Guns N’ Roses – Welcome To The Jungle
About The Song
“Welcome to the Jungle” is a song by American rock band Guns N’ Roses, featured as the opening track on their debut album, Appetite for Destruction (1987). It was released as the album’s second single initially in the UK in September 1987 then again in October 1988 this time including the US, where it reached number seven on the Billboard Hot 100 and number 24 on the UK Singles Chart.
On the 1987 release, the 7” was backed with a live version of AC/DC’s “Whole Lotta Rosie”, while the 12” also contained live versions of the band’s debut single “It’s So Easy” and Bob Dylan’s “Knockin’ on Heaven’s Door”. In 2009, “Welcome to the Jungle” was named the greatest hard rock song of all time by VH1. In 2021, Rolling Stone listed “Welcome to the Jungle” at 491 on their “500 Greatest Songs of All Time” list.
Axl Rose wrote the lyrics while visiting a friend in Seattle: “It’s a big city, but at the same time, it’s still a small city compared to L.A. and the things that you’re gonna learn. It seemed a lot more rural up there. I just wrote how it looked to me. If someone comes to town and they want to find something, they can find whatever they want.” Guitarist Izzy Stradlin summarizes the song as “about Hollywood streets; true to life”.
Slash describes the development of the music in his self-titled autobiography. As the band was trying to write new material, Rose remembered a riff Slash had played while he was living in the basement of Slash’s mother’s house. He played it and the band quickly laid down the foundations for the song, as Slash continued coming up with new guitar parts. “It was really the first thing we all collaborated on…” the guitarist recalled. “In that whole ‘discovering ourselves’ period from ’85 through ’86 – when we were living together very haphazardly and getting together and jamming – there was something going on that not a lot of people had. And this song just had this natural feel that was very cool.”
The breakdown was based on a song called “The Fake” that Duff McKagan wrote in 1978 for his punk band the Vains. The bassist said it was the first song he ever wrote, and that it was later released as a single by that band.
According to Slash, the song was written in approximately three hours.
Video
Lyrics
Yes, ready?
Welcome to the jungle, we got fun and games
We got everything you want, honey, we know the names
We are the people that can find whatever you may need
If you got the money, honey, we got your disease
It’s a jungle, welcome to the jungle
Watch it bring it to your n-n-n-n-n-n-n-n knees, knees
Oh ah, I wanna see you bleed
Welcome to the jungle, we take it day by day
If you want you’re gonna bleed but it’s the price to pay
And you’re a very sexy girl, and very hard to please
You can taste the bright lights but you won’t get there for free
In the jungle welcome to the jungle
Feel my, my, my serpentine
I wanna, I wanna hear you scream
And when you’re high, you never, never wanna come down
Down, down, down, down, yeah heh heh heh heh yeah
Welcome to the jungle, it gets worse here every day
You learn to live like an animal in the jungle where we play
If you got hunger for what you see, you’ll take it eventually
You can have everything you want but you better not take it from me
In the jungle, welcome to the jungle
Watch it bring it to your n-n-n-n-n-n-n-n knees, yeah eeh yes
Course you bleed
And when you’re high you never, oh never wanna come down
So down, oh down, down, yeah heh heh heh heh yeah
You know where you are?
You’re in the jungle baby
You’re gonna die
In the jungle welcome to the jungle
Watch it bring you to your n-n-n-n-n-n-n-n knees, knees
In the jungle welcome to the jungle
Feel my, hmm feel my serpentine
In the jungle welcome to the jungle
Watch it bring you to your n-n-n-n-n-n-n-n knees, knees
In the jungle welcome to the jungle
Watch it bring you to your
It’s gonna bring you down, ha!
