"Like A Stone" - Chris Cornell

On September 7, 2006 at O-Baren in Stockholm, Chris Cornell performed an hour long acoustic concert. This concert may be in fact the most epic unplugged concert ever performed.  You have to dig a little deep to find the songs because he never produced an accompanying CD.  Your best bet is to search Chris Cornell: Unplugged in Sweden.  Cornell performs acoustic versions of a variety of songs from his former bands (Audioslave, Temple of the Dog, Soundgarden), and also covers other hits by Bob Marley, Led Zeppelin, Michael Jackson , etc.  The words to describe this album escape me.  It's epic, and you have to listen to it in it's entirety to understand.  My intentions were to post the Unplugged in Sweden version of "Like A Stone",  but unfortunately I could only find an unplugged version. 

Chris Cornell

It was so hard for me to pick just one of Chris Cornell's songs to profile because honestly I'm inspired by so much of his work. The first time I heard "Like a Stone" off of Unplugged in Sweden I remember Cornell's four-octave vocal range bringing tears to my eyes. For real. Cornell doesn't just sing, he wails, he screams and he moans.  You can tell he's singing with his heart and his guts. 

A tear actually came out of my eye

  "Like a Stone" was first released on Audioslave's debut album in 2002.  The song gained commercial and critical success, receiving gold certification by the Recording Industry Assoc. of America. Audioslave Bassist, Tim Commerford, reveals that the song is "written about an old man waiting for death, who sits in a house all alone after his friends and family have passed on, waiting to be reunited with them."  Cornell explains "the song is about concentrating on the afterlife you would hope for, rather than the normal monotheistic approach: you work really hard all your life to be a good person and a moral persona and fair and generous, and then you go to hell anyway."



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