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"Nightrain" is a song written by the American rock band Guns N' Roses in the mid 1980s. It is 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. It reached #93 on the US Billboard charts.
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 because of its low price and high alcohol content. The song was ranked eighth on Guitar World's list of the "Top 10 Drinking Songs."
Slash describes Nightrain as "an anthem that we came up with on the spot". The original idea for the song came when Slash and Izzy Stradlin wrote the main riff while they were sitting on the floor of the band's practice room. The next day, Slash was ill so Stradlin finished writing the music with Duff McKagan; however they did not write any lyrics. Also Duff McKagan played a Gibson Thunderbird Bass on this song only; on all of the other songs for Appetite for Destruction he played a Fender Precision Bass. The song remained incomplete until one night when the band was walking down Palm Avenue sharing a bottle of Night Train. Someone yelled 'I'm on the night train!' and the whole band joined in, with Axl Rose improvising the lines in between: "Bottoms up!" "Fill my cup!" etc. "Nightrain" was born. After this initial inspiration, the band finished the song within a day.
The first half of the first guitar solo and the lead intro is played by Izzy Stradlin, while all other lead guitar parts are played by Slash.
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