November Rain

"November Rain" is a song by the American hard rock band Guns N' Roses. Written by the band's lead vocalist Axl Rose, it was released as a single in 1992 from their third studio album, ''Use Your Illusion I'' (1991).

"November Rain" peaked at number three on the United States ''Billboard'' Hot 100 chart, and was the longest song to enter the top ten of that chart at the time of its release. Currently, the song is the fourth longest song to enter the Hot 100 chart. The song 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.

History

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''.

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.

Slash reported that his guitar solo in the song's album version developed directly from an improvisation.

Song information

"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". The song's composition was influenced by Elton John's 1973 opus “ Funeral for a Friend/Love Lies Bleeding”.

Its distinct symphonic overtone owes to a sweeping string arrangement, orchestrated by Rose.Bozza, Anthony, & Slash (2007). ''Slash''. New York: Harper Entertainment. "We call it 'the Layla song'," joked Slash, referencing a similarly-constructed rock song with a long, instrumental second part.

Chart performance

In the United States, the song peaked at #3 for two weeks in 1992, making it their sixth and last top ten hit. It was in the top-10 for ten weeks, for a total of 30 weeks on the charts.

"November Rain" peaked at number nine in Germany and remained on the chart for 51 weeks.

In Australia, "November Rain" reached number two on the 1992 end-of-year chart despite only reaching number five on the ARIA Singles Chart. It was featured on ARIA's year-end charts in two consecutive years (1992 and 1993, when it appeared at 36). 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.

Music video

The music video, directed by Andy Morahan, was inspired by Del James's short story " Without You", for which he is credited in the long version of the video. The short story portrays a rock star struggling to come to terms with the loss of his girlfriend, who died by suicide (gunshot) after he repeatedly strayed from their relationship. ''November Rain'' is one of the most expensive music videos ever.

The video tells a story reminiscent of ''Without You'', and features a live performance footage from Los Angeles' Orpheum Theater. First, in a black-and-white sequence, Rose's character is seen going to bed and taking pills; a bottle of whisky is also visible next to him. The scene, now in color, changes to the wedding of the main characters, played by Rose and his then-girlfriend Stephanie Seymour. The other band members are among the many guests.

Slash's character realizes he forgot the wedding rings, when McKagan's character offers his rings as a substitute. After the wedding couple leaves the church, we see the wedding reception which is later interrupted by sudden, heavy rain, causing everyone to run for shelter.

The next scene shows a funeral at the same church. Rose's character grieves at the death of his wife, now inside a casket. A heavy rain falls upon the cemetery.

A final scene shows Seymour's character back at the wedding, tossing her white bouquet, which turns red in the air and lands on her coffin. Black and white scenes Rose's character's nightmares show a mix of wedding and funeral scenes.

For the outside shots of Slash's first guitar solo, Rose had originally envisioned it taking place in a "cool field". However, since the video was shot in winter, there were no good-looking fields around, and the band decided to film in New Mexico, where they had a church building transported specifically for the shoot. The larger church, for the wedding scenes, is Los Angeles' St. Brendan Catholic Church.

The music videos for "November Rain", "Don't Cry" and " Estranged" form an unofficial trilogy of sorts. While never specifically confirmed by the band, Del James' short story " Without You" served as inspiration for the video, and received recognition in the video's end credits.

In July 2018, the music video became the first video created prior to YouTube to surpass one billion views.

On November 4, 2022 the same performance as the original video is published on YouTube, but resynced with the newly recorded, with a real 50-piece orchestra, conducted and arranged by Christopher Lennertz. The track was mixed by Steven Wilson replacing the sampled sounds used on the original mix. This music video was released to promote the ''Use Your Illusion (Super Deluxe Edition)'' box set.

Live performances

The band performed a nearly nine-minute live version of the song with British musician Elton John on piano at the end of the 1992 VMAs ceremony.

Reception

"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. 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".

The song placed number 140 on ''Pitchfork'''s "Top 200 Tracks of the 90s". In Chile, the song placed at number 73 on Chilean radio Rock & Pop. In 2017, '' Paste'' ranked the song number nine on their list of the 15 greatest Guns N' Roses songs, and in 2020, ''Kerrang'' ranked the song number six on their list of the 20 greatest Guns N' Roses songs.

NPR described the song as "one of the ultimate hard-rock power ballads", 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". ''Glide Magazine'' named the song at second in their list of "Favorite Hair-Metal Power Ballads".

Track listings

Personnel

Guns N' Roses
*Axl Rose – lead and backing vocals, piano, synthesizer programming, choir
*Slash – lead and rhythm guitars, backing vocals, choir
*Izzy Stradlin – rhythm guitar, backing vocals, choir (on album)
* Gilby Clarke – rhythm guitar, backing vocals, choir (on music video)
*Duff McKagan – bass guitar, backing vocals, choir
*Matt Sorum – drums, backing vocals, choir
*Dizzy Reed – backing vocals, choir

Additional musicians
*Stuart Bailey – backing vocals, choir
*Shannon Hoon – backing vocals, choir
*Johann Langlie – synthesizer programming
*Reba Shaw – backing vocals, choir

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Certifications

References

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1991 songs
1992 singles
1990s ballads
Geffen Records singles
Guns N' Roses songs
Glam metal ballads
Hard rock ballads
Music videos directed by Andy Morahan
Songs about weather
Songs written by Axl Rose