Civil War

Definitely the most underrated Guns 'n' Roses song! Here's what I think.

Look at your young men fighting Look at your women crying Look at your young men dying The way they've always done before Look at the hate we're breeding Look at the fear we're feeding Look at the lives we're leading The way we've always done before

• A plea to the people in power to realize what war does to people, and how history continually repeats itself all the time and how some people never seem to to realize it.

My hands are tied The billions shift from side to side

• my favorite line. He is helpless as a simple citizen to change the world, and watches as "the billions shift from side to side" - meaning that (in my opinion) each party (republican/democrat) comes into enormous power as the years go by, and changes things for better/worse.

And the wars go on with brainwashed pride For the love of God and our human rights

• "brainwashed pride"- other citizens around him happy to make war, to kill communists (Vietnam), and think America is doing a "good thing". "For the love of God" - says how religion often controls the government's motives, including whether to go to war.

And all these things are swept aside By bloody hands time can't deny

• Says how his protests and other's protests are ignored by those with blood on their hands (president), and how the facts are denied by those in power.

And are washed away by your genocide And history hides the lies of our civil wars

• Media glosses over crucial facts of war, makes it seem like "right" thing to do.

D'you wear a black armband When they shot the man Who said "Peace could last forever"

• A likely reference to MLK here, but I'm not really sure where the quote originated.

And in my first memories They shot Kennedy

• growing up, he saw nothing but destruction on television, and that shaped how he feels later in life.

An I went numb when I learned to see So I never fell for Vietnam

• Realizes that much of what government says are lies, so he doesn't "fall" for Vietnam, and believes it to be another lie.

We got the wall of D.C. to remind us all That you can't trust freedom when it's not in your hands

• Speaks about all the names on the D.C wall, and that freedom is a lie, and how the media never tells about the all those that have lost their lives.

When everybody's fightin' for their promised land

• more religous references here, how countries (including America) fight because of intolerance. Can also be reference to Jerusalem.

I don't need your civil war It feeds the rich while it buries the poor

• "feeds the rich" - government making money from war. "buries the poor" - all the soldiers and civilians that have died in pursuit of war.

Your power hungry sellin' soldiers In a human grocery store Ain't that fresh

• government sends off soldiers to fight their wars for them, like puppets.

Look at the shoes you're filling Look at the blood we're spilling Look at the world we're killing The way we've always done before

• as presidents step in and out of office, they continue to make war and destruction on the planet, and history repeats itself again and again.

Look in the doubt we've wallowed Look at the leaders we've followed Look at the lies we've swallowed And I don't want to hear no more

• He's tired of the years of war and just wants it to stop, and he's tired of all the other people that don't see it the way he does.

My hands are tied For all I've seen has changed my mind

• Not sure about the second line, does he stop his protests because he knows that they're in vain? or does he turn apathetic? or maybe he starts to believe war is the right idea because he just doesn't care anymore? hard to say.

But still the wars go on as the years go by With no love of God or human rights

• wars continue, and he feels the rights of people are being violated.

'Cause all these dreams are swept aside By bloody hands of the hypnotized Who carry the cross of homicide And history bears the scars of our civil wars

• here it's about how the people (americans) instead of just the government are to blame as well, because they are "brainwashed" by the media to believe so. "carry the cross of homicide" - yet another religious reference, about how America often goes to war for religious purposes.

I don't need one more war I don't need one more war Whaz so civil 'bout war anyway

• Great, simple, ending line about the terrible oxymoron of "civil war".