Paradise City
- Guns N' Roses Lyrics

Take me down to the paradise city
The singer wants to go to a place that's like paradise

Where the grass is green and the girls are pretty
The singer imagines paradise to be full of beautiful women and green grass

Take me home (oh won't you please take me home)
The singer wants someone to take him back to his ideal home (paradise)

Just a urchin livin' under the street
The artist is poor and lives on the streets

I'm a hard case that's tough to beat
Even though the artist is poor, he is strong and resilient

I'm your charity case so buy me something to eat
The singer is asking for help to buy food

I'll pay you at another time
The singer promises to pay the person back later

Take it to the end of the line
The artist is asking the person to wait until he's able to pay them back

Rags to riches or so they say
People often talk about how someone can go from being poor to being wealthy

Ya gotta keep pushin' for the fortune and fame
To achieve wealth and fame, one must work hard and strive for success

You know it's all a gamble when it's just a game
Success is never guaranteed, even when one works hard for it

Ya treat it like a capital crime
People take success and money very seriously, as if it's a matter of life and death

Everybody's doin' the time
Everyone is working hard to achieve their goals

Strapped in the chair of the city's gas chamber
The singer feels trapped in a dangerous situation outside of paradise

Why I'm here I can't quite remember
The singer doesn't understand how he ended up in this dangerous situation

The surgeon general says it's hazardous to breathe
The air is polluted and dangerous to breathe in this city

I'd have another cigarette but I can't see
The pollution is so bad that the artist can't even see clearly

Tell me who you're gonna believe
The singer is questioning who he can trust for help in this dangerous city

So far away
Paradise seems very distant and unattainable to the singer

Captain America's been torn apart
Even a superhero (Captain America) has been defeated in this city

Now he's a court jester with a broken heart
Captain America has been humiliated and broken by this city

He said "turn me around and take me back to the start"
Captain America wants to go back to a time before things went wrong

I must be losing my mind "are you blind?"
The singer is feeling overwhelmed and questioning others' sanity

I've seen it all a million times
The artist is frustrated with his situation because he feels like he's seen it all before

Take me down, lead me 'round
The singer is asking someone to guide him through this dangerous city

I wanna see, what a woman can be
The singer is interested in seeing what women are capable of in paradise

I want to take you home
The singer wants to bring a woman back to paradise with him

Oh won't you please take me home, yeah baby
The artist is pleading with someone to take him back to paradise where everything is perfect