Kevin's Watch

Chris Cornell dies at 52.

This one hits me pretty hard. He's my favorite singer. I love everything he has done, from Soundgarden, to his solo work, to Audioslave, and his unexpected return to SG, and then his final--BEAUTIFUL--solo album. I was starting my second year of college when Bad Motor Finger came out. Everything from my wild college years to meeting my wife for the first time (and seeing a SG concert with her a few weeks later) had Chris's voice in the background, part of the soundtrack of my life in those times. I am deeply saddened that we'll never hear anything new from him again.

Check out his last solo album if you haven't already. Like I said, it's his most beautiful work, a fitting swan song.

I just read that Led Zep's "In My Time of Dying" was the last song he sang, hours before possibly killing himself. Incredible. Shocking. So sad.


In my time of dying, I want nobody to mourn
All I want for you to do is take my body home

From his latest solo album, Higher Truth, here are the lyrics for Before We Disappear.


Time ain't nothing if it ain't fast
Taking everything that you ever had
And giving nothing in return
But a cold bed in a quiet earth
But there's a door in every cell
A pearl inside of every shell

How hard can it be
To share your love with me?
How hard can it be
To rise with me each morning
How long when it feels like
We'll live forever I fear
That time will hide the years

Life ain't nothing if it ain't hard
It'll show you who you truly are
Knock you down when you get too tall
Till you spun around in a free fall
But somewhere out there past the storm
Lies the shelter of your heart

So how hard can it be
To share your love with me?
How hard can it be
To rise with me each morning
How long when it feels like
We live for ever i fear
Like we were never here
So hold on tightly my dear

I'm not one to waste my time
Searching for something lightning
Somewhere out there lies the stone
Lies the shelter
Of your heart

So how hard can it be (how hard)
To share your love with me?
How hard can it be
To rise with me each morning
How long it feels like
We will live forever
But I fear
That time can hide the years
Like we were never here
So hold on tightly my dear
Before we disappear
Before we disappear

Oh man, that's sad. I grew up with Soundgarden and loved Audioslave.

That guy had an incredible range, and feeling. I'll check out his latest solo album which I haven't heard (apart from the one you just linked).

Here's a couple of staple songs I listened to back in the day:

Show me how to live

Cochise

And going back to one of SG's hits:

Black Hole Sun

RIP Chris Cornell

I hope he is at peace now. My world has become a little more gray.

I offer this as a bit of levity to mitigate our grief. I hope it's not too soon...

My son told me this one:

Given the deaths of Chris Cornell, Scott Weiland, Layne Staley, and Kurt Cobain, Eddie Vedder just sounds like he's bragging when he sings, I'm Still Alive.





I'm watching some Cornell right now on YouTube. God I miss his voice.

Smartass Vedder ...