"Nightrain"
Single by Guns N' Roses from the album Appetite for Destruction
Released	1987
Format	Vinyl LP Cassette CD
Recorded	1987
Genre	Hard rock
Length	4:26
Label	Geffen
Writer	Axl Rose Slash Izzy Stradlin Duff McKagan
Producer	Mike Clink
Guns N' Roses singles chronology
"Sweet Child o' Mine" (1988) "Nightrain" (1988) "Paradise City" (1989)
Appetite for Destruction track listing
"It's So Easy" (2) "Nightrain" (3) "Out Ta Get Me" (4)

"Nightrain" is a song written by the American rock band Guns N' Roses in the late 1980s. It's the third song on the band's 1987 debut album, Appetite for Destruction. Although it was released as a single, the song was not included in their best-of album. The song is a tribute to an infamous brand of cheap Californian wine, Night Train Express, which was extremely popular with the band during their early days, thanks mainly to its low price and high alcohol content.

Song

We were living in the Gardener Street studio, where we had one little box of a room. We had no money but we could dig up a buck to go down to this liquor store. It happened to have this great wine called Nightrain that would fuck you up for a dollar. Five dollars and you'd be gone. We lived off this stuff. Duff - Hit Parader March 1988 According to the band the song was written 'in situ', in other words whilst they were drinking Night Train. According to Slash, the music was first written while he and Izzy were sitting on the floor of the aforementioned apartment. Slash was sick the next day, but Duff and Izzy filled it out in the meantime. Then one night while the band was walking back from the liquor store on Palm Avenue, someone (Slash isn't sure who) burst out with the chorus. The band kept singing it over and over, while Axl improvised the lines in between: "Bottoms up," "Fill my cup," etc. "Nightrain" was born.^[1] The song is notable as possibly the only Guns N' Roses song that could be considered to portray substance abuse in a positive light. Contrary to the bands reputation, most of their songs on the subject focus on the negative aspects of the life style and a desire to escape it. "Nightrain" was the only Guns N' Roses single from Appetite for Destruction that did not have its own video. E & J Gallo Winery, the company that produces Night Train contacted the band after the release of the album to inform them that they should have paid for the right to use the Night Train brand name (it is believed the song title was contracted to "Nightrain" in an attempt to get around this). The company later decided they would accept the 300% increase in sales triggered by the song as an alternative payment.

References