Skid Row - Wasted Time

Skid Row - Wasted Time - Meaning of the song

Skid Row frontman Sebastian Bach wrote this song about his friend Steven Adler, who was the original drummer for Guns N' Roses. Adler had a severe heroin addiction that affected his performance, and the band fired him in 1990.

Regarding the lyrics, "You said you'd never let me down, but the horse stampedes and rages," Horse is a popular name for heroin. The song starts out with lighter drugs like cannabis, and moves onto harder drugs like ecstasy and cocaine and then finishes with heroin. The song ends with the line, "I thought you'd never let it get this far," which was another reference to Adler's heroin addiction. In the video the actor is seen injecting the drug in a public toilet at this line.

Wasted Time - Lyrics

You and I together in our lives Sacred ties would never fray Then why can't I let myself tell lies And watch you die every day I think back to the times When dreams were what mattered Tough talking youth naivete You said you never let me down But the horse stampedes and rages In the name of desperation Is it all just wasted time Can you look at yourself When you think of what You left behind Is it all just wasted time Can you live with yourself When you think of what You left behind Paranoid delusions they haunt you Where's my friend I used to know He's all alone He's buried deep within a carcass Searching for a soul Can you feel me inside your heart As it's bleeding Why can't you believe you Can be loved I hear you scream in agony And the horse stampedes and rages In the name of desperation Is it all just wasted time Can you look at yourself When you think of what You left behind Is it all just wasted time Can you live with yourself When you think of what You left behind You said you never let me down But the horse stampedes and rages In the name of desperation Is it all just wasted time Can you look at yourself When you think of what You left behind Is it all just wasted time Can you live with yourself When you think of what You left behind The sun will rise again The earth will turn to sand Creation's colors seem to fade to grey And you'll see the sickly hands of time Will write your final rhyme And end a memory I never thought you'd let it get This far, boy