Hands All Over

General CommentI think this is my favorite song lyricly by Chris. I love the rhymes and the entire topic of the song. I also love the way he screams "Gonna kill your mother" so that someone who listens to it for the first time might think it is about something darker than it is.

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General CommentIt's mainly about the environment, but he also makes allusion to european imperialism:

"Hands all over Western culture
Ruffling feathers and turning eagles into vultures"

Eagles -> The west was inhabited by noble, nature-conscious people. The nobility and grace of the eagle (a now endangered species) essentially represents the state of the Americas prior to colonisation.
Vultures -> The colonists brought capitalism and greed with them, corrupting the west. The fact the the bald eagle is an American icon adds irony to these lyrics.

"In a striking motion trees fall down
Like dying soldiers"

Another reference to colonialism and the wars that occured during those times.

Awesome lyrics from CC, as usually.

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General Commenti agree with thunderbolt on this one. it is totally an environmental message.

it says "turning eagles into vultures" that could be about how america (eagle) the wonderful beautiful nation has become a vulture and is just picking at the scraps of our dying planet.

that then ties into "gonna kill your mother" which probably refers to earth (mother), and how were killing it. and of course when he says "and i love her" hes not being creepy and saying he loves your mom, hes saying he loves the earth and doesnt want it to die.

then when it gets to "crewmen thank her then lay down their oily blanket" hes probably talking about crewmen on freighters being glad that theres water to sail on or something, then polluting it with oil from the ship.

the part of "In a striking motion trees fall down Like dying soldiers" hes talking about the people clearcutting forests, and falling down like dying soldiers is like an analogy of a war between man and nature and how nature is being destroyed.

then he gets to "Hands all over the words I utter Change them into what you want to Like balls of clay Put your hands away" hes actually telling us not to overanalyze his lyrics, which in a way makes asses out of all of us! on that note, im gonna stop overanalyzing his lyrics.

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General CommentEr, to add on to the last post, it has an obvious meaning. The environment should not be treated the way we're treating it. We're killing mother nature.

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General CommentI'm pretty sure it's about mother earth being ruined by man, its son. The "trees fall down like dying soldiers" line makes it pretty obvious. Apparently, the "kill your mother" line in it caused controversy. It's stupid because he's telling you not to kill your mother, and either way, it's a metaphor. There is beautiful poetry in it.

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General CommentI think it's about the environment.

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General CommentIt is.

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General Commentwhat about the environment?

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General Commentawesome song

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General CommentCornell is definately an enviornmentallist. You can tell by the activisim He is trying to create with Audioslave. In soundgarden lyrics he constantly uses the environment as a tool. Real easy to tie this in with Romanticism.

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