Don’t you take it so hard now and please don’t take it so bad/
I’ll still be thinking of you and the times we had, baby.

Breakups are tough. Even though Axl is singing “Don’t Cry”, the narrative is supposed to be the words spoken by the woman who is breaking up with him. Some of the words are comforting, but most are absolutely not what you want to hear. No one wants to hear “things will be better tomorrow”. Get out of hear with your clichés and truths and let me be miserable and cry. Dammit! Her comments asking for him to remember how she never lied to him are especially brutal. Thanks!?

The song is a standard 80s power ballad: it starts soft and by the end of the song we are rocking. It is a fun formula. We also have the famous guitar solo. How many truly unique guitar solos could you recognize outside the context of the lyrics? 50? 100? Well, this is one of the more recognizable ones. Like most Guns N’ Roses songs the song is heavily guitar driven. The banjo outro is unique.

Lyrics Don’t Cry

If we could see tomorrow, what of your plans?
No one can live in sorrow, ask all your friends
Times that you took in stride, they’re back in demand
I was the one who was washing blood off your hands

Don’t you cry tonight
I still love you, baby
Don’t you cry tonight
Don’t you cry tonight
There’s a heaven above you baby
And don’t you cry tonight

I know the things you wanted, they’re not what you have
With all the people talking, it’s driving you mad
If I was standing by you, how would you feel
Knowing your love’s decided, and all love is real?

Don’t you cry tonight
I still love you, baby
Don’t you cry tonight
Don’t you cry tonight
There’s a heaven above you baby
And don’t you cry tonight

I thought I could live in your world
As years all went by, with all the voices I’ve heard
Something has died
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
Don’t you cry tonight

I still love you, baby
Don’t you cry tonight
Don’t you cry tonight
There’s a heaven above you baby
And don’t you cry tonight

Don’t you cry tonight
I still love you, baby
Don’t you cry tonight
Don’t you cry tonight
There’s a heaven above you baby
And don’t you cry tonight

Songwriters: Duff Rose McKagan / Izzy Stradlin / Matt Sorum / Saul Hudson / W. Axl Rose

I’m thinkin’ ’bout the times you drove in my car/
I’m thinkin’ that I might have drove you too far.

Eric Clapton was in several super-famous bands: Cream, Blind Faith, Derrick & the Dominoes, and he had success as a solo artist. When you combine those bands’ works you get one of the all-time great collections of music. He is a rock contributor up there with The Beatles, Dylan, Elton John and The Stones.

Most of Clapton’s work is heavily based on the electric guitar and “Badge” is no different. The song came about due to a collaboration with George Harrison. They worked together on While My Guitar Gently Weeps. The Beatles got that song, Cream got this one.

The intro bass-line in “Badge” is a classic. The song also features piano and does not bring out the electric guitar until the bridge. The bridge sounds very different than the verse like most psychedelic rock.

As far as the lyrics go, they are mostly nonsensical. Or perhaps non-linear is more charitable. It sounds like there was some sort of loving relationship between a man and a woman and she might have become a partier and that no longer interested him. It is hard to tell.

Badge Lyrics

Thinkin’ ’bout the times you drove in my car.
Thinkin’ that I might have drove you too far.
And I’m thinkin’ ’bout the love that you laid on my table.

I told you not to wander ’round in the dark.
I told you ’bout the swans, that they live in the park.
Then I told you ’bout our kid, now he’s married to Mabel.

Yes, I told you that the light goes up and down.
Don’t you notice how the wheel goes ’round?
And you better pick yourself up from the ground
Before they bring the curtain down,
Yes, before they bring the curtain down.

Talkin’ ’bout a girl that looks quite like you.
She didn’t have the time to wait in the queue.
She cried away her life since she fell off the cradle.

written by George Harrison/ Eric Clapton

But I finally know what to do/
I must quit, I must quit You.

In “Coffee & Cigarettes”, Michelle Featherstone has the blues. But what is causing it? Could it be her overuse of coffee and cigarettes? Knowing she has many bad habits, she starts trying to eliminate them one by one, hoping that she will find the one that is causing her pain.

So, she quits coffee, cigarettes, booze, playing sad music, but still her depression persists. The only variable she hasn’t eliminated at this time is her significant other. So, she realizes it is time to quite that relationship too. This is harder. If only it was one of her vices.

You can hear the helplessness in Featherstone’s voice. She is at her wit’s end. She is trying to fix her life but it is wearing her out. The song builds to a crescendo as she realizes what she must do: she must break up with her partner.

As she sings the line “I must quit you”, it almost sound like a release—as if she is discovering the truth for the first time. The song is simple but powerful. This song was not a hit but it is very deserving to be on this list.

Coffee and Cigarettes Lyrics

I gave up coffee and cigarettes,
I hate to say it hasn’t helped me yet.
I thought my problems would just dissipate,
And all my pain would be in yesterday.

I poured my booze all down the kitchen drain,
And watched my bad habits get flushed away.
I thought that that would keep my head on straight,
And all my pain would be in yesterday.

But it’s true,
I’m still blue.
But I finally know what to do,
I must quit,
I must quit,
You.

I thought that if I didn’t go and play,
The sadness would get bored and go away.
I thought that if I didn’t go astray,
Then all my pain would be in yesterday.

But it’s true,
I’m still blue.
But I finally know what to do.
I must quit,
I must quit,
You.

I sold my guitar and my piano,
I thought that it was these that kept me low.
I thought if only I could try and change,
That all my pain would be in yesterday.

But it’s true,
I’m still blue.
But I finally know what to do.
I must quit,
I must quit,
You.

I must quit,
I must quit,
You.

Songwriters: Michelle Featherstone