November Rain
"November Rain" is a song by American hard rock band Guns N' Roses. Written by the band's lead vocalist Axl Rose, the power ballad was released in February 1992 as the third single from the band's third studio album, Use Your Illusion I (1991). The song peaked at number three on the US Billboard Hot 100, and was the longest song to enter the top ten of the chart at the time of its release. As of 2019, it was the fourth longest song to enter the Hot 100 chart.[3] Additionally, "November Rain" reached number two on the Portuguese Singles Chart, number four on the UK Singles Chart, and the top 10 on several other music charts around the world.
This article is about the Guns N' Roses song. For the 2007 Indian film, see November Rain (2007 film). For the 2014 Nepali film, see November Rain (2014 film). For the fictional ability, see Jodio Joestar."November Rain"
"Sweet Child o' Mine" (LP version)
February 1992
- A&M
- Record Plant
- Studio 56
- Image Recording
- Conway
- Northstar Recordings (violins)
- Metalworks Recording
- Skip Saylor Recording (album mixing)
8:57
- Mike Clink
- Guns N' Roses
Background[edit]
Slash states in his autobiography that the band recorded in 1986 an 18-minute version of "November Rain" at a session with guitarist Manny Charlton (of rock band Nazareth) the year prior to beginning sessions for Appetite for Destruction.[4]: 151
According to a story Axl Rose reported during the 2006 leg of the Chinese Democracy Tour, no other band members wanted to participate in the production of this song (or the other notable ballad "Estranged"). Slash and Duff McKagan were opposed to the band's drift to symphonic ballads, feeling their choice of more direct rock songs were being overlooked by Rose. Eventually, Rose persuaded the others during work at Can-Am Studios (where some of the album was recorded and mixed). Slash disputed Axl's claims of harsh musical differences in his autobiography released the next year.[4]: 454
Slash reported that his guitar solo in the song's album version developed directly from an improvisation.[4]: 316 [5]
Writing and composition[edit]
"November Rain" is the third-longest song by Guns N' Roses, behind "Coma" (10:14) from the same album, and "Estranged" (9:24) from Use Your Illusion II. According to Slash, Axl wrote the song “about a time someone bent his fingers back like he was a little baby.” It was the longest song ever to reach the top 10 of the Billboard Hot 100 until November 2021, when surpassed by Taylor Swift's extended rerecording of "All Too Well".[6][7][8] The song's composition was influenced by Elton John's 1973 opus “Funeral for a Friend/Love Lies Bleeding”.[9]
Its distinct symphonic overtone owes to a sweeping string arrangement, orchestrated by Rose.[4]: 318 [10] "We call it 'the Layla song'," joked Slash, referencing a similarly-constructed rock song with a long, instrumental second part.[11] It was later preceded by the coda from Layla on the Not in This Lifetime... Tour.
On November 4, 2022, the original track was re-released on a Use Your Illusion reissue, but with newly recorded orchestration replacing the sampled sounds used on the original mix. The orchestration consists of a real 50-piece orchestra, conducted and arranged by Christopher Lennertz.[12] The track was mixed by Steven Wilson replacing the sampled sounds used on the original mix.[13][14]
Critical reception[edit]
Robert Hilburn from Los Angeles Times wrote, "This sweeping ballad--reminiscent of Elton John and Bernie Taupin’s most majestic work--underscores the ambition and range of the best and most volatile American hard-rock group in a decade."[15] Dave Jennings from Melody Maker said, "There's probably no other band who can match the Gunners' ability to sound frighteningly real and then laughably crass in rapid succession. [...] On "November Rain", they fit both extremes into one nine-minute epic ballad."[16] Another editor, Simon Reynolds, declared it as "a lush, swoony, mock-orchestral epic mid-way between Trevor Horn, Jim Steinman and 'Purple Rain'."[17] Parry Gettelman from Orlando Sentinel viewed it as "a schlocky, over-produced ballad".[18] Richard Harrington from The Washington Post felt that in the wake of their breakthrough power ballad "Sweet Child o' Mine", Guns N'Roses "have wisely chosen to play to their female constituency" with "November Rain". He explained that the song "finds Axl in an Elton John mood with a piano, synthesized strings and the realization that while 'It's hard to hold a candle/ in the cold November rain,' we should 'never mind the darkness/ we can still find a way/ cause nothin' lasts forever/ even cold November rain.' On the other hand, at almost nine minutes, this song comes close."[19]
Chart performance[edit]
In the United States, the song peaked at number three for two weeks in 1992, making it Guns N' Roses' sixth and last top-10 hit. It stayed in the top 10 for 10 weeks and on the Hot 100 for 30 weeks.[20] The song also peaked at number nine in Germany and remained on the chart for 51 weeks.[21] In Australia, "November Rain" was ranked at number two on the 1992 end-of-year chart despite only reaching number five on the ARIA Singles Chart.[22] It was included on ARIA's year-end charts in two consecutive years (1992 and 1993, when it appeared at 36).[23][24] A similar situation took place in New Zealand, where the song peaked at number seven but stayed in the top 20 for 24 non-consecutive weeks, ending 1992 as New Zealand's second-best-selling single.[25][26]
Retrospective response[edit]
"November Rain" was voted number one on the Rock 1000 2006, an annual countdown of the top 1,000 rock songs by New Zealand radio listeners. It was voted number two on the 2007 version, beaten by "Back in Black" by AC/DC.[34] The song topped the "album tracks" section of a 1993 readers' poll in GN'R fanzine Controversy, beating "Coma". The top ten was completed by "Estranged", "Civil War", "Paradise City", "Sweet Child o' Mine", "Don't Cry", "Welcome to the Jungle", "Patience" and "Mr. Brownstone".[35]
The song placed number 140 on Pitchfork's "Top 200 Tracks of the 90s".[36] In Chile, the song placed at number 73 on Chilean radio Rock & Pop.[37] In 2017, Paste ranked the song number nine on their list of the 15 greatest Guns N' Roses songs,[38] and in 2020, Kerrang ranked the song number six on their list of the 20 greatest Guns N' Roses songs.[39]
NPR described the song as "one of the ultimate hard-rock power ballads",[1] while VH1 added that the song "is the sprawling, cosmic-reaching, just-so-insane-it-works hard rock epic toward which every previous single-track hard rock epic had led and from which every subsequent single-track hard rock epic has emerged".[40] Glide Magazine named the song at second in their list of "Favorite Hair-Metal Power Ballads".[41]
Guns N' Roses
Additional musicians