It is interesting that the demo from 2000 that leaked has no vocals and is called "I'm Sorry." Did Axl come up with the name because he had a idea what the theme of the lyrics would be? Or did whoever wrote it come up with the name and then Axl was inspired to write lyrics that fir the name?

Same goes for Shackler's Revenge/Shanklers Revenge.

Shanklers revenge sounds considerably different compared to the final Shackler's revenge..

Only after a while I recognized it when I was listening to the music without seeing which track was playing Very Happy

by **Soulmonster** Mon May 03, 2021 11:04 am

Basically, the collaboration with me and Axl started when he asked me last December to sing on… I was at his house and he was playing me the new "Chinese Democracy" album — actually, there's more than one; there's, like, four — but he was playing a song called "Sorry", which is a very heavy, grinding kind of riff and we were partying and stuff and I started singing a high harmony on the chorus of this song and he flipped out, and he goes, "That sounds great." He goes, "I want you to sing that on the record." So in January, I went to Electric Lady [studios in New York City], and I sang the chorus of this song "Sorry", and it came out really, really amazing.

Blabbermouth, August 20, 2007

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