Bury me softly in this womb
I give this part of me for you
Sand rains down and here I sit
Holding rare flowers
In a tomb, in bloom

Down in a hole and I don't know if I can be saved
See my heart I decorate it like a grave
You don't understand who they thought
I was supposed to be
Look at me now a man
Who won't let himself be

Down in a hole, feelin' so small
Down in a hole, losin' my soul
I'd like to fly, but my wings have been so denied

Down in a hole and they've put all the stones in their place
I've eaten the sun so my tongue
Has been burned of the taste
I have been guilty of kicking myself in the teeth
I will speak no more of my feelings beneath

Down in a hole, feelin' so small
Down in a hole, losin' my soul
I'd like to fly but my wings have been so denied

Bury me softly in this womb
Oh I want to be inside of you
I give this part of me for you
Oh I want to be inside of you
Sand rains down and here I sit
Holding rare flowers in a tomb (oh I want to be inside of you)
Oh I want to be inside

Down in a hole, feelin' so small
Down in a hole, losin' my soul
Down in a hole, feelin' so small
Down in a hole, outta control
I'd like to fly but my wings have been so denied


Lyrics submitted by Ice, edited by virtuallypainless, hbabe65, 50tbt, kurtstaley

Down In A Hole Lyrics as written by Jerry Cantrell

Lyrics © ROUND HILL CARLIN, LLC

Lyrics powered by LyricFind

Down In A Hole song meanings
Add Your Thoughts

182 Comments

sort form View by:
  • +12
    General Comment

    Yes, obviously about addcition.

    "It's to my long-time love. It's the reality of my life, the path I've chosen and in a weird way it kind of foretold where we are right now. It's hard for us both to understand.. that this life is not conducive to much success with long term relationships." Cantrell, who wrote this. NOT Staley.

    It's about a relationship, obviously. He's comparing the relationship to a tomb, but a pretty one. Human desire to escape and to survive. The verse ending with "I will speak no more of my feelings beneath" seems to be the proper way to argue with women. Just shutting up.

    "You don't know who they thought I was supposed to be" They being his friends, expecting him to party all night and fuck everyone, perhaps, something he had to give up. The line "Oh I want to be inside of you," could either refer to him wanting to be with her, or the urge to fuck that caused them to start dating in the first place, and a want for things to be like that again.

    Honestly, how the Hell is it OBVIOUSLY about addiction? I've seen that mentioned about most AiC songs here, yet rarely with any sort of back-up.

    Blind Opiuson July 05, 2002   Link
  • +5
    General Comment

    This song has nothing to do with addiction. I have no idea why, but people tend to find ridiculous ways to try and link lyrics with addiction simply because the writer was an addict. This has to do with the loss of a loved one, whether it be through an actual death or a perceived death. This man feels dead inside at the loss of his loved one. He's standing at the grave site holding onto rare flowers, waiting to throw them on top of her casket before they start shoveling the dirt on top of her. But...he feels like he's down there with her, dead..only longing to be buried in the tomb with her. He feels that the tomb would actually be a womb. Buried with her, he feels that he could actually bloom, that they could bloom...like seeds being planted.

    When he talks about eating the sun, she was his sun...he's feeling guilty of devouring every bit of her beauty. She was everything to him, his entire happiness. Once you lose a happiness like that, there's no way of tasting it again...that's how much she meant to him.

    DeborahJeanon June 09, 2012   Link
  • +5
    My Interpretation

    To me it's about a man who gives up in life. This man speaks from a grave, where he sits and watches how people throws sand over him. People brings him "strange" flowers and he doesn't understand why, maybe because he feels he let them down with what he became.

    Why people brings me flowers, if they didn't like what I became?

