As I get older
water_boy
Posts: 74
Chris Cornell's lyrics become more and more relevant, understandable and dreadfully imposing. For the first time soungarden is reaching my ears more than pearl jam. Any commonts and opinions are welcomed and encouraged.
Jordan
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Typo Man: "Thanks kidz, but remembir, stay in skool!"
My favourite work of Cornell's is Badmotorfinger, Superunknown, Down on the Upside, and TOTD - but it is TOTD that for me contains the most resolution to the emotions - in the singing, as well as the songwriting
Send my credentials to the house of detention
Yes, I love the Audioslave debut particularly - a departure I notice for him here is there seem to me quite a lot of deep, dark religious or spiritual lyrics. Like a Stone is a good example - he seems to be yearning on the debut for a mystical other place. Vedder also goes to some spiritual places I think, particularly on No Code, Riot Act and Backspacer - but typically Cornell's lyrics seem more connected to an immediate visceral experience. I think he writes more viscerally than Vedder, when it comes to expressing inner demons especially
Send my credentials to the house of detention
Try the first Audioslave one first!
Send my credentials to the house of detention
superunknown first up tomorrow at work
I think it's interesting and not insane to compare Vedder and Cornell's songwriting. I also think they have influenced each other greatly - I wouldn't be surprised if Eddie has lived with Cornell's songs as much as any Soundgarden fan, and I think Cornell would also have absorbed quite a lot of Pearl Jam. For me they are the two best songwriters of the 'Grunge' era - they both have powerful, no holds barred singing styles - but it is their lyrics for me which prevents them straying into David Coverdale territory. They both tackle the dark side of life in a way which seems real, draws on an intense part of themselves, and I have found can be really powerful when you (the listener) are experiencing hardship - they both have a very cathartic effect on me. Where I think they differ is that Cornell tends to go more and more into the twisted dark sides of the psyche, and stays there - whereas Eddie goes into that territory, but then comes back to a more real world 'fight back' place. I'll try and think of some examples of this..... off the top of my head - Deep has a lot of dark elements, but has a clear moral message, and calls for you not to overidentify with the states of mind described, but stand clear of them - to be better than them, whereas Mailman get right inside the dark and twisted state of mind, and sticks there. On other songs, sometimes I get more from sticking with where Cornell takes you - Rusty Cage, Outshined - you almost relish staying right within the anguish, and disarray - and the effect is very powerful and cleansing..... other times I need to listen to In Hiding, and 'surface' with the song - or be up In My Tree and go with to the place of refinding the innocence, the inner sense. The reason why at the end of the day I have come back to Vedder's songs over the years, more than Cornell's is that Eddie seems most interested in finding this 'inner sense' within all of his songs - and that can be very healing.
Send my credentials to the house of detention
Nobody's predicting these lines:
"Pale in the flare light
The scared light cracks & disappears
And leads the scorched ones here
And everywhere no one cares"
"I was crying from my eye teeth and bleeding from my soul
And I sharpened my wits on a dead man's skull
I built an elevator from his bones
Had to climb to the top floor just to stamp out the coals"
"Bit down on the bullet now
I had a taste so sour
I had to think of something sweet
Love's like suicide
Safe outside my gilded cage
With an ounce of pain
I wield a ton of rage
Just like suicide"
Yep. Great stuff.
WOW! Thank you for posting this! I was OBSESSED with this record in middle school. Bought it the day it came out it was all I listened to for a very long time but damn, I don't think I ever really stopped and took in those lyrics. And I'm a very lyric-driven person! It's been years since I've listened to that song and I just played it now and I'm blown away.
I'm happy to read this thread and go back to some of those old songs. For me I never really gave Cornell much credit as a lyricist. I was always just more into his abilities as a singer. I wrote his lyrics off a lot thinking they were too much "this vs this, that versus that" kind of thing. Almost like he would find a theme or convention and fill in the blanks. I don't know if that makes sense. I'm enjoying going back and listening again.