F# major · Camelot 2B · 99 BPM
Paradise City
by Guns N' Roses
- 99
- BPM
- F# major
- Key
- 2B
- Camelot
- 27
- Danceability
- 2
- Acousticness
Slash came up with the intro to "Paradise City" in the back of a rental van as Guns N' Roses rode home from a gig in San Francisco, where they had played with the band Rock N Riders. The band was drinking and playing acoustic guitars when Slash worked out the intro, with Duff McKagan and Izzy Stradlin joining in. As Slash hummed a melody, Axl Rose sang "Take me down to the Paradise City," and Slash answered with "Where the grass is green and the girls are pretty." Rose repeated his line, and this time Slash shouted a cruder alternative. Rose closed the exchange with "Take ... me ... home!" Slash preferred his own second line, but the rest of the band outvoted him and the cleaner version stayed. The remaining lyrics were written in rounds, and Slash finished the song by coming up with the heavy riff that drives it.
Released as a single in November 1988, the song peaked at number five on the Billboard Hot 100, the band's third top 10 single, and reached number six in the UK. It also topped the Irish Singles Chart. It was the only track on Appetite for Destruction to feature a synthesizer.
In the last two minutes, the song shifts to double-time, the chorus repeating while Slash plays a solo behind it. During a 1988 interview, Rose explained that the verses were about being in the jungle, while the chorus felt like being back in the Midwest or somewhere.
Paradise City runs at 99 BPM, the tempo of hip-hop, R&B and reggaeton. In classical terms it sits in andante territory. A bar of 4/4 lasts 2.42 seconds, and a quarter-note delay is 606 ms. It is in F# major, Camelot 2B, which shares its notes with Eb minor and mixes cleanly with B major and Db major.
We use multiple sources as part of our online research for the song story including Wikipedia.