Ballads

Many of you may not recognize this incarnation of infinite beauty as she plants a gaze into the welcoming thoughts in our minds. She is indeed beauty personified. Not the subjective beauty as in sweet pretty, bitch pretty, tall pretty, sexy pretty, hot pretty. She is drop dead gorgeous all round. From her sweet brown hair, to her jade green eyes, to her sensual smile to her perfect tone.

But why the infatuation out of a sudden person unbeknown to many of the readers here. After all, isn't Sanjeet the pragmatic realist?

But gaze again at those eyes. It was in 1996 when i first set eyes on her, but ironically it had nothing to do with the playboy magazines, or vogue covers, or victoria secret photoshoots. it was a song that still makes my heart pound, the same way the air around a tuning fork vibrates. November Rain. Traxx FM played this song last night as I was driving and my juvenile love affair with my aphrodite reeled in and like most cherished memories, everything was as ''clear as a bright blue sky"- Sweet Child O'Mine by GNR, the same band that did November Rain.





November rain is a ballad that starts with Axl Rose, the man who I always wanted to emulate, waking up from a dream, one that seems to wake him up continuously on countless occasions. The hollow wind blowing further personifies his emptiness as it was joy short lived for "nothing lasts forever in this cold November Rain''. A grand orchestra is then playing in an opera house and a few metalheads with classic headbanger hairdos pop up. But what ensues is a child that tosses petals of flowers into the path of a bride and in walks Stephanie Seymour, who was at that time the love of Axl Rose. What ensues is nothing spectacular. But when Slash is proded for the ring, he snaps out of a gaze, and then looks lost. He later accepts the ring from Mckagan and leaves it on the Bible before leaving the Church and plays a Solo. I never quite understood this part of the video but hang in there with me. There are several flash backs into the Seymour-Rose relationships and few nights at the pub. All goes well during the reception and suddenly it starts raining and chaos unfolds. Symbolically, the wedding cake is taken down, and a bottle of wine is left to pour its contents. Wine, symbolic for the Blood of Christ, hence metaphorically referring to blood, death rather. And what happens next had me puzzled. But on looking at the video again, i realise that in her coffin, only half her face is shown and the other half mirrored. The beauty of Seymour is that she has uneven eyes, which was absent in the coffin. Mirrors were used for suicides as the impact of the shot normally severely damages the face, and the heat from the barrel scalds the skin as suicide is normally commited from point blank range, and so her beauty is apparently still in tact in the video or the eyes of many. After this point comes the most heartthrobbing solo ever played along with the most stinging lyrics when you're down and alone. It is not the lyrics but rather the manner that it is sung with the solo reverberating down your spine and it repeats. And the tragic tossing of the bouquet signifies the end of a masterpiece.

I never understood the video fully until I watched this other video, probably my 2nd most fav GNR song ever, Don't cry.






To begin with, the song is introduced with the exact same fonts as the previous song, and the baby, has a slight squint, and deep blue eyes. So detailed and blatant were the clues. (this was Axl) It shows Axl Rose walking through a snowstorm, barely being able to walk on, Alone. shiverring, with the same bottle of Scotch as from November rain on his bedside table. In his left hand is a revolver. The cutscene shows him walking out on someone, and it later confirms him physically abusing the beautiful Stephanie Seymour once again. Her head smashes against a coat hanger and it shows the revolver in her hands. Not long later it shows Axl and her in a flashback picnic. There seems to be a missing spark in their relationship as there is a degree of hostility sensed. He see's her in the black limosine dressed in black, with black sunglasses (which signifies the dress code if you may, of a widow bereaving on her way back from a funeral). This premonition is further explained by a cutscene of a lady drowning him by hugging his right lower limb and keeping him drowned sufficiently. He struggles to stay afloat as the ripples in the water give testament to. at about 1:13, a sign saying ''Where's Izzy?" suddenly appears - questioining the decision of Izzy Stradlin to quit the band suddenly as he didn't fancy touring- and was replaced by Gilby Clarke- from Supernova as we all know. "Don't you cry tonight, there's a heaven above you baby"- Axl tries to convince his wife that in the event that he dies he shall still watch over her from the heavens above. It appears wishy washy at this point. But I shall explain at the end of it all. In the next scene, Stephanie Seymour meets Axl who is with a blonde, whom she suddenly attacks. She then appears at home, and the video of GNR performing is in the background.

Next scene is one of Slash driving wildly with a girl- presumably his girlfriend or some sort. Their car later plunges off a cliff and explodes. Slash is seen later strumming up another solo. Slash was once in love had intentions of marrying her. And having caused her death, this image played on and on in his mind, even thru the wedding, so much so he forgot where he kept the wedding. It was too much to bear and hence he left the church as it served a constant reminder of what could have been had she not died. The following scenes show a mentally debilitated Axl Rose undergoing therapy for an unknown psychiatrict condition Alone.
He later recalls many collages of memories and finally it shows a man that resembles Axl visiting his own gravestone (AXL ROSE). It shows a mentally debilitated Axl releasing a dove to the heavens in tribute to her and finally a baby that bears green eyes.

Now for the linking factors.
Axl Rose and Slash and the rest of the band are rockstars in this video. and Axl Rose gets married to the love of his life as shown by the NR video. He is affluent as the wedding is lavish. However the pressures of life get to him and he contemplates suicide. Slash on the other hand experimented with substances which eventually killed his love. And this leaves him in a daze and at times lost, constantly blaming himself and choosing to be alone when he feels down and low, as he shows in the Solo outside the church. He is the only one without a partner in the NR video during the Pub outings prior to the wedding. On several attempts Axl tries to commit suicide but Stephanie stops him. Many a times he has contemplated this as the thoughts about him drowning shows. He tries to go to the heavens above, but she holds him down and struggle as he may, he cannot go up. He has informed her he intends to die. She then decides to take her own life to prove a point to him using the same revolver he used, which results in him having sleepless nights- a drinking binge(the bottle on the bedside) and subsequently a nervous breakdown. To end it all off, someone that takes the baby out and he has green eyes, signifying it was their child, and she bore him. Axl couldn't take the death of Stephanie.

In many ways both the music videos complement each other and they made little sense apart. Ironic that death came from a revolver as she has a mirrored face during her funeral. The band is Called Gun's and roses and hence the revolver was a coy and the rose referred to the 2 women that perished along the way. in the case of Axl, from the white rose, to the ones on the coffin at her funeral. Slash later forms a band called Velvet REVOLVERS- just a coincidance? i dont think so. GNR spend a total of USD$3 million for these 2 videos which have extravagant cinematography. its no mere coincidence. Axl Rose had written and performed November rain on his piano in 1983, 4 years before the band even formed.

To top it off, while i was driving, With or without you by U2 played in the car. The one song that'll bring tears to your eyes if it meant something. with the heavy baseline and deterimined vocals. The song for the one that was not meant to be. :)On a bed of nails she makes me wait, and I wait without you......



I guess the trip down memory lane was one of those that incorporated nostalgia and a whole lot of emotions together. I'm a tad bit emotional today so I didn't make too many corny pictures.