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Follow me into the desert
As thirsty as you are
Crack a smile and cut your mouth
And drown in alcohol
'Cause down below the truth is lying
Beneath the riverbed
So quench yourself and drink the water
That flows below her head
Oh no there she goes
Out in the sunshine the sun is mine
I shot my love today would you cry for me
I lost my head again would you lie for me
I left her in the sand just a burden in my hand
I lost my head again would you cry for me
Close your eyes and bow your head
I need a little sympathy
'Cause fear is strong and love's for everyone
Who isn't me
So kill your health and kill yourself
And kill everything you love
And if you live you can fall to pieces
And suffer with my ghost
Just a burden in my hand
Just an anchor on my heart
Just a tumor in my head
And I'm in the dark
So follow me into the desert
As desperate as you are
Where the moon is glued to a picture of heaven
And all the little pigs have God
As thirsty as you are
Crack a smile and cut your mouth
And drown in alcohol
'Cause down below the truth is lying
Beneath the riverbed
So quench yourself and drink the water
That flows below her head
Oh no there she goes
Out in the sunshine the sun is mine
I shot my love today would you cry for me
I lost my head again would you lie for me
I left her in the sand just a burden in my hand
I lost my head again would you cry for me
Close your eyes and bow your head
I need a little sympathy
'Cause fear is strong and love's for everyone
Who isn't me
So kill your health and kill yourself
And kill everything you love
And if you live you can fall to pieces
And suffer with my ghost
Just a burden in my hand
Just an anchor on my heart
Just a tumor in my head
And I'm in the dark
So follow me into the desert
As desperate as you are
Where the moon is glued to a picture of heaven
And all the little pigs have God
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What the fuck, really? It's "where all the little pigs have gone"
There are several metaphors in the song:
Desert: California, HollyWood, Fame.
Riverbed:California, HollyWood, Fame It is distinct from the Desert because instead of a physical place it is where the river or "her" resides.
Thirst: Our greed and ambition, What would we do to be famous?
Water/Sun: Success, the achievement of fame and fortune.
She/Her: Fame, the media, the non stop torrent of new stars being born and dying eternally.
The Truth: You are a whore who will sacrifice yourself for money.
So I think what we have is a description of Chris following Kurt Cobain into the spot light. Its a warning for what it will do to you. So smile for the camera because you will have to go home and drink yourself to sleep. The burden in his hand is either the pen he writes lyrics with or the Mic.
Don't you want to be in the dark? Drink the water.
Follow me into the desert
As thirsty as you are
Crack a smile and cut your mouth
And drown in alcohol
'Cause down below the truth is lying
Beneath the riverbed
So quench yourself and drink the water
That flows below her head
i think this is the truth is lying under the riverbed, and the water flows below here head because she is dead and floating down the river. the desert/thirst part is just filler, but still has a sarcastic meaning.
Oh no there she goes
Out in the sunshine the sun is mine
I shot my love today would you cry for me
I lost my head again would you lie for me
I left her in the sand just a burden in my hand
I lost my head again would you cry for me
he shot his girlfriend in a outbusrt of anger, and he left here in the sand, by the above mentioned river. he feels liek shit, as he knows he lsot it..i think soemone found out and he is pleeding for sympthapy and that he will lie to the cops.
Close your eyes and bow your head
I need a little sympathy
'Cause fear is strong and love's for everyone
Who isn't me
again, he feels like shit, wants sympathy..he feels that sence he is prone to voilent outbursts, he should not be allowed to love.
So kill your health and kill yourself
And kill everything you love
And if you live you can fall to pieces
And suffer with my ghost
the shity feeling is runing his health..mabey he is drinking-drowning in acholcol- and he wants to kill him self, becasue he killed the one he loved. again, i think he is pleeding to a 3rd person. mabey the 3rd person was the girls actuall boyfriend, he had a crush on her, told her, got rejected, and fliped out.
Just a burden in my hand
Just an anchor on my heart
Just a tumor in my head
And I'm in the dark
he always looks at his hand and remembers the blood, again, he feels like he should not be alowed to love anymore, so his heart is anchored. he also thinks about it...tumor in my head...
So follow me into the desert
As desperate as you are
Where the moon is glued to a picture of heaven
And all the little pigs have God
mabey the desert is his way of coping. desert = alone? the last bit i also take as a bit of filler and scarstiac meaning.
i use to flip out in school, and it definatly lead to me being outsasted...and i cant blame them! so, that could have biesed it...i jsut started listining to soundgarden, but after listining to nirvana, i think each and everyone of us will take a different meaning...its a unervisal song with many meanings, liek many nirvana songs...
and its NOT about fuckign herion...
