“That song is a parody of the sexual innuendos of disco records. Instead of beating about the bush, I decided to be bold, to actually come out and say, ‘Yeah, I’m gonna fuck’. I guess it was good to get it out of my system so that I’ll never write something like that again.”Chris Cornell (1071)

“That song isn’t about sex, it’s not a penis fixation song, but it is certainly very direct. It’s basically saying how there are days when I want to grab some rich broker and rip his head off.”Chris Cornell (1071)

“It’s simply a road song written on tour.”Chris Cornell (1071)

“Only the lyrics of ‘New Damage’, which are about how the American people have become unbelievably complacent about the way that the US government is eroding more and more basic human rights, could be described as particularly direct.”Chris Cornell (1066)

“‘Holy Water’ attacks not only televangelists but anyone who tries to convince you that you can’t lead a fully satisfied life unless you conform to their ideas. I find that attitude really insulting.”Chris Cornell (1066)

“Which is about pissing in the wind… and enjoying it.”Chris Cornell (1072)

“Like ‘HIV Baby’ was a song I wrote after something that Ben said about Kim not wanting to drink off his beer, and that became song lyrics because I liked it, because it was funny and cool and related to this weird generational panic about AIDS. It’s just image provoking, evoking weird little phrases.”Chris Cornell (1072)

“I had all the music and was recording a demo arrangement in my basement. And when I came upstairs, I heard a thud against the window, and it was a female robin that had fallen into the window and broke her neck, and was just laying there. I didn’t know what to do. So I ended up smashing her with a brick, putting her out of her misery. I didn’t want to sit there and watch her suffer. Then when I went back down to finish recording, I decided that would be the lyrics to the song. As much as it sounds like I’m singing about a person and the metaphor is sort of the bird in flight and then [it] dies … it was literal.”Chris Cornell (1061)

“I don’t really remember exactly where the phrase ‘Keep it off my wave’ came from.; to me it was just sort of the idea of territorial pissing. There was a band called the Surf Punks, and they had this really simple line they would repeat over and over again: ‘My beach! Off my beach!’ Just to reduce the attitude of a surfer to that simplicity—that’s what I was thinking.”Chris Cornell (1064)