The song lyrics were written by the band Van Halen, as they were asked to write a song for the 1979 movie "Over the Edge" starring Matt Dillon. The movie (and the lyrics, although more obliquely) are about bored, rebellious youth with nothing better to do than get into trouble. If you see the movie, these lyrics will make more sense. It's a great movie if you grew up in the 70s/80s you'll definitely remember some of these characters from your own life. Fun fact, after writing the song, Van Halen decided not to let the movie use it.
I woke the same as any other day
Except a voice was in my head
It said seize the day, pull the trigger, drop the blade
And watch the rolling heads
The day I tried to live
I stole a thousand beggar's change
And gave it to the rich
The day I tried to win
I dangled from the power lines
And let the martyrs stretch yeah
Singing, one more time around
Might do it
One more time around
Might make it
One more time around
Might do it
One more time around
The day I tried to live
Words would you say
Never seem to live up to the ones inside your head
The lives we make
Never seem to ever get us anywhere but dead
The day I tried to live
I wallowed in the blood and mud with all the other pigs
Singing, one more time around
Might do it
One more time around
Might make it
One more time around
Might do it
One more time around
The day I tried to live, live
I tried
I woke the same as any other day you know
I should have stayed in bed
The day I tried to win
I walled in the blood and mud with all the other pigs
And I learned that I was a liar (one more time around)
I learned that I was a liar (one more time around)
I learned that I was a liar (one more time around)
I learned that I was a liar (one more time around)
Singing one more time around
(Might do it)
One more time around
(Might make it)
One more time around
(Might do it)
One more time around (might make it)
The day I tried to live, live
Just like you
Just like you
One more time around
One more time around
Except a voice was in my head
It said seize the day, pull the trigger, drop the blade
And watch the rolling heads
The day I tried to live
I stole a thousand beggar's change
And gave it to the rich
The day I tried to win
I dangled from the power lines
And let the martyrs stretch yeah
Singing, one more time around
Might do it
One more time around
Might make it
One more time around
Might do it
One more time around
The day I tried to live
Words would you say
Never seem to live up to the ones inside your head
The lives we make
Never seem to ever get us anywhere but dead
The day I tried to live
I wallowed in the blood and mud with all the other pigs
Singing, one more time around
Might do it
One more time around
Might make it
One more time around
Might do it
One more time around
The day I tried to live, live
I tried
I woke the same as any other day you know
I should have stayed in bed
The day I tried to win
I walled in the blood and mud with all the other pigs
And I learned that I was a liar (one more time around)
I learned that I was a liar (one more time around)
I learned that I was a liar (one more time around)
I learned that I was a liar (one more time around)
Singing one more time around
(Might do it)
One more time around
(Might make it)
One more time around
(Might do it)
One more time around (might make it)
The day I tried to live, live
Just like you
Just like you
One more time around
One more time around
Lyrics submitted by jt, edited by Mellow_Harsher, BigCheese, Mindspan, bboo_bboo, markydissod, Nomorebullsh.t
The Day I Tried To Live Lyrics as written by Chris Cornell
Lyrics © Peermusic Publishing, Hipgnosis Songs Group
Lyrics powered by LyricFind
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This is one of my favorite songs. https://fnfgo.io
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Great version of a great song,
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From Chris Cornell himself:
It's about trying to step out of being patterned and closed off and reclusive, which I've always had a problem with. It's about attempting to be normal and just go out and be around other people and hang out. I have a tendency to sometimes be pretty closed off and not see people for long periods of time and not call anyone. It's actually, in a way, a hopeful song. Especially the lines "One more time around/Might do it", which is basically saying, 'I tried today to understand and belong and get along with other people, and I failed, but I'll probably try again tomorrow.' A lot of people misinterpreted that song as a suicide-note song. Taking the word "live" too literally. "The Day I Tried to Live" means more like the day I actually tried to open up myself and experience everything that's going on around me as opposed to blowing it all off and hiding in a cave.
@arhodd do you have a link or reference for that??
@arhodd & @sokorny:<br /> web.stargate.net/soundgarden/articles/rs_1-12-95.shtml<br /> <br /> Rolling Stone interview from 1995.
