It's So Easy: And Other Lies

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Copyright © 2011 by Duff McKagan

All rights reserved, including the right to reproduce this book or portions thereof in any form whatsoever. For information address Touchstone Subsidiary Rights Department, 1230 Avenue of the Americas, New York, NY 10020.

The names and identifying details of some of the people described in the book have been changed to protect their privacy.

First Touchstone hardcover edition October 2011

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Designed by Joy O’Meara

Manufactured in the United States of America

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

McKagan, Duff.

It’s so easy : (and other lies) / Duff McKagan.

p. cm.

“A Touchstone Book.”

1. McKagan, Duff. 2. Bass guitarists—United States—Biography. 3. Guns n’ Roses (Musical group) I. Title.

ML418.M2A3 2011

787.87'166092—dc22

[B]

2011013545

ISBN 978-1-4516-0663-8
ISBN 978-1-4516-0665-2 (ebook)

For Marie Alice McKagan

He went on and on down the road, finally coming to a black woods, where he hid and wept as if his heart would break. Ah, what agony was that, what despair, when the tomb of memory was rent open and the ghosts of his old life came forth to scourge him!

—Upton Sinclair,
The Jungle

CONTENTS

AUTHOR’S NOTE

PROLOGUE

PART ONE
KNOCKIN’ ON HEAVEN’S DOOR

PART TWO
JUST AN URCHIN LIVING UNDER THE STREET

PART THREE
LOADED

PART FOUR
I’D LOOK RIGHT UP AT NIGHT AND ALL I’D SEE WAS DARKNESS

PART FIVE
A GOOD DAY TO DIE

PART SIX
YOU SHINED A LIGHT WHERE IT WAS DARK, ON MY WASTED HEART

PART SEVEN
FALL TO PIECES

PART EIGHT
YOU CAN’T PUT YOUR ARMS AROUND A MEMORY

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

AUTHOR’S NOTE

My friends and old band members may remember some of the stories I recount differently than I do, but I have found that all stories have many sides. These are my stories. These are my perspectives. This is my truth.

PROLOGUE