    And maybe the girl he loves is there and he says he would love to be with her

    "Bury me softly in this womb I give this part of me for you Sand rains down and here I sit Holding rare flowers In a tomb...in bloom"

    Leave me here alone, buried underground. just keep the good memories. Sand is falling over me (like being buried alive) Holding the flowers that people brought I'm in a tomb (where I speak from)

    "Down in a hole and I don't know if I can be saved See my heart I decorate it like a grave You don't understand who they Thought I was supposed to be Look at me now a man Who won't let himself be"

    In a grave (where I am), maybe I could be saved, but i don't know really. Don't care either. Look at my heart, I decorated it (maybe with other people expectations) so they remember me. You won't understand what they wanted me to be. Look at me, grown up, old. A man who is not what he wanted to be, and now it's too late.

    "Down in a hole, feelin' so small Down in a hole, losin' my soul I'd like to fly, But my wings have been so denied"

    In the grave, feeling like I became nothing In the grave, letting my life go, maybe dying. Giving up. I'd like to be another/happy/free/me. But they didn't let me.

    "Down in a hole and they've put all The stones in their place I've eaten the sun so my tongue Has been burned of the taste I have been guilty Of kicking myself in the teeth I will speak no more of my feelings beneath"

    In the grave, they already buried me and left, they gave up. So many times I was/did what i wanted to, but had to swallow the moment to not dissapoint them. It even hurted me. I am guilty of letting them do this to me. I won't say anything else about what i feel or think.

    "Down in a hole, feelin' so small Down in a hole, losin' my soul I'd like to fly, But my wings have been so denied"

    In the grave, feeling like I became nothing In the grave, letting my life go, maybe dying. Giving up. I'd like to be another/happy/free/me. But they didn't let me.

    "Bury me softly in this womb Oh I want to be inside of you I give this part of me for you Oh I want to be inside of you Sand rains down and here I sit Holding rare flowers (Oh I want to be inside of you) In a tomb...in bloom Oh I want to be inside..."

    Put me kindly in the tomb, I'd love to be inside of you, as a good memory, or maybe as a "normal" couple I leave the good parts of me to you. I'd love to be inside of you The sand falls all over me as I watch you bury me. With this strange flowers people brought, don't know why. In the grave. Oh!, I'd love to be with you.

    555STion March 29, 2014   Link
  • +4
    General Comment

    I believe this song is about his relationship with heroin. It is known as the " jealous lover". You have to give most of yourself to the drug as an addict. You can not have your life more than 8 hours without it or the sickness comes. It keeps you from being and doing the things you once thought of as hopes and dreams. As you become a slave to it, you know and feel your doom but feel helpless to fight it. It very much becomes who you are and you accept it. There is another saying that heroin addicts say. Its "live by the needle. Die by the needle." I was a heroin addict for 8 years. This song always touches me because I personally understand the struggles with that addiction. I made it out of that hole. Bless his heart , he didn't and he knew he wasn't. This song always reminds me of what I went through and gives me strength today. It doesn't matter if Cantrell wrote it, You can tell a lot about a person by who they are or hang around with. I believe they all had issues with addictions. I do not believe that there is a golden boy in that band!

    Angeliaxoxoon April 13, 2011   Link
  • +3
    General Comment

    It hurts so much to listen to AIC songs like this one. Down in a hole, Nutshell, and Rotten Apple seem to foreshadow his death, and it just makes me cry to hear them. This is a great song (one of my personal favorites), but it bears so many hurtful feelings that I can hardly tolerate to listen to Layne's haunting vocals and lyrics.

    Bleeding_Freakon June 08, 2002   Link
  • +3
    General Comment

    Not to be crude or anything, PoPn152, but Hendrix died of suffocation due to inhalation of vomit. Not to take away from your point though...it's a tragic thing.

    MatthiasMaximuson June 14, 2002   Link
  • +3
    General Comment

    A lot of talk about Hendrix, but he also had Hoon in the mix too. Shannon Hoon from Blind Melon died of a cocaine overdose. There was speculation regarding which drug he overdosed on....but if you go to their official web page it says that the autopsy reported a cocaine overdose. Also, check out VH1 behind the music.

    bobilla123on July 25, 2002   Link
  • +3
    General Comment

    This is possibly the most somber song in the history of mankind.

