Like a Stone is a song by Audioslave, released as the second single from their eponymous debut studio album Audioslave in January 21, 2003. The band’s singer, songwriter, Chris Cornell, explains that Like a Stone is a song about focusing on the afterlife that you’d expect, rather than the normal monotheistic approach: you work very hard all your lives to be a good person, a person moral, fair and generous, and then you go to hell anyway.
The melancholic tone and certain parts of the lyrics of Like a Stone have led some to question whether Cornell wrote the song about the late Alice in Chains singer Layne Staley, who died in April 2002. Cornell has denied this, saying:
“No. I’m not one of those guys where something happens and then I’m running, ‘Ooh, 9/11, and now it’s 9/12, let me write about it.
I wrote the lyrics before I died. … It’s very easy to misinterpret those things, but I don’t usually sit down and plan to write about a specific topic.
Tracklist:
- Like a Stone
Like a Stone by Audioslave Lyrics
On a cobweb afternoon
In a room full of emptiness
By a freeway I confess
I was lost in the pages
Of a book full of death
Reading how we’ll die alone
And if we’re good, we’ll lay to rest
Anywhere we want to go
In your house, I long to be
Room by room, patiently
I’ll wait for you there
Like a stone
I’ll wait for you there
Alone
And on my deathbed I will pray
To the gods and the angels
Like a pagan to anyone
Who will take me to heaven
To a place I recall
I was there so long ago
The sky was bruised
The wine was bled
And there you led me on
In your house, I long to be
Room by room, patiently
I’ll wait for you there
Like a stone
I’ll wait for you there
Alone
Alone
And on I read
Until the day was gone
And I sat in regret
Of all the things I’ve done
For all that I’ve blessed
And all that I’ve wronged
In dreams until my death
I will wander on
In your house, I long to be
Room by room, patiently
I’ll wait for you there
Like a stone
I’ll wait for you there
Alone
Alone
Songwriters: Chris Cornell, Brad Wilk, Timothy Commerford, Tom Morello
The music video for Like a Stone was written and directed by Meiert Avis, produced by Oualid Mouaness, and edited by Jim Rhoads. As of October 9, 2022, the music video has reached over 1 billion views on YouTube. It is set in an old Spanish mansion on Silver Lake in Los Angeles, where Jimi Hendrix once lived and wrote. Commerford‘s 1-year-old son Xavier appeared in the video. It shows the band performing inside the mansion where they also set up a recording booth.
AUDIOSLAVE
Chris Cornell: lead vocals, acoustic guitar
Tom Morello: lead guitar
Tim Commerford: bass, backing vocals
Brad Wilk: drums
Chris Cornell (July 20, 1964 – May 18, 2017).
