Patience (Guns N' Roses song)

Infobox Single
Name = Patience
Artist = Guns N' Roses


from Album = G N' R Lies
Released = 1989
Format = vinyl
cassette
Genre = Hard rock
Length = 5:56
Label = Geffen Records
Writer = Izzy Stradlin
Producer = Guns N' Roses
Mike Clink
Chart position = * #4 (US)
* #10 (UK)
Last single = Paradise City
(1989)
This single = Patience
(1989)
Next single = "Civil War"
(1990)"Patience" is a song by the American hard rock group Guns N' Roses, which appears on the album "G N' R Lies" and was released as a single in 1989. The song peaked at number four on the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart. The song is played using three acoustic guitars, and was recorded in a single session by producer Mike Clink. A music video of the song was shot and appears on the band's music video DVD, "Welcome to the Videos". The music and lyrics were written by rhythm guitarist and founding member, Izzy Stradlin.

The motivation for the track is generally accepted to be the troublesome relationship between Axl Rose and now ex-wife Erin Everly, though this was never stated in the album or interviews. It has been stated by the band that Izzy wrote the song about his ex-girlfriend Angela Nicoletti McCoy. Other points of view point to the video and suggest it is about failed relationships in general. In the video, the band members are situated in a hotel where they are the only constant images, and all other people are present for a moment, then fade away. More recently fans have taken another view on the song, as now Rose is the only remaining member from the original lineup. In an ironic and precognitive twist, the final parts of the video show Rose sitting alone in his home watching older Guns N' Roses videos in what appears to be a sad and lonely state.

The video was one of many produced by the band. It was the last video in which Steven Adler (even though he did not play on the track) appeared, and the last before the "Use Your Illusion" videos. The hotel depicted in the video was inoperative and scheduled for demolition, which took place days after filming.

The song was featured as a steady number in the two hundred-plus shows Use Your Illusion Tour. After Izzy Stradlin's departure from the band in 1991 and for all 1992 shows, Patience was scheduled in every show to follow an impromptu version of Rolling Stone's Wild Horses played almost exclusively by Gilby Clarke and Slash who would go on to play the introductory notes for Patience right after Wild Horses' final note. In this period of the tour, Slash added fanciness by using his famous black double-necked 6-string guitar for the theme.

During a 2002 live performance of the song, Rose noticed a fan wearing a "Where is Slash?" T-shirt. Rose said, "He's in my ass, that's where Slash is! Fuckhead! Go home!"

Cover version

In 2006, country singer Carrie Underwood began performing the song in her concerts, also in a three-acoustic-guitar arrangement, while remarking to audiences that she had grown up listening to Guns N' Roses.

Velvet Revolver & Finger Eleven have covered the song during live performances in 2007