Below is a copy of the lyrics, and my interpretation. As a songwriter, lyricist and producer of 40 years, I have a good understanding of where the pain of many artists come to write about... and remember, this was in the days of the "Seattle Grunge Invasion", where most of the big musicians were into heroin. (Layne Staley, Kurt Cobain, others):
+++++++
"Follow me into the desert
As thirsty as you are
Crack a smile and cut your mouth
And drown in alcohol"
---- he's asking you to follow his story of desperation regarding his addiction, his "desert". If you "smile" you "cut" your mouth because the smile is fake. You are desperate too. Drowning in alcohol is only the legal "painkiller" you can buy freely, which is why the 30% of the world population can be considered alcoholics. Drowning in booze is just another path to self destruction he knows he's on, and his "go to" solution if he can't find his heroin fix. He never admitted to using "heroin" and made his comments about his addictions strictly about "alcohol", but this song was released after his friend Kurt Cobain committed suicide, and Layne Staley overdosed, along with several other close friends he saw dropping due to addictions.
"'Cause down below the truth is lying
Beneath the riverbed
So quench yourself and drink the water
That flows below her head
----the "riverbed" is the source of Life, and below that, even if the riverbed is dry, you can dig "below" for water and find "truth", but there is a "lie, a deceit" that "flows below her head". What is the first big hint at what the song is in this phrase, "her head" --it means the tip of the syringe needle. He's saying you think you'll find satisfaction and relief in heroin. You think you're drinking water of "truth", but notice it's "below her head". Who is "her"? Heroin. Also, take notice that the "truth" is "BENEATH" the riverbed. It's not the real water flowing in the riverbed, its the dried up riverbed that forces you to dig to find release to your emotional pain. -----
"Oh no there she goes
Out in the sunshine
The sun is mine, sun is mine
----- I am shooting up, the day is not rainy because I'm high and the "sun is mine"... said TWICE.
"I shot my love today
Would you cry for me
I lost my head again
Would you lie for me
--- then he actually states he "shot" (shoot up) his "love" (heroin or other drug). Will you cry for him and his lack of control, and spiral to these depths of self-destruction? He lost his head, and if you were his friend or "hanger-on", would you "lie" for him?
"Close your eyes and bow your head
I need a little sympathy
'Cause fear is strong and love's for everyone
Who isn't me
---- "close your eyes" to his addictions, his failures, bow your head and say a prayer for him because he "needs a little sympathy". His fear is strong, and he thinks everyone else gets love that "isn't him".
"Kill your health and kill yourself
And kill everything you love
And if you live you can fall to pieces
And suffer with my ghost
---- If you follow his path, you will "kill your health and kill yourself and kill everything you love". If you "live", you will still "fall to pieces" and suffer with his own "ghost", predicting his own death, and if you're on his same path of self destruction, you will "suffer" with the memory of him dying, regardless of his rockstar status, he died unhappy, addicted, and his addictions will be his "ghost" following you.
I shot my love today
Would you cry for me
I lost my head again
Would you lie for me
I left her in the sand
Just a burden in my hand
I lost my head again
Would you cry for me
Just a burden in my hand
Just an anchor on my heart
It's just a tumor in my head
And I'm in the dark
----- "Just a burden in my hand" is his bottle, his syringe, his simple drugs he can fit in his "hand". It's an anchor on his heart because he doesn't want to be addicted (he's now sober). He looked at his addiction as a "tumor in his head" and that he was in the "dark" about it.
So follow me into the desert
As desperate as you are
Where the moon is glued
To a picture of heaven
And all the little pigs have God
----- He's daring you to follow him into his "desert" (his desolation of addiction), as "desperate as you are" (he's relating to the pain that lures you into self-medicating with alcohol and illicit drugs). The "moon", described symbolically as a portal to a fake "heaven", and that all the people who worship money, success, fame, and beyond that, the conservative mindset of those who "judge" those addicts for their lack of strength or ability to fight off their demons by going to church, praying to God, yet still living a materialistic "piggish" life. (That's not hard to connect if you look at conservatives, how they use Jesus as their frontman, yet do nothing that Jesus would do. Be religious, and you can be as rich as Mitt Romney)
Oh no there she goes
Out in the sunshine
The sun is mine, the sun is mine
I shot my love today
Would you cry for me, yeah
I lost my head again
Would you lie for me
I left her in the sand
Just a burden in my hand
I lost my head again
Would you cry for me
Would you cry for me
--- this last line "I left her in the sand" means he beat his addictions, they were just a "burden" in his hand. Now he's sober and having to deal with his demons without medication, booze, so the pain could be greater, but either way, would you cry for Chris Cornell?
Would you cry for yourself?
Chris Cornell is a prophet in the same realm as Jimi Hendrix and Kurt Cobain.