Watch for vipers and poison snakes
Feeling fingers make no mistake
Grabbing that pull your hair
Stealing everything there, everything
Restless widow in the dark
Careless looks for a spark
Near the trap fate rears it's head
No hesitation, victim dead
Just from the start it's the end
And it's all the same in the end
It's all the same in the end
Spider moving up your wall
To the ceiling he slowly crawls
Weaves a web above your bed
Egg that cracks falls on your head
And it's all the same
It's all the same
No hesitation, victim dead
Just from the start it's the end
And it's all the same
It's all the same
No wrong no right or guilt admission
It's all the same
You've been bitten, you've been bitten, you've been bitten
Feeling fingers make no mistake
Grabbing that pull your hair
Stealing everything there, everything
Restless widow in the dark
Careless looks for a spark
Near the trap fate rears it's head
No hesitation, victim dead
Just from the start it's the end
And it's all the same in the end
It's all the same in the end
Spider moving up your wall
To the ceiling he slowly crawls
Weaves a web above your bed
Egg that cracks falls on your head
And it's all the same
It's all the same
No hesitation, victim dead
Just from the start it's the end
And it's all the same
It's all the same
No wrong no right or guilt admission
It's all the same
You've been bitten, you've been bitten, you've been bitten
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Carelessly looks for a spark
Near the trap fate rears its head
No hesitation, victim dead
Just from the start it's the end
There is something more going on here. Black widow spiders kill their mates. That is how they got their name. The spider that crawls up the wall is male but somehow has the eggs. If black widows kill their mates after mating, then this spider is not a black widow. From the little research I have been able to do about spiders, reading about them makes my skin crawl, I do not know of any males that carry the eggs. Perhaps the males are responsible for making the web where the females live - I dunno.
I believe the song is speaking of the fear of death. Vipers and spiders are commonly feared by people and play a large role in the lyrics. The song seems to be saying that you can try to prevent death by watching for vipers and poison snakes, but then a damned spider can still get you and those are much harder to see. You can live in fear if you choose, but there is too much too fear for that to do you any good.
> It's all the same
> You've been bitten, you've been bitten
To me, this highlights the fact that nature doesn't have "morals" (no wrong no right). The strong survive and the weak die. You could die from being bitten by a spider in the middle of the night. Nature doesn't give a shit how "innocent" you are, how "wrong" the spider was to bite you, who still loves you. None of that matters. You've been bitten.
Soundgarden are not a "subversive" band. They would not in this song be saying that wrong and right are the same, that it rains on the good and bad alike.
In fact what they are saying is:
"No wrong no right or guilt admission
It's all the same
You've been bitten, you've been bitten"
You have to take into consideration the last line - "you've been bitten"
For me, this last line implies that those who view wrong and right as the same are "bitten" or doomed.
It is indeed a song that advises one to regard morality.
Soundgarden takes a different stance: there are morals and codes of ethics we as humans MUST abide by, for our own sake, and the sake of others, and they are not subjective. These are objective.
This song emphasizes how in our society there's "no wrong, no right". It's the rule of the "animal", which is barbaric and unevolved. The song emphasizes this most succinctly with the last line, "you've been bitten", which is an allusion to the serpent in the garden of Eden. Yep. You've been bitten.
"No wrong no right or guilt admission"
Exactly. No one wants to admit being guilty or wrong for doing things that deep down, a part of them knows is wrong. They are pitiful creatures.