If this isn't what you see
It doesn't make you blind
Yea, if this doesn't make you feel
It doesn't mean you've died

Where the river's high
Where the river's high

If you don't want to be seen
Well you don't have to hide
And if you don't want to believe
Well you don't have to try to feel alive, yea

Alive in the superunknown
Alive in the superunknown
Alive in the superunknown
First it steals your mind and then it steals your

If this doesn't make you free
It doesn't mean you're tied
If this doesn't take you down
It doesn't mean you're high

If this doesn't make you smile
Yea, you don't have to cry
If this isn't making sense
Yea, it doesn't make it lies, oh

Alive in the superunknown
Alive in the superunknown
Alive in the superunknown
First it steals your mind and then it steals your soul, oh

Get yourself afraid
Get yourself alone
Get yourself contained
Get yourself control, control
Yeah, oh, yeah
Oh, oh

(Alive in the superunknown)

First it steals your mind and then it steals your
First it steals your mind and then it steals your
First it steals your mind and then it steals your soul


Lyrics submitted by jt

Superunknown Lyrics as written by Kim Thayil Chris Cornell

Lyrics © Peermusic Publishing

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Superunknown song meanings
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39 Comments

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  • +8
    General CommentI think this song just says that everything you see or feel is what YOU take it to be. It doesnt have to be one thing or the other because it's only an opinion, and not a fact. The trick to it is, you have to remember that just because something doesnt make you cry, that doesnt mean it wont make someone else to just that. Your perception is different from anyone else's, and so you have to sometimes control that; there are more than two sides to everything. If you let just your side control you, you'll be lost in it, let it get a strong enough hold and it becomes all you can think about, then it becomes who you are.

    I really am just guessing, but that's what it seems like to me...I tend to ramble a whole lot when I think.
    xvelvetxkissesxon April 26, 2005   Link
  • +6
    General CommentI agree with most of the earlier comments about the superunknown being life/the universe/perspective.

    Why is it that in almost EVERY song there are always those people adamantly thinking it's a reference to drugs???? Open your minds a little, holy shit! Maybe some songs are obviously about drugs, but it's like you pull drug usage from out of your asses sometimes. I'm against the "War on Drugs" because it's all a heaping pile of ignorance and lies. I'm for responsible recreational drug usage, but life and songs are more than just drugs...

    And "Supah Dude", this song is in every way contradicting what you think it's about, by your last comment: "If you don't agree with me, you're wrong." Everything is about perspective, there is no objective right or wrong.
    looTToolon April 14, 2010   Link
  • +5
    General CommentIve always had trouble trying to interpret the lyrics in this song, because they are pretty vague.

    My best guess is that Cornell is reminding us that there is probably a lot more to our existence, but we cant comprehend it for the time being because we are not advanced enough.
    Gormoon December 04, 2010   Link
  • +4
    General Comment"If this isn't making sense
    It doesn't make it lies "

    Brilliant. I'd think this song is about taking control in general.
    Richard_6on February 03, 2005   Link
  • +4
    General CommentThe Superunknown is Life...There are things we don't know--may never know--and we have to accept that fact. Also, some things in life aren't always black and white, either/or: "If this isn't what you see
    It doesn't make you blind
    If this doesn't make you feel
    It doesn't mean you've died"
    PoetLion01on August 30, 2005   Link
  • +3
    General CommentThe following is nerdy:
    About the title word... "Super" often means "transcending", supersonic means to transcend the speed of sound... So "superunknown" could mean, what lies beyond the unknown or "above" the unknown. We are all striving to transcend or go beyond/further, but do we even know, just what it is, we're trying to transcend?
    So maybe the message is, that we have to figure out, where we are, where we stand and so on..., before we can go further, and this perpetual (futile) striving is actually holding us back... Because it isn't grounded in reality.
    What steals your mind and then your soul could be ambition.
    The verses speak of making peace with your mind. Don't overthink things...
    emilfoghon September 10, 2016   Link
  • +2
    General CommentI think xvelvetxkissesx is on the right path, although not sure if I agree with the whole control part at the end.

    As for why it's called Superunknown I would guess its talking about the universe and life in general. It's all unknown and alot of it does not make anysense and as xvelvetxkissesx said there are many sides/perspectives to everything.

    First it steals your mind - nothing makes sense
    Then it steals your soul - then you die
    Seifyron July 30, 2005   Link
  • +2
    General CommentThe superunknown, as someone said, might be life, or might be some kind of personal world in which you can lock yourself in with drugs... but I think this song is about having your own opinion and living life your own way, without subscribing to any ideals or philosophies.
    Marquezon July 26, 2007   Link
  • +2
    My InterpretationAlive In The Superunknown.

    The songwriters/composers of this song are fat and happy in the agnostic world and if you don't see things the way they do, it's perfectly OK.


    the composers want masses to hear to
    whatchagotgoinon March 30, 2010   Link
  • +2
    General CommentI think it might be about a bad trip. I been on a few bad trips in my life and this is exactly what happened:
    Get yourself afraid
    Get yourself alone
    Get yourself contained
    Get yourself control
    lowohmbroon August 31, 2012   Link

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