All of seventeen
Eyes a purple green
Treated like a Queen, she was
On borrowed self esteem

She would do a dance
A painful masquerade
Spinning you into her web
Along her vain parade

In her uniform
Studded brass and steel
Kissing napkin, lipstick stains
And smearing sincerity

Along her vain parade
Along her veins

Time crept up on her
She's early gray
Her reflection looks concerned
As flowers hit her grave


Lyrics submitted by jt

Flower Lyrics as written by Kim Thayil Chris Cornell

Lyrics © Peermusic Publishing, WORDS & MUSIC A DIV OF BIG DEAL MUSIC LLC

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Flower song meanings
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14 Comments

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  • +3
    General Commentits about a beautiful but shallow girl who needs to be a slut to validate her existence.

    "treated like a queen she was on borrowed self-esteem":
    everybodys spoiled her all her life because shes beautiful, she gets all her confidence and self-esteem from too many people drooling over her

    "she would do her dance a painful masquerade, spin you into her web along her vain parade"
    she flirts with guys and spins them into her web to fuck them. its a painful masquerade because shes going through all the motions for the sake of it, and all she wants is sex. her vain parade is just the line of guys she goes through to make herself feel beautiful and special.

    "time crept up on her shes early gray"
    shes now past her prime, aging and deteriorating possibly due to an std or drug abuse from a partying lifestyle. the lyrics are almost mocking her, since she took it for granted that she was hot and would always have men obsessing over her.

    "her reflection looks concerned and flowers hit her grave"
    it jumps forward, first to her looking in the mirror and realizing how fucked up she is now, and then to when shes dead. rather than flowers being placed on her grave, theyre hitting it, as if someones throwing them down angrily. nobody ever really loved her because all she had was physical attractiveness, and now that thats gone nobody cares anymore. this also ties up the flower theme of the song. the "flower" is also a metaphor for the girl herself for being beautiful but fragile and short-lived. as a side note flowers look like vaginas, so maybe thats where the title came from
    Furthest1on November 14, 2009   Link
  • +2
    General CommentI heard this song on "A-Sides" and fell in love with it. When I purchased "Screaming Life/Fopp," I noticed something interesting. In the song "Hand of God" is an introduction speaking by some preacher, and his sermon ends with "it is a vain parade....it has no meaning." Probably was the inspiration for that line in "Flower."
    Gfngfgfon September 12, 2002   Link
  • +2
    General Commentexcellent song, i love it. very heavy yet peaceful.
    the King of shiton February 27, 2005   Link
  • +1
    General Comment"It's about a girl who becomes a woman and basically invests everything in vanity and then burns out quick." - Chris Cornell on Flower
    From their Facebook page today.

    Also I think her eyes were "opal green" as opposed to "purple green"
    drewzer15on March 26, 2013   Link
  • 0
    General CommentWhat a great early Soundgarden tune this was - Just looking at the lyrics, they seem pretty straight forward; and the "flower" the song speaks about seems to have a double meaning - About how this girl grew and blossomed into a young lady, and eventually wilted and died, but also referring to the flowers on her grave, obviously. I'm convinced Chris paid attention in English class - He also uses the homonyms "vein" and "vain" - Sort of interesting, for early Soundgarden.
    sommyon August 29, 2002   Link
  • 0
    General Commentyes i completely agree with sommy except..
    chris didn't make it very far in school, so its amazing isn't it,
    i think he got to grade 8 i'd have to check up on it but it doesn't really matter he is very good.
    ThayilBeGodon December 26, 2005   Link
  • 0
    General CommentYes it is amazing how poetic his lyrics were and still are even though he dropped out. So much about soundgarden just amazes me
    Tallbob88on January 14, 2006   Link
  • 0
    General CommentIt's about how fucked up girls are and how good it is the die lol.

    "In her uniform
    Studded brass and steel
    Kissing napkin lipstick stains
    And smearing sincerity"

    that is what leads me to believe this.
    OrigGrungeGangstaon February 13, 2007   Link
  • 0
    General CommentChris liked to write lyrics that seemed straight forward but always had a double meaning. Does anyone know what it could be in this case?
    IceNerveshatteron November 12, 2007   Link
  • 0
    General CommentThis song is about an underage stripper. She is also a drug addict due to the predicament she is in. Kind of a sad song if you think about.
    BlackCross89on November 13, 2007   Link

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