The Supernatural Meaning Behind “4th Of July” by Soundgarden

Listening to “4th Of July” by Soundgarden, one might think Chris Cornell had something patriotic on his mind. Yet the gloomy track appearing on Soundgarden’s 1994 grunge masterpiece, Superunknown, was inspired by a supernatural hallucination.

Behind the Lyrics

In the opening verse, Cornell uses a shower as a baptismal metaphor, but the mood feels like the opposite of being reborn.

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,
I thought I was the only one, but that was just a lie.

Instead of a baptism, Cornell was enduring a bad acid trip. “One time I was on acid, and there were voices ten feet behind my head,” Cornell said in 1994. “The whole time I’d be walking, they’d be talking behind me. It actually made me feel good, because I felt like I was with some people.”

’Cause I heard it in the wind,
And I saw it in the sky,
I thought it was the end,
I thought it was the Fourth of July.

However, this isn’t Independence Day. Cornell’s hallucinations are apocalyptic here, and the singer is gripped by paranoia. Soon, Jesus, who “tries to crack a smile,” is buried “beneath another shovel load.” And Cornell’s guitar riff, one of his finest, repeats and descends inescapably in a downward spiral of gloom.

Chris Cornell Explained “4th Of July” in More Depth

Cornell further explained the song’s inspiration: “It was kinda like a dream, though, where I’d wake up and look and focus once in a while and realize there was no one there… ‘4th of July’ is pretty much about that day. You wouldn’t get that if you read it.”

Biblical themes are nothing new to Cornell’s songwriting, most notably in “Jesus Christ Pose”, from the band’s breakout album, Badmotorfinger. You can also spot the heavy blues DNA of Black Sabbath and Led Zeppelin in Soundgarden’s music. And the supernatural themes continue in “4th Of July”.

But now I’m in control, now I’m in the fallout,
Once asleep, but now I stand.
And I still remember your sweet everything,
Light a Roman candle and hold it in your hand.