"Down In A Hole" as written by and Jerry Cantrell....
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
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" as written by Jerry Cantrell
Lyrics © BMG Rights Management
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"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.
its a fact that u are wrong,,cantrell was interviewed about this song..it has nothing to do with layne or drugs..its about his greatest female love and alll the things u suffer in a relationship..anger, jealousy, loss etc
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.
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.
wrong,,this song is about one of jerry cantrells greatest loves of his life...its about anger, jealousy, regret and all the things u suffer in a crazy relationship,,but u are right it has nothing to do with layne staley or drugs,,cantrell was interviewd and quoted about this song..i heard it on sirius xm
YEs, it is tru that cantrell wrote much of the music that AIC played, BUT, Layne wrote a vast majority of the lyrics. This is also beside the point however, seeing as how Cantrell ALSO had a drug addiction.
By the way, anyone who wants to hear more of staley's genius should check out Mad Season, they kick ass (Staley was vocalist for this band...)
"Bury me softly in this womb
I give this part of me for you"
Jerry's mother speaking. This is a reference to childbirth. The mother carries the child in her womb, and goes through the intense pain and suffering associated with childbirth. The mother gives herself away so that the child can be born.
"Sand rains down and here I sit
Holding rare flowers
In a tomb...in bloom"
Jerry's mom continues by saying that now she lays in a grave, lifeless.
"Down in a hole and I don't know if I can be saved
See my heart I decorate it like a grave"
This is Jerry speaking to his mother (although Layne is singing, Jerry wrote the lyrics). He feels lost without the guidance of his departed mother. He is saddened by her loss and is deeply depressed by her death, hence his heart is "decorated like a grave." Her grave. It has been documented that during the recording of this album Jerry was suffering deep depression from his mother's loss.
"You don't understand who they
Thought I was supposed to be
Look at me now I'm a man
Who won't let himself be"
Jerry's explaining to his mother that he regrets not being able to spend more time with her growing up. He's torturing himself over her loss, constantly second-guessing.
"Down in a hole, feeling so small
Down in a hole, losing my soul
I'd like to fly,
But my wings have been so denied"
His cry to his mother. An infant bird must at some point learn to fly by watching its mother/father. But that bird must also be nurtured by its family before it can reach that point. Because his mother isn't there he feels like he is "malnourished," unable to reach his fullest potential. Basically, there's a deep void in his life.
"Down in a hole and they've put all
The stones in their place"
Again referring to the fact that she has died.
"I've eaten the sun so my tongue
Has been burned of the taste"
This is his bitterness with success. Despite reaching "rock star" status, he is somewhat "burned" by the problems fame can bring.
"I have been guilty
Of kicking myself in the teeth
I will speak no more
of my feelings beneath"
He regrets his current stature, and would rather his mother be alive then him be famous. More than likely, he received a large sum of money after his mother died, and that money probably went towards equipment/promotion in the pre-Facelift era. For what he has now, the problems that come with fame, he would trade all of that in to be with her but he can't, so he'll speak no more of it.
Lastly, the refrain...
"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..."
Pretty obvious. Again his mother is speaking to him, but Jerry interjects with "I want to be inside of you." He wants to be with his mother again. He wants to retreat from reality and go back inside of his departed mother's womb so that he can again be with her.
It's worth noting that while the entire band was going through major drug and alcohol issues during the recording of this album, Jerry was taking Xanax to treat clinical depression which he had been suffering since his mother died. Since many of these wrongs were written while the band was touring for Facelift, it's likely that when this song was written, the death of Jerry's mother was still fresh on his mind.
I honestly believe that a lot of these songs that Jerry claims to be about "break-ups" and "girlfriends" aren't really about what he says they are. He's clearly a sensitive and intuitive guy, and I doubt he would want to publicize the true meaning of a song with subject matter as deep as this.
Discuss.