Comments: 22

• Alice from Somewhere Down A Rabbit HoleAnxiety and depression on some level can’t be controlled - not with meds, meditation, support because if you really suffer - like an intense suffering from anxiety and depression - you know not to ever tell anyone how you really feel because at some point you figure out it just doesn’t go away. And why burden someone with something they can’t fix. - Sometimes we loop and keep returning to the things or people or habits that hurt us most because whatever act we did that we regret brought us some form of happiness or numbness. And then we punish ourselves intensely when we see what we did was destructive, see how it hurts other people and we hold the burden in our hand as to not inflict any more pain on people. It’s a deep, deep battle between who we know we are, our lack of self-control and deep empathy for everyone except ourselves. Having anxiety and depression along with a deep sense of empathy for others is lethal. I lost my love again I think is saying I lost the love for myself because I failed again and rather than burden anyone with it because of shame we bury it deep (in a desert) and we hesitate to share what’s going on for fear of being judged harshly like we judge ourselves. It’s just a burden in my hand minimizes what it looks like to others - we lead others to believe it’s no big deal when deep inside it’s an intense amount of pain. I lost my head again because we always go back to what relieves the deep pain. And it’s usually self-destructive. And when that deep pain doesn’t have anywhere to go and we don’t want to deal with it again, giving up seems like a logical option - which no one understands unless you have ever felt like this. The deep empathy we have for others cause us not to burden them with our pain or thoughts of self harm because that’s too much of a burden to give someone else - and we know that. So we slip away quietly without a word and hope it looks like an accident so no one blames themselves. We love everyone else - we just didn’t have that same love or forgiveness for ourself. Might sound messed up, but it’s my opinion questionable suicides have been planned for a while. It will happen when you least suspect it so it looks like an accident because those with a deep sense of empathy don’t want anyone to blame themselves after they are gone.
• Jones from UsSometimes songwriters write songs just because. There doesn’t have to be anything personal attached at all. We all try to find our own meaning in songs without being the author. Chris wrote for himself. He knew how his songs would be twisted and misunderstood. That was his ghost to wrestle with. He simply chose to keep writing until the pen gave out of ink…
• Jl from MinneapolisIn 1996, bit.ly/3PkxKbb, Guitarist Kim Thayil refers, with a full complement of irony, to "Burden in My Hand" as "The 'Hey Joe' of the '90s."
  
  The first time I went through the lyrics this is exactly what I thought: it's an updated take on Hey Joe, very apt for a Seattle band. But Cornell throws in enough images - "The moon is glued to a picture of heaven and all the little pigs have God" to force one to look at it from the perspective of slow, passive suicide, isolation, and self-hatred common to addiction. Is it really a person, or is it his relationship with life and with other people that he has killed? Is the "burden in my hand" a gun, or is it a (pill) bottle? The questions, "Would you lie for me?" and "Would you cry for me?" are convenient as rhymes, but the ending note for me is self-condemnation of the narrator's weakness. It's the kind of self-loathing that perpetuates an addict's destruction. As tragic as Hey Joe ever was.
• Matty Bones from St Louis CountyThe song is about a toxic relationship with a covert narcissist female. It is written sarcastically as her anthem. I shot my love today refers to the abuse. "Won't you cry for me" because they go around venting and blaming their target/partner and looking for sympathy from friends, relatives and especially other guys. "I lost my head again, won't you lie for me" is the expectation to adopt the narrative that the victim of the abuse is somehow the problem and they're just super great and nothing like their rage episodes ever happened. They can read people very well and have excellent people skills for manipulation. The phrase "follow me into the desert, as thirsty as you are" is about their assessment of the target's desires and using them to lead him into a toxic wasteland of gaslighting and abuse. The burden in his hand, well trust me she's a handful and definitely an anchor on his heart too as you can see by now. The song is not literal.
  
  Although the heroin interpretation makes a lot of sense too. This is what I hear though and its deeeep AF
• Marshall from TampaTo me it can apply to many things, but the author makes it clear it's his own fault. The desert is often used as the lonely place with no comforts. To me it's. about ruining Again the good in his life.
• Ksal09 from Houston, Tx@Mario & Jerry, I think your interpretation is spot on, especially learning more about his personal struggles. The beauty and talent in Cornell’s writing allows us to personally connect with each song.
  
