| Soundgarden – The Day I Tried to Live Lyrics | 10 years ago |
| I feel it. | |
| Soundgarden – The Day I Tried to Live Lyrics | 10 years ago |
| Nice, short and concise. | |
| Soundgarden – The Day I Tried to Live Lyrics | 10 years ago |
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Great! |
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| Soundgarden – The Day I Tried to Live Lyrics | 10 years ago |
| You summed it up much shorter than I did! LOL. | |
| Soundgarden – The Day I Tried to Live Lyrics | 10 years ago |
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In order to give a comprehensive answer to this song I would need to delve deeper into the entire Seattle scene and how it came to power. but I do have enough limited knowledge on the subject from Mother Love Bone to Nirvana breaking through and pulling the entire scene to prominence, somewhat on the curtails of the Mother Love bone singers death. This song could have thousands of meanings depending upon your own interpretation. And the idea that it is obviously and specifically about existentialism is a bit simplistic in my view although it does definitely bleed into my own interpretation. I have always held the song is about the music industry and the record deal made with Soundgarden and the scene in general. "I woke today same as any other day except a voice was in my head" Was sleeping upon the offer and the control within the offer, and woke up thinking he was going to sign the deal. "Pull the trigger drop the blade and watch the rolling heads" It is his chance to make it and finally silence all those who said he would never make it. The next two stanzas he sings in opposite order when live which I think is more meaningful. "The day I tried to live I dangled from the power lines and let the martyrs stretch" In my younger days I was thinking that letting the Martyrs stretch was a metaphor within a metaphor and that he was talking about his balls. Which seems simplistic but if you think 2 to 3 levels deep on that it makes sense. But hanging from the power lines could simply mean he was being pulled apart by the different powers of the music industry (who would create a god out of him, hanging above) and also all those who have helped up to this point. Or maybe a delineation between him, the Industry, and the fans. But it still leaves something to be desired. So I guess the martyrs stretching could mean that he was attempting to negotiate the deal and since he was getting signed he was hanging above those who were trying to make it or had died trying. Those could be the Martyrs (MLB). And again the power lines are the filthy rich pigs of the music industry and their control. "I stole a thousand beggars change and gave it to the rich" This is simply and expansion on the previous stanza. The beggars are the masses and or all those supporting the band especially early on. It could be specifically the Punk and Alternative crowd which supported them up until they signed with their first album and their fan base decided SG sold out. Partially due to the production producers and mixing of the album. SG stole the support from that fan base to feed the rich pigs in the music industry. "One more time around" This is probably the one line that the existential purists use to relate meaning to the entire song. But after their fist album they signed with another company. So this is one more time around, they might get it right this time. But it also could mean something different for each stanza. However I always thought that due to their changing line up and struggles in the band itself, and the controlling factors of the music industry that Cornel himself was saying One More Time Around, and we can get out from under these Pigs and I can finally get back to writing from my soul instead of writing for the masses. Maybe we can make enough money to pay off our contracts. I would say this song or at least the words were written or tossed around during their second record deal about 1 album before it was put onto SuperUnknown. One more time around and maybe we can break free. Or at minimum start calling our own shots. "The words you say never seem to live up to the ones inside your head. The lives we make never seem to ever get us anywhere but dead" This is CC bringing himself back to human level for his own and our benefit. We can all relate to this, he isn't any better than us, he struggles with this even with a superstar status and during writing even this song. No matter how big or rich or superhuman he seems to get, he will die with nothing like the rest of us. Basically. This could get too long so, I am trying to just give the ideas here and let you run with them. (This could also be saying that he should have spoke his mind more clearly and overtly, before signing the deals. Or he should put more effort into his message no matter if he is under the umbrella of the pigs or not.) "The day I tried to live" AND "The day I tried to Win" both end with "I wallowed in the mud and blood with all the other pigs". It is important that he used the ending line with both of the stanza headers here. It is all encompassing this way. Obviously by this point he is directly talking about the Music industry pigs and the fact that he got a taste of their lifestyle and their morals, their destructiveness and anti-humanity... and seems to drive the point home that he wanted to taste it but then didn't like the taste. It could be on the level of sin and kid of a parallel to biting the apple. In some ways it could even be interpreted as a realization and apology all in one. "I woke the same as any other day you know I should have stayed in bed" Typical retrospect. If I had to do it over, knowing what I know now, I may not have sold my sold my soul, bitten the apple, signed the deal etc. I learned that I was a lier" The things he did to, more or less, acquiesce to those he had signed to. To those he might have thought to trust at first, the ones who might have known more. He had to please these people and in the process he had the realization that he was lying to himself and to the world by doing this. Whether going in with full knowledge or not. There is no excuse. He is calling himself out and taking responsibility. "I tried to live, live, just like you" I don't think that he is trying to relate himself to the entire human race here. Like that 'we are all just trying to live the best we can' So was I, just like you. I think this line is probably the most personal in the whole song and he is actually saying it to someone who had inspired him in life, in music or whatever. Maybe to the Martyrs. Maybe to those that died along the way, for the right or wrong reasons. Maybe to Dave of MLB. IDK. But it seems very personal. And who knows, maybe one more time around and he will get there eventually and make himself and those he looked up to, and all of us proud. He will again be able to be true to himself and write from his soul... which he seemed to be able to sneak into this song on a massively metaphoric level, though not as huge as the song White Rabbit. You decide, did he ever get there? |
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