Knocking On Heaven's Door lyrics by Guns N' Roses, 8 meanings. Knocking On Heaven's Door explained, official 2024 song lyrics | LyricsMode.com
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Guns N' Roses – Knocking On Heaven's Door lyrics
Mama take this badge from me
I can't use it anymore
It's getting dark too dark to see
Feels like I'm knockin' on heaven's door

Knock-knock-knockin' on heaven's door
Knock-knock-knockin' on heaven's door
Knock-knock-knockin' on heaven's door
Knock-knock-knockin' on heaven's door

Mama put my guns in the ground
I can't shoot them anymore
That cold black cloud is comin' down
Feels like I'm knockin' on heaven's door

Knock-knock-knockin' on heaven's door
Knock-knock-knockin' on heaven's door
Knock-knock-knockin' on heaven's door
Knock-knock-knockin' on heaven's door

"You just better start sniffin' your own
Rank subjugation jack 'cause it's just
You against your tattered libido, the bank
And the mortician, forever man and it
Wouldn't be luck if you could get out of
Life alive"


Knock-knock-knockin' on heaven's door
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Lyrics taken from /lyrics/g/guns_n_roses/knocking_on_heavens_door.html

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Corrected by h0spid

Knocking On Heaven's Door meanings Post my meaning

  • x
    + 13
    xxalesanaxx
    Actually! All of you are wrong! This song was writen for th movie 'Pat Garret and Billy The Kid' and th meaning is really simple! He was th sherif and he got shot and he was fadeing away and he was talkin to either his wife or mom and was sayin tht he didn't need his guns anymore and to bury em with him and to take th badge off of his chest. Just read th lyrics and don't over think it! Its exactly what they say!
    Add your reply
  • U
    + 8
    Unregistered
    I thinking the writer of the song left it open for all of us to translate his words from different angles. Probably, all of what you've said is correct. I see it from different angle, I'm from a country which is currently ravaged by violence. It seems that the person who is shot and is dying now realised in his last minutes of his life that killing is not solving the problem, violence is breeding violence, and asking mama, which could means his own country / home, or represent the faction he was fighting for, and he seemed to have realised that the situation is not getting better, the situation is getting darker and darker, and no one could see the wisdom anymore, and probably even they forgot the reason why they're fighting in the first place? In the last minute of human's life, he or she sees the truth, and wishes to do good, but it is too late, at those moments, the clouds which prevents us from thinking is not there anymore, it is in the nature of human being, we do bad thing, and later we realise that was wrong, cannot fight anymore. From my little humble experience as a medical doctor, I've seen people in their last minutes of life, says unbelievable things, e.g. admissions of guilt done in the past, regrets, seeking to say something he or she wants to say for long time. The problem is, we're all actually "knocking heaven's door", and therefore, we must take the initiative now to do something, to take action to stop the violence.
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  • t
    + 7
    tommyboy220
    This song is possibly about a young cop who has been wounded and is on his deathbed. He begs his mother to remove his badge, because he no longer needs it. He also asks his mother to bury his weapons, also because he cannot use them. Sad song. However many wonder what that last section (the phone call) really means. I believe it is somebody calling an authority figure, and laying it on the line, saying that he better start practicin' what he preaches, because it will always be him against the impulse for s*, against trying to gain money, and against death.
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  • U
    + 4
    Unregistered
    What about the dubbed parts in the 1990 release by GnR. The second verse. It was on the Days of Thunder soundtrack. Between the normal lyrics Axl added a line (It wasn’t their fault) (How were they even supposed to know) (All things can be healed in time). And there is one more line that I can’t quite make out.
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  • U
    + 3
    Unregistered
    To me the song is about depression.
    He don’t need his badge anymore meaning who he is and his courage it’s getting too dark to see he can’t take it anymore he is done with his life.
    Take his guns away meaning he can’t fight anymore.
    The black cloud coming down is the darkness of commiting suicide is here it’s the end.
    I think the mama is someone he loves the most could be his wife or actual mother.
    The beauty of this song it can be interpreted as it feels you with its lyrics that’s the true beauty about music.
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  • l
    - 2
    lyricalgenuis85
    All three of you are wrong. This song is about a guy dying who has lived a sinful life of s*, drugs, and violence. The badge he speaks of is a badge of courage that he felt that he needed to walk around with (aka guns, money, drugs). Because he thought they made him powerful and gave him the courage to do anything. Then realizes that when he goes to heaven than he no longer needs his badges of courage to enter the pearly gates. I sure wish gnr would start a comeback tour.
    Add your reply
  • b
    - 3
    bobrules123456
    Mama is obviously not referring to his mother but maybe god or some other thing idk, the badge is probably his identity, or what others see him as and him wanting to change this "badge." I think its about him wanting to stop violence and getting too far into the bad stuff in life and feeling like its dragging him towards death and hes knocking on the door of heaven. Tommyboy220's thing about the phone call, the comment right above this one, is exactly how I interpreted it. Either everything I just said or he was stoned when he wrote this song.
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  • U
    - 4
    Unregistered
    It sounds like a law man is close to dying and he is quickly fading away so he is asking his mama to take his guns and bury them because he may have done wrong to others. At the end of the song someone else is telling the law man that he better face his own submission of being subdued because he is facing bad s** drive, money owed to the bank and the mortician forever so he couldn't be lucky enough to die without paying the price.
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    • x
      + 13
      xxalesanaxx
      Actually! All of you are wrong! This song was writen for th movie 'Pat Garret and Billy The Kid'... Read more →
    • U
      + 8
      Unregistered
      I thinking the writer of the song left it open for all of us to translate his words from different... Read more →

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