Whats the TRUE meaning behing the lyrics to the song "Knocking on Heaven's Door" by Bob Dylan and GnR?
2006-07-09 17:59:24 · 4 answers · asked by kris5449 2 in Entertainment & Music ➔ Music
perhaps i should elaberate. I understand that "he" is dying. but with the referance to the "badge" and "guns" i think that "he" is or was a police officer. so what is he dying from? I know many law enforcment personelle, and something devistating has to hapen for them to willingly turn over the badge and gun. this compiled with the slow tempo of the song makes me think that it is something emotional. Was he killed in the line of duty (or mortaly injured)? Was a a crooked cop that in dying saw the error of his ways?
2006-07-09 18:23:57 · update #1
some facts I found about the song:
Dylan wrote this for the film Pat Garrett And Billy The Kid. Dylan was in the movie.
Guns N' Roses covered this on their 1991 album Use Your Illusion II. They played it in 1992 at a tribute concert for Freddie Mercury, the lead singer of Queen, who had died of AIDS. 72,000 people attended the concert, which was held in London's Wembley Stadium. All proceeds went to AIDS charities. Guns 'N' Roses performance of this was released as a single in England, where it hit #2.
Warren Zevon recorded this for his 2003 album The Wind. Zevon was dying of lung cancer when he recording it, and died shortly after the album was released.
The title of the song was used as the original title for the Cowboy Bebop movie. Cowboy Bebop is a popular Japanese Anime that made a big hit in America when the dubbed version (done in the late '90s) was broadcast on Cartoon Network in 2001. Bebop was known for taking influences from pop culture (example: The title of episode 6 is "Sympathy for the Devil," obviously a take off of the Rolling Stones Song). When a full length Bebop movie was made in Japan, it was titled Cowboy Bebop: Knockin' on Heaven's Door. When it was dubbed and brought to theaters in America for a short time, they changed it to Cowboy Bebop: The Movie so Dylan wouldn't take any legal action against them.
also try his fan site
2006-07-09 18:16:17 · answer #1 · answered by noellajean_jellybean 3 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Sorry, didn't understand at first. I think they are more metaphorical things. I don't think there were really badges and guns. Guns representing the bad things he's done, and now that he's dying, possibly from the bad in his life, he wants to be relieved of teh burdens of his life, wants to be forgiven, wants to burry his sins. The badges might mean some of the bad things that he was credited for that he also wants to forget and move on from, no longer feels he should be rewarded for who he was.
I don't know, just my thoughts. Maybe it was meant in a more literal way.
2006-07-09 18:03:45 · answer #2 · answered by Guessica 1 · 1⤊ 0⤋
could you rephrase that "by Bob Dylan and Gnr" remark with edit? makes it sound like they co wrote it with him.
i think he was describing the way things made him feel, as if he was ready to die.
2006-07-09 18:10:52 · answer #3 · answered by richard 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
I am amazed how many people have tried interpreting this song without seeing the scene in the movie it was written for. Its meaning is really straight forward. Inthis scene In "Pat Garrett & Billy the Kid", A sheriff played by Slim Pickens is gut shot and sits dying by a river with his wife played by Katy Jurado sits close by. The song is about a lawman packing it in. It is a pretty strong scene, take a look.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yjR7_U2u3sM
2017-03-24 02:13:20 · answer #4 · answered by mitch4092002 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