Like A Stone Doesn't Remind Me Audioslave

Like a Stone Album: Audioslave (2002)
Doesn't Remind Me Album: Out of Exile (2005)
Audioslave

According to Audioslave frontman Chris Cornell, who wrote the lyric, "Like A Stone" is about death, and finding the afterlife through means other than the traditional monotheistic way of thinking.

"It's a guy sitting in a hotel room contemplating death," he said in an interview. "Where you go, what it means, and all the different possibilities. And then coming up with an image he likes, going with the philosophy of, maybe when you die, if you've been good enough in your life, you get to go somewhere you remember that's really cool."

Audioslave formed when Zach de la Rocha left Rage Against The Machine. The remaining members hooked up with Soundgarden lead singer Chris Cornell to create the band. "Like A Stone" was their second single, following "Cochise." It's one of the group's most popular songs, earning lots of airplay on rock radio and going to #1 on the Modern Rock chart.

If you thought this was a love song, take comfort in knowing that Audioslave bass player Tim Commerford did too, figuring the guy in the song was waiting for his true love. But when he asked, Chris Cornell told him the song is about an old man waiting for death. He sits in a house alone after all his friends and family have passed on before him, waiting to be reunited with them.

"I got saddened about what he's singing about," Commerford said. "I'm picturing this man in a rocking chair waiting to die."

With a new understanding of how Chris Cornell writes, Commerford had another listen to the Soundgarden catalog to suss out the deeper meanings. "Cornell fooled me," he said. "I thought some of the things he was singing about were trivial, but they're never trivial. He's really deep."

At concerts, Cornell has stated that "your heaven is what you make it," indicating that "heaven" is in the eye of the beholder. >>
The video was shot in Jimi Hendrix' old house where he wrote "Purple Haze." At the time, Audioslave were just rehearsing, but they had cameras there and they just shot the video there and then.

There was some speculation that this song deals with the death of Alice in Chains lead singer Layne Staley, but according to Chris Cornell, they wrote the song before he died.

Audioslave frontman Chris Cornell lists a number of things he enjoys, all for the same reason: they don't remind him of anything.

"Doesn't Remind Me" is open to interpretation and can have very different meaning depending on the listener. Enjoying the simple pleasures in life is one key to happiness, in part because that's time not spent dredging up painful memories. The lyric could sound trite if not delivered by Cornell, who even when singing about gypsy moths could bare his soul.

Many who dealt with substance abuse issues found solace in this song and identified with Chris Cornell, who battled addiction for much of his life. Cornell hanged himself in 2017 at age 52.

Audioslave shared songwriting credits, with Chris Cornell penning the lyrics and his bandmates - Brad Wilk, Tim Commerford and Tom Morello - writing the music. Out Of Exile was their second of three albums; like their debut, it was produced by Rick Rubin.

The music video portrays a rather poignant interpretation of this song. Directed by Chris Milk (Arcade Fire's "We Used to Wait," Kanye West's "All Falls Down"), it shows a young kid training to be a boxer and playing with model airplanes. We later learn that his father is a pilot who has died in combat.

At the time, America was engaged in war with Iraq. Morello, Wilk and Commerford were vocal critics of the war; their previous group, Rage Against The Machine, often tried to eviscerate American foreign policy.

Chris Cornell sometimes performed an acoustic version of this song at his solo shows. Inevitably, the audience would sing the refrain.

Like a Stone

On a cobweb afternoon
In a room full of emptiness
By a freeway I confess
I was lost in the pages
Of a book full of death
Reading how we'll die alone
And if we're good, we'll lay to rest
Anywhere we want to go

In your house, I long to be
Room by room, patiently
I'll wait for you there
Like a stone
I'll wait for you there
Alone

And on my deathbed I will pray
To the gods and the angels
Like a pagan to anyone
Who will take me to heaven
To a place I recall
I was there so long ago
The sky was bruised
The wine was bled
And there you led me on

In your house, I long to be
Room by room, patiently
I'll wait for you there
Like a stone
I'll wait for you there
Alone
Alone

And on I read
Until the day was gone
And I sat in regret
Of all the things I've done
For all that I've blessed
And all that I've wronged
In dreams until my death
I will wander on

In your house, I long to be
Room by room, patiently
I'll wait for you there
Like a stone
I'll wait for you there
Alone
Alone

Doesn't Remind Me

I walk the streets of Japan till I get lost
'Cause it doesn't remind me of anything
With a graveyard tan, carrying a cross
Yeah, it doesn't remind me of anything

I like studying faces in the parking lot
'Cause it doesn't remind me of anything
I like driving backwards in the fog
'Cause it doesn't remind me of anything

The things that I've loved, things that I've lost
Things I've held sacred that I've dropped
I won't lie no more, you can bet
I don't want to learn what I'll need to forget

I like gypsy moths and radio talk
'Cause it doesn't remind me of anything
I like gospel music and canned applause
'Cause it doesn't remind me of anything

I like colorful clothing in the sun
'Cause it doesn't remind me of anything
I like hammering nails and speaking in tongues
'Cause it doesn't remind me of anything

The things that I've loved, things that I've lost
Things I've held sacred that I've dropped
I won't lie no more, you can bet
I don't want to learn what I'll need to forget

Bend and shape me
I love the way you are
Slow and sweetly
Like never before
Calm and sleeping
We won't stir up the past
So discreetly
We won't look back

The things that I've loved, things that I've lost
Things I've held sacred that I've dropped
I won't lie no more, you can bet
I don't want to learn what I'll need to forget

I like throwing my voice and breaking guitars
'Cause it doesn't remind me of anything
I like playing in the sand, what's mine is ours
'If it doesn't remind me of anything