Chances are good that people have already heard of today’s song. After all, “Sweet Child O’ Mine” is one of the most famous tracks ever released by Guns N’ Roses, who are true legends of rock and roll by any reasonable standard.

Here are some fun facts about the song:

• It was the third single off of Appetite for Destruction, which has the distinction of being Guns N’ Roses’ debut album.
• “Sweet Child O’ Mine” has sold more than 2.6 million digital copies in the United States. Something that is quite impressive considering that it came out about a decade before the first song was ever made available for sale on the Internet.
• On the whole, the song met with a very positive reception. In this, it was much the same as its album, which can claim a number of honors in this regard. For instance, Appetite for Destruction is still the single best-selling debut album ever released.
• The song was used for the closing credits in the 1988 supernatural mystery slasher movie Bad Dreams. Amusingly, the people behind the movie managed to license it for about five cents, which was possible because this happened weeks before it started exploding in popularity. Having said that, the choice of song wasn’t a coincidence. A 20th Century Fox executive pushed for it both because it was cheap and because he suspected that it would become a hit.
• Guns N’ Roses almost used clips from the horror movie in their video for the song. This didn’t happen because Axl Rose’s girlfriend Erin Everly didn’t like the idea of a song about her being paired with clips from a horror movie. In the end, this might have been a good thing because the resulting video played an important role in boosting “Sweet Child O’ Mine” to mainstream prominence.

Lyrics:

(LyricFind)

She’s got a smile that it seems to me

Reminds me of childhood memories

Where everything was as fresh as the bright blue sky

Now and then when I see her face

She takes me away to that special place

And if I stare too long, I’d probably break down and cry

Whoa, oh, oh

Sweet child o’ mine

Whoa, oh, oh, oh

Sweet love of mine

She’s got eyes of the bluest skies

As if they thought of rain

I’d hate to look into those eyes and see an ounce of pain

Her hair reminds me of a warm safe place

Where as a child I’d hide

And pray for the thunder and the rain to quietly pass me by

Whoa, oh, oh

Sweet child o’ mine

Whoa whoa, oh, oh, oh

Sweet love of mine

Whoa, yeah

Whoa, oh, oh, oh

Sweet child o’ mine

Whoa, oh, whoa, oh

Sweet love of mine

Whoa, oh, oh, oh

Sweet child o’ mine

Ooh, yeah

Ooh, sweet love of mine

Where do we go?

Where do we go now?

Where do we go?

Ooh, oh, where do we go?

Where do we go now?

Oh, where do we go now?

Where do we go? (Sweet child)

Where do we go now?

Ay, ay, ay, ay, ay, ay, ay, ay

Where do we go now?

Ah, ah

Where do we go?

Oh, where do we go now?

Oh, where do we go?

Oh, where do we go now?

Where do we go?

Oh, where do we go now?

Now, now, now, now, now, now, now

Sweet child

Sweet child of mine