Civil War
Guns & Roses Lyrics

Look at your young men fighting
Observe the young men bravely fighting for a cause that may not be just.

Look at your women crying
Observe the women who have lost their husbands, sons, or brothers to the war and weep for them.

Look at your young men dying The way they've always done before
Observe how history repeats because the young men die every time.

Look at the hate we're breeding
Observe how hate is spreading among people, fueling their animosity towards each other.

Look at the fear we're feeding
Observe how people are being scared into believing one side is right and the other is wrong.

Look at the lives we're leading The way we've always done before
Observe how we continue to repeat our own mistakes, continually perpetuating conflict.

My hands are tied
I am powerless to prevent the wars and the destruction and chaos they bring.

The billions shift from side to side
Observe how people's loyalties change and shift between different leaders and factions.

And the wars go on with brainwashed pride
Observe how people continue to fight proudly for their side, even when their side is unjust.

For the love of God and our human rights
Wars are often fought in the name of religion, justice, freedom, or other ideals.

And all these things are swept aside
Despite the justifications for war, all of these things are ultimately discarded in the chaos of battle.

By bloody hands time can't deny
The evidence of brutality and killing cannot be swept away or forgotten, but rather stays with us forever.

And are washed away by your genocide
Genocide is the ultimate form of war, and it destroys all that is beautiful in human life.

And history hides the lies of our civil wars
History often glorifies wars, making them seem more justified than they really were, while hiding the horrors and the suffering they bring.

D'you wear a black armband When they shot the man Who said 'peace could last forever'
Observe how even those who advocate for peace are frequently targeted and silenced.

And in my first memories They shot Kennedy I went numb when I learned to see So I never fell for Vietnam
The artist's earliest memories are of the tragic assassination of John F. Kennedy, which hardened his heart against war and violence in the decades that followed.

We got the wall of D.C. to remind us all That you can't trust freedom When it's not in your hands When everybody's fightin' For their promised land
The Vietnam War Memorial serves as a reminder that freedom can be a fragile thing, and that people will fight for their land and their rights, often at great costs.

And I don't need your civil war It feeds the rich while it buries the poor Your power-hungry sellin' soldiers In a human grocery store Ain't that fresh
The singer refuses to participate in a war that only serves the rich and powerful, while the poor and working-class people are forced to fight for them, as if they were nothing more than commodities in a store.

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
Observe how we're repeating the same pattern of filling shoes with dead soldiers, spilling blood, and destroying the world, as we have always done in the past.

Look in the doubt we've wallowed
Look at the way we have allowed doubt and confusion to cloud our judgment about war and its consequences.

Look at the leaders we've followed
Observe the way we have blindly followed leaders into war, without questioning their motives or their decisions.

Look at the lies we've swallowed
Observe how we have been deceived by lies and propaganda into supporting wars that are not in our interest.

For all I've seen has changed my mind But still the wars go on as the years go by 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 And history bears the scars of our civil wars
Despite seeing firsthand the horrors and the suffering of war, it continues to happen because people are blinded by hypnotic propaganda and ideological divisions, causing them to carry on with a lethal frenzy. History is a testament to this senseless tragedy.

No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no
The artist is adamant about not wanting any more wars.

Whaz so civil 'bout war anyway?
The singer questions the idea of a 'civil' war: how can war, the most uncivilized and destructive act of humanity, ever be called 'civil'?