Album '4', interview with Slash and Miles Kennedy: 'That point where you wave the white flag'

KENNEDY: So, I have this little Shih Tzu named Mozart – he tries to act all tough, but he's really not. And on one occasion we couldn't get home, I think our flight was delayed or something, and there was a really intense storm over our house. We have one of those little camera systems to keep an eye on the dog when we can't be there, and we saw him just freaking out. It was really heartbreaking to watch. It terrified the little guy. So, the narrative of the song is inspired by what I imagined he might have been thinking as it all went down. And his plea to us to come home. When you listen to it, yeah, it could apply to just a regular relationship between humans. But I thought it was interesting, at least for me, to sing it from Mozart's perspective. And to be really honest, as I was singing the song in the studio, at one point you can hear my voice crack a little bit. It was getting to me. So, it's definitely sung from the heart. And I'm man enough to admit it! 

SLASH: Musically, I came up with it at my studio. It was just the opening riff, and then the underlying chord changes started to come out in my mind. I wasn’t really sure if I was going to pursue it or not, but I had to record it and make a demo. I thought, I don't know what the guys are gonna think… Because it has a certain sentimental kind of feel to it. But I sent it to Myles, and he came back with this really heartfelt lyric. I thought it was about all the loss we’ve been suffering during this dark period, and then he told me it was about his dog. [laughs] I said, “Well, you know, everybody has had somebody that they love affected by this, so…”