Merry-Go-Round

Album: Too Fast For Love (1981)
Play Video

Songfacts®:

  • The inspiration for this song was a bizarre incident Crüe bass player Nikki Sixx witnessed when he was living in Seattle. He saw a guy with a mental condition being taken away by authorities when he refused to get off a merry-go-round.

    "He was about 22-23 years old and had about four kids and had all these pressures," Sixx explained. "He regressed to being a little kid. He was out there playing on the merry-go-round and he just lost it — too many pressures."
  • This is a track from Too Fast For Love, Mötley Crüe's debut album, which they released independently. Nikki Sixx was the primary songwriter in the band, and many songs on the album, including this one, he had in the works before Mötley Crüe even formed.

    The album got the attention of Elektra Records, which signed the band and gave the album a proper release. It went on to sell over a million copies in America when the band took off and fans sought out their back catalogue.
  • "Merry-Go-Round" was included on the soundtrack to the 2019 Mötley Crüe biopic, The Dirt.

Comments: 4

  • You from MfCome on and Dance is the best track ever recorded by them
  • Johan from SwedenI thought first that this was a cover of Led Zepplin.
  • David Gustavo Nunez-montoya from Lrd TxShawn from Green Bay, Wi
    I think a very good argument can be made that THIS short diddy is the best Crue song they ever recorded. Extremely artistic for them, it has a cycling chord line throughout that invokes the image of spinning around and around even without the lyrics. The lyrics themselves mean nothing or everything, like a truly great poem. And yet the base pick-up and chorus still has the grinding energy you expected from Crue in their early days.

    on da dot ese
  • Shawn from Green Bay, WiI think a very good argument can be made that THIS short diddy is the best Crue song they ever recorded. Extremely artistic for them, it has a cycling chord line throughout that invokes the image of spinning around and around even without the lyrics. The lyrics themselves mean nothing or everything, like a truly great poem. And yet the base pick-up and chorus still has the grinding energy you expected from Crue in their early days.
see more comments

Editor's Picks

Chris Squire of Yes

Chris Squire of YesSongwriter Interviews

One of the most dynamic bass player/songwriters of his time, Chris is the only member of Yes who has been with the band since they formed in 1968.

Actors With Hit Songs

Actors With Hit SongsMusic Quiz

Many actors have attempted music, but only a few have managed a hit. Do you know which of these thespians charted?

Movie Stars In Music Videos

Movie Stars In Music VideosSong Writing

Johnny Depp, Angelina Jolie, Mila Kunis and John Malkovich are just a few of the film stars who have moonlighted in music videos.

Famous Singers' First Films

Famous Singers' First FilmsSong Writing

A look at the good (Diana Ross, Eminem), the bad (Madonna, Bob Dylan) and the peculiar (David Bowie, Michael Jackson) film debuts of superstar singers.

Adam Schlesinger of Fountains of Wayne

Adam Schlesinger of Fountains of WayneSongwriter Interviews

The guy who brought us "Stacy's Mom" also wrote the Jane Lynch Emmy song and Stephen Colbert's Christmas songs.

Mike Campbell

Mike CampbellSongwriter Interviews

Mike is lead guitarist with Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers, and co-writer of classic songs like "Boys Of Summer," "Refugee" and "The Heart Of The Matter."