Down In A Hole

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.

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.

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.

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!

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.

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.

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.

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

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!

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