Music / Pawnshop Guitars

Pawnshop Guitars is the 1994 debut solo album of Guns N' Roses guitarist Gilby Clarke.

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Tracklist:

1. "Cure Me... Or Kill Me" - 4:56
2. "Black" - 4:21
3. "Tijuana Jail" - 5:08
4. "Skin & Bones" - 3:17
5. "Johanna's Chopper" - 4:08
6. "Let's Get Lost" - 3:31
7. "Pawnshop Guitars" - 3:51
8. "Dead Flowers" - 4:13
9. "Jail Guitar Doors" - 3:10
10. "Hunting Dogs" - 3:15
11. "Shut Up" - 3:58
12. "West of the Sunset" - 3:17 (Japanese bonus track)

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"My best trope's a pawnshop guitar":

• Ape Shall Never Kill Ape: "Hunting Dogs":
  Hunting dogs don't kill their own.
• Big "SHUT UP!": "Shut Up"
• The Cameo: Along with appearances by everyone who was in GNR at the time (Axl Rose, Slash, Duff, Matt Sorum and Dizzy Reed), Frank Black (The Pixies' Black Francis) appears as well.
• Cool Bike: "Johanna's Chopper"
  This heart gold is used, my motorcycle wants you.
  Johanna's chopper in the stars.
  Johanna's chopper in the stars.
  Johanna's chopper in the stars.
  Why am I everything to you?
  This love may never end, my motorcycle's best friend.
• Cover Version: The Rolling Stones' "Dead Flowers" and The Clash's "Jail Guitar Doors"
• Crystal Ball: Mentioned in "Cure Me...Or Kill Me"
• Dark and Troubled Past -> Heroic BSoD -> Despair Event Horizon: "Skin & Bones"
  Keep the devil out of my soul
  C'mon and save me
  From a heart of stone
  Tell the Lord, he can take me now
  I'm a shell of a man
  Just skin and bones
• Face on the Cover: Gilby playing guitar, shown from a distance.
• The Gambler: "Tijuana Jail"
  But I'm a gambler, and I'm not cashed in
• Had to Come to Prison to Be a Crook: It's not made clear why he is being sent to jail in "Tijuana Jail." He sticks a switchblade from his boot in someone's throat to make his escape.
• Murder Ballad: "Tijuana Jail", where the protagonist murders a police officer for jailing him.
  I pulled a switch blade from my boot
  And shoved it in his throat
• Not In Texas Anymore: "Tijuana Jail":
  He smiled and said 'Senor, you're not in Texas anymore
• One-Word Title: "Black"
• Record Producer: Waddy Wachtel
• Shout-Out:
  • "Cure Me...Or Kill Me" mentions "the Addams Family blood"
  • "Johanna's Chopper" mentions "Superman's magic train"
• The Unfair Sex: Averted in "Black":
  But woman who is unfaithful
  Kills a man
• Villain Song: "Pawn Shop Guitars":
  Your Momma says I'm evil, and I cut like a knife
  You cut a little deep, find the devil inside
  Now burn little honey, I hypnotize
  I'm so mean, so mean, so mean
  I'm so mean, so mean, so mean
  
  I'm a motorcycle cowboy, a honky tonk junkie
  Fallen shooting star.
  Broken desperado on the wrong side of the barrel
  My best friend's a pawnshop guitar.
• What Did I Do Last Night?: "Johanna's Chopper"
  And I can't remember last night.

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