Now, from all I've read about GNR, who wrote what and how much is a fucking mess, but it seems that Izzy, Slash, and Duff did a lot in regards to GNR lyrics (especially Izzy). But to cut all bullshit aside, let's just piece it up. Then Vs. Now (leaks). Which do you think has the best lyrics.

To me, it's no comparison that the old stuff by far exceeds the new in both meaning and as well as using better literary devices and comparisons or just plain more poetic in the songs themselves. And in the case of the rock songs, they're not as badass. I'm just going to pull out of my ass some of my favorite lyrics from UYI II solely (compressed as much as possible to save space, and yes, I'm fully aware some of this is Izzy or Duff, but that's not a concern because I'm comparing writing on the finished product and the finished [?] leaks as a whole):

"You're power hungry sellin' soldiers
In a human grocery store
Ain't that fresh
... With no love of God or human rights
'Cause all these dreams are swept aside
By bloody hands of the hypnotized
Who carry the cross of homicide"

"We all come in from the cold
We come down from the wire
An everybody warms themselves to a different fire
When sometimes we get burned
You'd think sometime we'd learn
The one you love is the one
That should take you higher
You ain't got no one
You better go back out and find her,
Just like children hidin' in a closet
Can't tell what's goin' on outside
Sometimes we're so far off the beaten track
We'll get taken for a ride
By a parlor trick or some words of wit
...When I look around
Everybody always brings me down
Well is it them or me
Well I just can't see
But there ain't no peace to found
But if someone really cared
Well they'd take the time to spare
A moment to try and understand
Another one's despair
Remember in this game we call life
That no one said it's fair
...Just because you're winnin'
Don't mean you're the lucky ones"

"I opened up the doors when it was cold outside
Hopin' that you'd find your own way in
But how can I protect you
Or try not to neglect you
When you won't take the love I have to give
I bought me an illusion
An I put it on the wall
I let it fill my head with dreams
And I had to have them all
But oh the taste is never so sweet
As what you'd believe it is-
Well I guess it never is
It's these prejudiced illusions
That pump the blood
To the heart of the biz
...But I feel as though you raped me
'Cause you climbed inside my world
And in my songs
So now I've closed the door
To keep the cold outside
Seems somehow I've found the will to live
But how can I forget you
Or try not to reject you
When we both know it takes time to forgive
...I've worked too hard for my illusions
Just to throw them all away
...You know I tried to wake you-
I mean how long could it take you
To open up your eyes and turn the page
...'Cause love to me's a two way street
An all I really want is peace"

"How could you say that I never needed you
When you took everything
Said you took everything from me
...With all the changing seasons of my life
Maybe I'll get it right next time
An now that you've been broken down
Got your head out of the clouds
You're back down on the ground
And you don't talk so loud
An you don't walk so proud
...Well I jumped into the river
Too many times to make it home
I'm out here on my own, an drifting all alone
If it doesn't show give it time
To read between the lines
'Cause I see the storm getting closer
And the waves they get so high
Seems everything we've ever known's here
Why must it drift away and die
I'll never find anyone to replace you
Guess I'll have to make it through, this time- Oh this time
Without you"

"I'm a cold heartbreaker
Fit ta burn and I'll rip
Your heart in two
An I'll leave you lyin' on the bed
I'll be out the door before ya wake
It's nuthin' new ta you
'Cause I think we've seen that movie too
...When I come home late at night
Don't ask me where I've been
Just count your stars
I'm home again
...You can push it for more mileage
But your flaps r' wearin' thin
And I could sleep on it 'til mornin'
But this nightmare never ends"

"Why do you look at me when you hate me
...But I'm gonna deal it back to you in spades
When I'm havin' fun ya know I can't conceal it
'Cause I know you'd never cut it in my game- Oh no
And when you're talkin' about a vasectomy- Yeah
I'll be writin' down your obituary- history!
...You may not like our integrity yeah
We built a world out of anarchy
Oh yeah!"

"You say I walk a line
Fuck they move it every time
You walk a mile in my shoes
And then you tell me 'bout singin' the blues
...With your verbal masturbation"

"I was the one who's washing
Blood off your hands
...If I was standin' by you
How would you feel
Knowing your love's decided
And all love is real
...And when you're in need of someone
My heart won't deny you
So many seem so lonely
With no one left to cry to baby"

"Yesterday, there was so many things
I was never told
Now that I'm startin' to learn
I feel I'm growing old
...Some things could be better
If we'd all just let them be"

Compared to:

"I won't be told anymore
That I've been brought down in this storm
And left so far out from the shore
That I can't find my way back, my way anymore
...Forgive them that tear down my soul
Bless them that they might grow old
And free them so that they may know
That it's never too late
...I searched and found the ways you used to lure me in
I found the ways, why you had to be
Marred in denial, and so afraid"

"And it hurts too much to see you
And how you left yourself behind
...So now I wander through my days
And try to find my ways
To the feelings that I've felt
I saved it for you and no one else
And now as long as this road seems
I know it's called the street of dreams
But that's not stardust on my feet
It leaves a taste that bittersweet
That's called the blues
..What I thought was beautiful
Don't live inside of you,
Anymore
What this means to me is more
Than I know you believe
What I thought of you now
Has cost more than it should for me
What I thought was true before
Were lies I couldn't see
What I thought was beautiful,
Is only memories."

"It'd be the knowledge that you gave me
When I thought I'd heard it all
...and now you're sleeping like an angel
Near than man who reaped it
If there's something I can make of this
Or anything at all
It'd be the devil hates a loser and
You thought you had it all"

"When all is said and done
We're not the only ones
Who look at life this way
That's what the old folks say
...On an ordinary day
Not in an ordinary way
All at once this song I heard
No longer would it play for anybody
Or anyone
That needed comfort from somebody
Needed comfort from someone who cared "

"Could it be the weight that I've carried on
Like a broken record for so long"

"So bittersweet
This tragedy
Won't ask for absolution
This melody
Inside of me
Still searches for solution
A twist of fate
A change of heart
Kills my infatuation
Of a broken heart
To provide the spark for my determination"

"I never thought all the love I was looking for
could ever be so close to me
You're the only one I have ever loved that has ever loved me
and now you've got the best of me "

I've got an itchy finger and there'll be hell to pay
I'm gonna pull the trigger and blow them all away
...I've got a wicked demon inside that never fades "

----

Maybe I'm crazy, but I just see so many more elements that aren't so straight forward in the older stuff (which I probably could have included a lot more of) compared to the new, more direct and to me, less creative lyrics. It's like he went from taking experiences and relaying them on a worldly level (much more often metaphorically) for everyone to really introverting and speaking things that directly relate to him and him laying it on the line. To me in the old stuff there'd usually be at least a word or two or more out there that'd give the lyric a whole new meaning (ie: 'Cause all these dreams are swept aside, By bloody hands of the hypnotized or using an alternate term like verbal masturbation rather than lashing ala Silkworms, or the buildup to the flipout in Get in the Ring). I don't want anyone to get me wrong, there's some really good stuff, but I feel Axl may have focused on certain rhyme schemes more than the lyrics themselves. Actually, when I hear the new stuff, I kind of think of 14 years, it's good but to the point. But, that's just me.

Do you guys have any thoughts on this subject? Don't have to go all out like I did.