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Shower in the dark day
Clean sparks diving down
Cool in the waterway
Where the baptized drown
Naked in the cold sun
Breathing life like fire
Thought I was the only one
But that was just a lie
[Chorus]
Cause I heard it in the wind
And I saw it in the sky
And I thought it was the end
And I thought it was the 4th of July
Pale in the flare light
The scared light cracks and disappears
And leads the scorched ones here
And everywhere no one cares
The fire is spreading
And no one wants to speak about it
Down in the hole
Jesus tries to crack a smile
Beneath another shovel load
[Chorus]
Now I'm in control
Now I'm in the fall out
Once asleep but now I stand
And I still remember
Your sweet everything
Light a roman candle
And hold it in your hand
[Chorus]
Clean sparks diving down
Cool in the waterway
Where the baptized drown
Naked in the cold sun
Breathing life like fire
Thought I was the only one
But that was just a lie
[Chorus]
Cause I heard it in the wind
And I saw it in the sky
And I thought it was the end
And I thought it was the 4th of July
Pale in the flare light
The scared light cracks and disappears
And leads the scorched ones here
And everywhere no one cares
The fire is spreading
And no one wants to speak about it
Down in the hole
Jesus tries to crack a smile
Beneath another shovel load
[Chorus]
Now I'm in control
Now I'm in the fall out
Once asleep but now I stand
And I still remember
Your sweet everything
Light a roman candle
And hold it in your hand
[Chorus]
Lyrics submitted by jt, edited by Mellow_Harsher
Track duration: 05:09
"4th of July" as written by Chris Cornell
Lyrics © Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC
Lyrics powered by LyricFind
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Other than that, a great song. I love the deepness of the riff and the climax of the song, it provokes the imagery it is supposed to I guess!
Now follow me on this, but if you think of a war veteran with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, what do you
think they feel on the 4th of July? Fireworks are a little cliched of being reminiscent of gunfire. The noise will often take a soldier right back to those awful days:
"And I heard it in the wind
And I saw it in the sky"
this would make this veteran consider the similarities between the sound of gunfire and the sound of fireworks. But is the relationship just physical?
Fireworks are THE symbol of American pride. They stand for all American values. i.e. freedom and justice.
On the other hand, guns are a symbol of war, which is seen as having the qualities of oppresion and unjust killing.
These two symbols are contrasted against eachother.
Back to the veteran, when he's hearing the fireworks, he's thinkinng of war
"And I thought it was the end,
I thought it was the 4th of July"
He's thinking: "I thought I heard war, but I really just heard American Pride."
And that's where the irony comes from. America, and all its core values are built on the exact opposite OF those values. America derives its peace from unnecessary bloodshed, and its justice from its unjustified violence.
So from the perspective of the veteran(and who should understand Amercan pride better?), these two symbols have a remarkable resemblance both aurally, AND in their meaning.
that's why I like this song. because the symbols are both aural, they lend themselves well to some intense imagery.
but anyway, that's what I get from the lyrics. If Chris Cornell says it's about an acid trip then that's what it is.
Whether about a nuclear fallout or an acid trip, this song is in no way shape or form referencing the Bible or apocalypse.
The world is going to end eventually and when it does it certainly won't go down the way the Bible says it will.
It was written around the time that hyper-partisan politics were really starting to spin out of control in Washington. Nobody was really all that interested in debate any longer, just about demonizing the opposition, and the public in general, as well as the international reputation of the nation suffered for it. Things have only gotten worse since then...
I always thought of this song as a man looking at the country around him, remembering when things were different/better in his youth, being driven to sadness that it's all 'blown up' on itself (figuratively), and maybe longing just a little for a return to the way things were.