Like a Stone

According to Audioslave frontman Chris Cornell, who wrote the lyric, "Like A Stone" is about death, and finding the afterlife through means other than the traditional monotheistic way of thinking. "It's a guy sitting in a hotel room contemplating death," he said in an interview. "Where you go, what it means, and all the different possibilities. And then coming up with an image he likes, going with the philosophy of, maybe when you die, if you've been good enough in your life, you get to go somewhere you remember that's really cool."

Audioslave formed when Zach de la Rocha left Rage Against The Machine. The remaining members hooked up with Soundgarden lead singer Chris Cornell to create the band. "Like A Stone" was their second single, following "Cochise." It's one of the group's most popular songs, earning lots of airplay on rock radio and going to #1 on the Modern Rock chart.

If you thought this was a love song, take comfort in knowing that Audioslave bass player Tim Commerford did too, figuring the guy in the song was waiting for his true love. But when he asked, Chris Cornell told him the song is about an old man waiting for death. He sits in a house alone after all his friends and family have passed on before him, waiting to be reunited with them. "I got saddened about what he's singing about," Commerford said. "I'm picturing this man in a rocking chair waiting to die." With a new understanding of how Chris Cornell writes, Commerford had another listen to the Soundgarden catalog to suss out the deeper meanings. "Cornell fooled me," he said. "I thought some of the things he was singing about were trivial, but they're never trivial. He's really deep."