Riad N' The Bedouins

by **Soulmonster** Sun Aug 29, 2010 10:46 pm

RIAD N' THE BEDOUINS

Albums:

Chinese Democracy, track no. 9, November 2008.

Written by:
Axl Rose and Tommy Stinson.

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:
'Riad N' The Bedouins' was played live for the first time on January 1, 2001, at the House of Blues, USA. In total it has, as of {UPDATEDATE}, at least been played {RIADSONGS} times.

Riad N' The Bedouins
From the alternative Red Hand album artwork
Credit to troccoli

Riad N' The Bedouins
From the alternative Grenade album artwork
Credit to troccoli

Lyrics:

Oooooh oh oh
Oooooh oh oh oooh (2x)

Riyadh and the Bedouins
Had a plan and thought they’d win
But I don’t give a f@$k bout them
Cause I am crazy

All my salvation
and all my frustration
Caught in the lies
And if your at home as well
Somewhere in time
Where only I can tell Ooooh

Oooooh oh oh
Oooooh oh oh oooh

Riyadh and the Bedouins
So that’s the world that you gave him.
I have had enough of them
Who can blame me?

Half the time you never win
Nomads or barbarians
I won’t bend my will to them, you aggravate me

My salvation
And all my frustrations
Caught in the lie
No one at home is well
Somewhere in time
Where only I can tell

Oooh with salvation
Like my frustrations
Caught in the lie
If you’re at home as well
Somewhere in time
And only I can tell .. ooooh

Oooooh oh oh
Oooooh oh oh oooh (2x)

All with salvation
And all my frustrations
Caught in the lies
If you’re at home as well
Somewhere in time
Where only I can tell .. oooh

oh oh … oh oh .. oh oh oooh oh
Riyadh and the Bedouins
Had a plan and thought they’d win
Riyadh and The Bedouins
Talked to God and thought they can

Quotes regarding the song and its making:

Axl would talk about the person behind the lyrics:

Riad is the name my one time momentary brother-in-law of Erin Everly went by when I knew him. Of part Lebanese descent and a former student of Pepperdine University he claims to be an international arms dealer, billionaire with ambitions of being "King of the World". He claims to fund several medical organizations and underground Nazi organizations around the world who says his heroes are Napoleon and Adolph Hitler. He claims his most prized asset is his anonymity. He also claims to be an expert in military strategy and was the inspiration for the Guns song Civil War which was written per his request for a song how "people were stupid and he could sell them anything because people love to kill each other." He also claims to be an expert in global finance and money laundering living tax free in Belair last I was aware and claiming to launder monies for wealthy individuals in several countries predominantly Saudi Arabia and the Middle East, with ties to the Bush/Reagan administrations and wherever there's a war in the world at any given moment.

Excerpts from the Chinese Democracy CD cover

The first time I met [Axl], he came down to a rehearsal and we jammed to the song "Riad" and he was yelling in my ear, "This part of the song reminds me of 'Hey Bulldog' from the Beatles." I was like, "Yeah, you're right."

Ultimate Guitar, July 2014

And Tommy would mention the sone when talking about his favorites to play:

It's hard to say, but 'Riad N' The Bedouins' is probably one of them. The riff is pretty nutty, and I think people either love it or hate it, but it's a groove that's really fun to play. It's aggressive and note-y.

Bass Player Magazine, March 2010

And also an anecdote from when Brian May recorded his guitar parts to the song (which didn't end up in the released version):

[Brian May]'s a really sweet dude. He is like, you know, of all the, you know, people I've met and stuff, guitar players or singers or whatever. He's a real sweetheart of a man, really great. And, you know, couldn't be more gracious. And what a great player. I'll just tell you one funny bit. I think he came into the studio when I was playing with Guns N' Roses, years and years ago, obviously. He came in the studio to play in this song, the one that's called Riad N' the Bedouins that I kind of penned, and he came in to play on it, and he had a wall of Vox amps that they sent him to pick the one that sounds the best, and he found the one that sounded the best. Which I ended up taking. But here's the funny bit. So he's like, you know, trying to learn this song and the talk back[?], and he's like, "Tommy, what are these fucking jazz chords?" I was like, "I'll come show them to you." So I go out there and he hands me the guitar [=his famous "Red Special"]. And I'm like, "Ah!" It's kind of weird. It's funny, really funny, but I showed him the chords and he's like, "What are these fucking jazz chords?" Pretty on par.

Davey Lane Interview, October 25, 2020

While Dj would mention it as one of the hardest:

I think one of the hardest, definitely one of the hardest, on Chinese would be Riad. It's an insane song to play and probably one of the hardest ones to sing, too. [...] It's a fun song but it is definitely...at least the guitar part that Richard and Bumble gave me was not very easy to play [laughter]

Nightrain chat, November 2013

by **Soulmonster** Thu Aug 29, 2019 9:25 am

Another of the songs that I vastly prefer in its '99 shape. For me it really helped to remove some of the stuff on it. Make it simples.

by **Soulmonster** Thu Dec 19, 2024 3:22 pm

[Brian May]'s a really sweet dude. He is like, you know, of all the, you know, people I've met and stuff, guitar players or singers or whatever. He's a real sweetheart of a man, really great. And, you know, couldn't be more gracious. And what a great player. I'll just tell you one funny bit. I think he came into the studio when I was playing with Guns N' Roses, years and years ago, obviously. He came in the studio to play in this song, the one that's called Riad N' the Bedouins that I kind of penned, and he came in to play on it, and he had a wall of Vox amps that they sent him to pick the one that sounds the best, and he found the one that sounded the best. Which I ended up taking. But here's the funny bit. So he's like, you know, trying to learn this song and the talk back[?], and he's like, "Tommy, what are these fucking jazz chords?" I was like, "I'll come show them to you." So I go out there and he hands me the guitar [=his famous "Red Special"]. And I'm like, "Ah!" It's kind of weird. It's funny, really funny, but I showed him the chords and he's like, "What are these fucking jazz chords?" Pretty on par.

Davey Lane Interview, October 25, 2020

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