Guns N’ Roses – Knockin’ On Heaven’s Door

About The Song

“Knockin’ on Heaven’s Door” is a song by American singer-songwriter Bob Dylan, written for the soundtrack of the 1973 film Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid. Released as a single two months after the film’s premiere, it became a worldwide hit, reaching the Top 10 in several countries. The song became one of Dylan’s most popular and most covered post-1960s compositions, spawning covers from Eric Clapton, Guns N’ Roses, Randy Crawford, and more.

Described by Dylan biographer Clinton Heylin as “an exercise in splendid simplicity”, the song features two short verses, the lyrics of which comment directly on the scene in the film for which it was written: the death of a frontier lawman (Slim Pickens) who refers to his wife (Katy Jurado) as “Mama”.

It was ranked number 190 in 2004 by Rolling Stone magazine, in their 500 Greatest Songs of All Time, and number 192 in 2010.

In 1987, American hard rock band Guns N’ Roses started performing the song. A live version of the song was released on the 12-inch single of “Welcome to the Jungle” the same year. They recorded and released a studio version in 1990 for the soundtrack of the film Days of Thunder that reached No. 18 on the US Billboard Album Rock Tracks chart and No. 56 on Canada’s RPM 100 Hit Tracks chart.

This studio recording was slightly modified for the band’s 1991 album Use Your Illusion II, discarding the responses in the second verse. Released as the second single from the album, it reached No. 2 on the UK Singles Chart and the New Zealand Singles Chart. Elsewhere, the single topped the charts of Portugal, Belgium, and the Netherlands; it was the best-selling song of 1992 in the latter country. In Ireland, where the song also reached No. 1, it became Guns N’ Roses’ third (and to date last) number-one single as well as their ninth consecutive top-five hit.

Their performance of the song at the Freddie Mercury Tribute Concert in 1992 was used as the B-side for the single release and was also included on their Live Era ’87–’93 album, released in 1999.[30] Another version was released on the video Use Your Illusion World Tour – 1992 in Tokyo II. The music video for this version of the song was directed by Andy Morahan.

Video

Lyrics

Mama take this badge from me
I can’t use it anymore
It’s getting dark too dark to see
Feels like I’m knockin’ on Heaven’s door
Knock-knock-knockin’ on Heaven’s door
Knock-knock-knockin’ on Heaven’s door
Knock-knock-knockin’ on Heaven’s door
Knock-knock-knockin’ on Heaven’s door
Mama put my guns in the ground
I can’t shoot them anymore
That cold black cloud is comin’ down
Feels like I’m knockin’ on Heaven’s door
Knock-knock-knockin’ on Heaven’s door
Knock-knock-knockin’ on Heaven’s door
Knock-knock-knockin’ on Heaven’s door
Knock-knock-knockin’ on Heaven’s door
“You just better start sniffin’ your own rank subjugation jack
‘Cause it’s just you against your tattered libido
The bank and the mortician, forever man
And it wouldn’t be luck if you could get out of life alive”
Knock-knock-knockin’ on Heaven’s door
(Knock-knock-knockin’ on Heaven’s door)
Knock-knock-knockin’ on Heaven’s door
(Knock-knock-knockin’ on Heaven’s door)
Knock-knock-knockin’ on Heaven’s door
(Knock-knock-knockin’ on Heaven’s door)
Knock-knock-knockin’ on Heaven’s door
(Knock-knock-knockin’ on Heaven’s door)
Knock-knock-knockin’ on Heaven’s door
Knock-knock-knockin’ on Heaven’s door
Knock-knock-knockin’ on Heaven’s door
Knock-knock-knockin’ on Heaven’s door