Axl Rose wrote it about an overenthusiastic female fan, but when a senile dolt elected president by a nation of dolts talks about going to war over Greenland, the only response is this song’s refrain: “You’re fuckin’ crazy.”
The profanity wasn’t originally part of the song – Rose ad-libbed it one night in concert when a woman hit bassist Duff McKagan with a beer bottle. Written on acoustic guitar as a slow, bluesy number, it soon gained speed in rehearsal. That’s how it was recorded for 1987’s “Appetite for Destruction,” which suited that debut album’s frenetic energy.
For “G N’R Lies,” released a year and a half later, the band returned to the slower arrangement. Fans consider it the superior version.