  Not only does he allow the listener to hear their own story, but he also has an amazing way of making the listener feel as if we were in his shoes, actually feeling what he feels when writing and performing.
  
  Whether it’s addressing mental illness, addiction, love & heartbreak, life mistakes, or somewhere in between, I feel the best musicians can make you feel it all.
• Be Kind from Charlotte NcYah know from what I understand is Chris didn’t really do herion! He may of dabbled some but he was more of a drunk so he says …. But he didn’t follow the junkie life style or nothing….he drank n ate pills…..but Chris was brilliant, beautiful, kind, funny….and fn HOT!!! I miss him n knowing he will not be writing or singing anymore….
• Rob from Raleigh, NcDrives me nuts. Not EVERY song is about drugs. Not ALL songs are metaphors for addiction. This is storytelling plain and simple, no different from Jimi Hendrix singing about shooting his wife for cheating on him. Stop trying to read things into it that are not there.
• Gp from IllinoisThis song is about heroin. If you know, you know.
• Mario Flores from Miami, FloridaI always thought the song was about trying to maintain a relationship while depressed, and feeling the guilt of pulling your partner down with you, as for the “I shot my love today... I lost my head again...” part I always thought he was doing some word play by switching the two (I lost my love today... I shot my head again). As well as the “if you live you can fall to pieces and suffer with my ghost. Idk just my take on the song, definitely didn’t put two and two together tho now reading the lyrics again it’s clear my interpretation is way off lmao
• Jtfjr87 from AlabamaThis song speaks volumes about alcoholism.
• Alex From Canada from CanadaAnybody notice a tight relation between AIC Layne Stanley, and Burden in My Hand and Blow the Outside World songs ? He was a fond friend of Cornell, and his last days he refused to see anyone, slopping his last years down the hard-drugs addiction. Plus the video in the desert, with the dirty hand...
• Jerry from AlabamaReading all of these comments and seeing everyone's interpretation of what they hear is fascinating, and just shows the genius behind Chris Cornell's writing. When I hear this song, I hear a man singing about depression. Lamenting the fact that he's sabotaged yet another relationship because, in his own mind, he's unworthy of love. I may be completely off from what Chris intended the song to be, but that's what music is. It's personal, it's unintentional, and it's unique to each of us.
• Carmen from Little Rock ArKat, couldn't agree more, ALL of his lyrics are brilliant, but these lyrics paint a picture and tell such a valid story just in that one line. And btw, this song is NOT about a man shooting his wife, come on. I shot my love AGAIN , 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
  This song is about shooting heroin (in his case) or whatever the listeners' drug of choice-doesn't matter b/c what ever the drug, it always leads to a dead (dessert) and along the way, you will always run into the little piggies who have god and The moon is glued to a picture of heaven..... pure genius ! similarly: " You thought you made a man you better think again before my role defines you"
• Zoe from Auckland, New Zealandthis song is the best song in the world to listen to when you feel everything at once, and all the drugs hit you at once. His voice is heaven
• Kimberly from Landing, Njthe mornings close s out in the sunshine. love s held in the hands of the believers.
• Bloodaxe from Lincoln, NeTHis song is absolutely one of the PREMIER pain Rock guilt death songs ever... and Chris NAILS it. The melody is incredible, right when that chorus KICKS IN.... "I shot my love again, will you cry for me?"
  
  It's more intense than the Filter's "Hey Man, Nice Shot", and the Toadies "Possum Kingdom", both based on real events and locations. Cornell's song carries an urgency to it, where the other two great songs just creep up into your mind and say "wtf!"
  
  Anything Cornell does is GENIUS (check "Black Sun").
• Hebrew from St. Paul, MnMisery loves company. Period the end!
• Nick from Seattle, Albaniathe melody of this song is friken amazing, cornell is god
• Kat from Chicago, IlThis song is fantastic. I especially love "Where the moon is glued to a picture of heaven/
  And all the little pigs have god"
• Sunshine from Houston, TxI love this song. The emotion he exhibits is crazy. Soundgarden forever!!!
• Jena from Leavenworth, KsI can't believe no one has commented on this song yet. I think it's amazing!! You can almost picture this group jamming out in a garage, hoping to someday "make it big". Their sound is so fresh. I love it!

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