The song, written by guitarist/co-vocalist Jerry Cantrell, concerns the late lead singer of Mother Love Bone, Andrew Wood, who died of a heroin overdose in 1990. In the liner notes of 1999's Music Bank box...
Know me broken by my master
Teach thee on child of love hereafter
Into the flood again
Same old trip it was back then
So I made a big mistake
Try to see it once my way
Drifting body it's sole desertion
Flying not yet quite the notion
Into the flood again
Same old trip it was back then
So I made a big mistake
Try to see it once my way
Into the flood again
Same old trip it was back then
So I made a big mistake
Try to see it once my way
Am I wrong?
Have I run too far to get home?
Have I gone?
And left you here alone?
If I would, could you?
Teach thee on child of love hereafter
Into the flood again
Same old trip it was back then
So I made a big mistake
Try to see it once my way
Drifting body it's sole desertion
Flying not yet quite the notion
Into the flood again
Same old trip it was back then
So I made a big mistake
Try to see it once my way
Into the flood again
Same old trip it was back then
So I made a big mistake
Try to see it once my way
Am I wrong?
Have I run too far to get home?
Have I gone?
And left you here alone?
If I would, could you?
Lyrics submitted by Ice
Track duration: 03:28
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Then of course the chorus is Andrew's "response". "Into the flood again" is the moment the needle/heroin goes into the bloodstream and "Same old trip it was back then" is the fact he can't replicate that high the first time he used and every time he uses, it's just the same old high. "So I made a big mistake" is Wood admitting he screwed up using heroin and regrets it while "Try to see it once my way" is the idea that he tried but couldn't kick it 100% and to support him (through rehab or whatever) instead of running him down because heroin is a beast to kick.
"Am I wrong?" is a the question Andrew asking about in response to the entire song (sort of a way to ask "you see my point in all this") while "Have I run too far to get home?" is the presumption has he went to far with his addiction and either (a). are you kicking him out of your life because of his drug use OR (b). he knows he's as good as dead and wonders if there is a remote chance he can get better. "Have I gone? And left you here alone?" is the idea of Wood asking if his death really means you are all alone without him and if you really truly miss him.
"If I would, could you?" is Andrews challenge to others getting off the heroin due to seeing him dying because of it.
I heard Jerry once on a radio station and he explained a lot of his songs and finds it funny when he hears people overanalyze his music. He brought up "Rooster" and "Would?" and went on to explain it the words pretty much line up what he was trying to say without any real hidden message.
The best thing is it can easily be interpreted different ways depending on listener and mood. Killer song.
"Into the flood again" seems like he is talking about the rush of heroin.
So I wonder if aside from events and practices that the song may relate to, if on a higher level it's about going down into the great hole of no return, whether it is addiction or satanism.
"I am the light of the world, Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of live" JN 8:12
To me it's all about my married girlfriend and her addiction to having sex with different men. She knows it's wrong, risking everything she has. Her husband doesnt know but I do, I don't like it but I have to live with it or leave her. She pleads with me when I hurt to please see things her way. The addiction is like H, she battles with it. It will get the best of her, she knows, she wants it more than she wants her current life and will sacrifice all. She knows I am the only one who understands her reasons and ways, the one I love and forgive, she loves that I don't judge her, My Love for her is unconditional.
Also, the whole "Am I wrong..." part is the narrator question whether or not they've made too many mistakes to ever live a happy or normal life. "Have I run too far to get home?" = "Have I done more damage than I can repair?". Just a quick interpretation, hopefully someone else here has a similar view.