    KillViacomon August 18, 2009   Link
  • +2
    General Comment

    It seems to me like he's put himslf in a situation he can't get out of and he now regrets it. He says he's down in a hole and talks of being burried but he also says "I like to fly but my wings have been so denied" So it's like he's trying to make it better but he's just to far down!

    Cornerstoneon May 02, 2002   Link
  • +2
    General Comment

    This is my fav song by AIC. RIP Layne you are truly missed...

    MuDvAyNeFrEeK420on August 07, 2002   Link

Add your thoughts

Log in now to tell us what you think this song means.

Don’t have an account? Create an account with SongMeanings to post comments, submit lyrics, and more. It’s super easy, we promise!

More Featured Meanings

Album art
The Night We Met
Lord Huron
This is a hauntingly beautiful song about introspection, specifically about looking back at a relationship that started bad and ended so poorly, that the narrator wants to go back to the very beginning and tell himself to not even travel down that road. I believe that the relationship started poorly because of the lines: "Take me back to the night we met:When the night was full of terrors: And your eyes were filled with tears: When you had not touched me yet" So, the first night was not a great start, but the narrator pursued the relationship and eventually both overcame the rough start to fall in love with each other: "I had all and then most of you" Like many relationships that turn sour, it was not a quick decline, but a gradual one where the narrator and their partner fall out of love and gradually grow apart "Some and now none of you" Losing someone who was once everything in your world, who you could confide in, tell your secrets to, share all the most intimate parts of your life, to being strangers with that person is probably one of the most painful experiences a person can go through. So Painful, the narrator wants to go back in time and tell himself to not even pursue the relationship. This was the perfect song for "13 Reasons Why"
Album art
Gentle Hour
Yo La Tengo
This song was originally written by a guy called Peter Gutteridge. He was one of the founders of the "Dunedin Sound" a musical scene in the south of New Zealand in the early 80s. From there it was covered by "The Clean" one of the early bands of that scene (he had originally been a member of in it's early days, writing a couple of their best early songs). The Dunedin sound, and the Clean became popular on american college radio in the mid to late 80s. I guess Yo La Tengo heard that version. Great version of a great song,
Album art
No Surprises
Radiohead
Same ideas expressed in Fitter, Happier are expressed in this song. We're told to strive for some sort of ideal life, which includes getting a good job, being kind to everyone, finding a partner, getting married, having a couple kids, living in a quiet neighborhood in a nice big house, etc. But in Fitter, Happier the narrator(?) realizes that it's incredibly robotic to live this life. People are being used by those in power "like a pig in a cage on antibiotics"--being pacified with things like new phones and cool gadgets and houses while being sucked dry. On No Surprises, the narrator is realizing how this life is killing him slowly. In the video, his helmet is slowly filling up with water, drowning him. But he's so complacent with it. This is a good summary of the song. This boring, "perfect" life foisted upon us by some higher powers (not spiritual, but political, economic, etc. politicians and businessmen, perhaps) is not the way to live. But there is seemingly no way out but death. He'd rather die peacefully right now than live in this cage. While our lives are often shielded, we're in our own protective bubbles, or protective helmets like the one Thom wears, if we look a little harder we can see all the corruption, lies, manipulation, etc. that is going on in the world, often run by huge yet nearly invisible organizations, corporations, and 'leaders'. It's a very hopeless song because it reflects real life.
Album art
Punchline
Ed Sheeran
Ed Sheeran sings about missing his former partner and learning important life lessons in the process on “Punchline.” This track tells a story of battling to get rid of emotions for a former lover, whom he now realized might not have loved him the same way. He’s now caught between accepting that fact and learning life lessons from it and going back to beg her for another chance.
Album art
Page
Ed Sheeran
There aren’t many things that’ll hurt more than giving love a chance against your better judgement only to have your heart crushed yet again. Ed Sheeran tells such a story on “Page.” On this track, he is devastated to have lost his lover and even more saddened by the feeling that he may never move on from this.