I know all your graces
Chris Cornell
Someday will flower
In the sweet sunshower
Today, when my car was slowly overheating along a heavily congested highway, I received a text from a friend which says: Patay na Chris Cornell (Chris Cornell is dead). It was that simple. Then I appallingly replied: haaaaaaa??? It was like getting a news from someone who died very close to me but I never even met this person. He’s music simply moved me and I was blessed to hear most of it. Though I’d be apathetic hearing such news, this one made me write this article.
In 1998, I bought a compilation album of Soundgarden (Chris Cornell was lead vocalist) entitled A-sides. Though it carried most of their hits like Outshined, The Day I Tried To Live and Burden In My Hand I didn’t appreciate most of it because at that time I was listening to heavier music like Pantera and Sepultura. But it was also at that time that Great Expectations was released in theaters and boy I freaking loved the movie and the soundtrack.
When I heard Chris Cornell’s Sunshower playing at the background where Finn Bell (Ethan Hawke) arrived at Paradiso Perduto Mansion to meet her childhood crush Estella (Gwyneth Paltrow), I told myself this song could be my all time favorite. Even to this date, the first strum of the guitar intro would take me to the past and make me feel introspective. From that day on, I became Chris Cornell’s fan and bought his solo album Euphoria Morning.
From that day on, I always thought I wish I had his talent in writing and singing. His vocal range is impeccable and it seems impossible to hear something like it ever again. His lyrics were highly poetic and often times cryptic. One song I liked in Euphoria Morning was Wave Goodbye and is probably the most straightforward song he ever made. It was for his friend who died at that time, whose name is Jeff Buckley who drowned swimming in Mississippi River.
I could relate to most of his songs primarily because it sounded melancholic and depressive. I remember listening to Preaching The End of the World and just sulk in my room. It is gloomy and you imagination just starts to run wild with the lyrics. His multi-octave range is freakish in nature. I tried to imitate it once and I will never do it again.
As the news of Chris’ death would spread like wild fire, I simply wanted to thank his soul for having influence in my life. As thoughts of him lingers, I realized that this is somehow an “end of an era” scenario. Guys like Kurt Cobain, Layne Staley and Scott Weiland started all this phenomenal “grunge scene” and has now seeing its final chapters. Many would probably think that Chris Cornell could’ve done more but I think that this guy totally maxed out. This guy made a mark in peoples lives. So comes the questions that if my time would come, would I have maxed out to? And though it may sound cliche, we will never have another Chris Cornell in this lifetime.