Snowblind
by Cold

Album: The Things We Can't Stop (2019)
Play Video

Songfacts®:

  • Cold took a long time climbing the mountain, going through lots of trials and tribulations before finally landing a record deal and releasing their first album in 1997. Their third album, Year of the Spider, was released in 2003 and earned them lots of active rock airplay and a devoted fan base known as the Cold Army. But it was also a trying time for lead singer Scooter Ward, who was trying to hold his family together while battling his demons that stemmed from his drug habit. The band ended up on long hiatuses and was dormant for most of the '00s. When Ward regrouped Cold for the 2019 album The Things We Can't Stop, he pulled from his darkest hours on some of the tracks, including "Snowblind," where he revisits a time when he was near death.

    "Play the music loud, my life is almost gone," Ward sings, recalling a time when he had let his drug habit consume him. "'Snowblind' was the worst-case scenario," he told Songfacts. "I went back to when I was an addict... I always knew it was going to kill me one day. So, 'Snowblind' is about when addiction is overtaking you, and my funeral happening in my mind: I'm going to go back home one day, and the people are going to carry me away."

    "It was very important to me to go that dark," he added. "Because not everything has a happy ending. I was like, Do I want to do this on that song? Do I want to basically just end it? And I did. I'll go on all the way snow blinded. That's what it's about, and some people just can't get out of it, and I understand that. Sometimes it just takes that impact and going that dark for people to feel it and come out of that dark place."
  • This is far from the first song to make the analogy between cocaine addiction and a blizzard (snow = cocaine). Black Sabbath and Styx both have songs called "Snowblind" that cover the same material.

Comments

Be the first to comment...

Editor's Picks

Susanna Hoffs - "Eternal Flame"

Susanna Hoffs - "Eternal Flame"They're Playing My Song

The Prince-penned "Manic Monday" was the first song The Bangles heard coming from a car radio, but "Eternal Flame" is closest to Susanna's heart, perhaps because she sang it in "various states of undress."

Did They Really Sing In That Movie?

Did They Really Sing In That Movie?Fact or Fiction

Bradley Cooper, Michael J. Fox, Rami Malek, Reese Witherspoon, Gwyneth Paltrow and George Clooney: Which actors really sang in their movies?

Linda Perry

Linda PerrySongwriter Interviews

Songwriting Hall of Famer Linda Perry talks about her songs "What's Up" and "Beautiful," her songwriting process, and her move into film music.

Martin Page

Martin PageSongwriter Interviews

With Bernie Taupin, Martin co-wrote the #1 hits "We Built This City" and "These Dreams." After writing the Pretty Woman song for Go West, he had his own hit with "In the House of Stone and Light."

Al Kooper

Al KooperSongwriter Interviews

Kooper produced Lynyrd Skynyrd, played with Dylan and the Stones, and formed BS&T.

Jason Newsted (ex-Metallica)

Jason Newsted (ex-Metallica)Songwriter Interviews

The former Metallica bassist talks about his first time writing a song with James Hetfield, and how a hand-me-down iPad has changed his songwriting.