Link Update:<br /> rollingstone.com/music/music-features/chris-cornell-the-rolling-stone-interview-79108/
I think it's the exact opposite, Timmay. Instead of trying to be like society, I think the figure protrayed in the song woke, deciding he was gonna go out, change the world, and do something memorable and worthwhile. At the very end he realizes that he's just like everyone else, no matter what he does, that he's not special. This is after the day is done, him reflecting on what's happened. The voice in his head when he woke up, for instance, was himself, but he's been distanced from that. In the morning, he was an idealist, but by the time he fell asleep, he was a realist, finally having realized that "words you say never seem to live up to the ones inside your head."
@Blind Opius The best way to help "yourself" is to help others. It's the fundamental concept of all religions. Don't tell me you're not religious. We all are to some degree.
Fools! It's basically their song that says how disgusted they are with the rest of the human race; how corrupt everyone is deep down - But in a first person, sarcastic tone. I really wish more people could put sarcasm meaningfully into a song like this. The day he "tried to live" is the day that Chris decided he would try to fit in with everyone else; and by doing so, he gave up all moral integrity for the purpose of just getting along and doing well, unfortunately.
@sommy yea i think the line "I walled in the blood and mud with all the other pigs" indicates that<br />
@sommy absolutely right! Living in the modern world requires you to lower your moral standards and wallow in the "blood and mud" with all the other pigs. It's a great song about the inner struggle as a person may want to be proactive and do the right thing, but in order to be part of society they have to take part in what society does, even the morally questionable things.
Since you're all so off-base I feel I have to set it straight.
This song is about existentialism. The references are all there, if you know your existentialist literature. Existentialism at its core is about getting off your ass and living life to the fullest because there's no god and no heaven and nobody else can live your life for you and once your life is over that's it.
A lot of the people who have commented seem to have very negative views toward capitalism. That's idiotic, of course: Chris Cornell is a capitalist! He makes millions of dollars off of his talents, and by buying his albums and being fans of his music you are all capitalists as well. The line "stole a thousand beggar's change and gave it to the rich" is NOT about capitalism, because capitalism (1) redistributes wealth more evenly than any other economic system and (2) is the opposite of theft, since under capitalism all exchanges are voluntary. Socialism and communism are systems which take money by force and place it into the pockets of the rich and powerful.
More than anything, this song is about accepting the fact that you are a member of the animal kingdom, and in doing so, accepting both the flaws and wonders of being human.
Your view on capitalism is just wrong. Its insanely unequal which should be blindingly obvious. You sound someone who is staring at the sky insisting that its actually yellow not blue. Moron.
@Nadaav Chris Cornell believes in God and Jesus and they are most definitely not pro-thisgreedyfuckeduphateful world.
@Nadaav <br /> <br /> You're so fucking wrong.<br /> <br /> I won't even explain to you how. You're taken. Cornell believes in Christ. His wife is a Christian ffs. <br /> <br /> Existentialism isn't all about atheism, or lack of belief in the metaphysical.
He said that this song contains some positiveness, especialy in the lines: "one more time around might do it, one more time around might make it". He tried to behave like everyone else and it didn't go so well, but he still carries a little hope one day he'll succeed his goal - to feel alive. In an interview I once saw, he admitted that though he has friends (after all, when you're this famous you obviously create an interest to your acquaintances) he tends to be alone. So at least in this period of time he probably felt that it's better to isolate himself from the outer brutal world.
In the day he tried to live he discovered a few things: He acts the opposite of what the mainstream society expects him, He gives up very quickly and let the others take the lead, while he crawls behind, When he talks, he only tries to please the people around him by not telling them what he really thinks, He finds that even when he's doing what's so called 'living', he'll still end up just the same as if he would'nt, He saw that for achiving something you want you have to fight over this with others as if it was a piece of meat, and that you can't win without step over the others skulls.
After he's coming out of his bed and discovers all these stuffes, he regrets that he even tried.
Maybe it's better to stay in bed with the door locked and windows closed and let the world to slowly fall apart around you. to let the wolves bite their own brothers and hide yourself silently beneath the safe ground.
I feel it.
Chris sings this song with emotion, makes me think it's more than a story about some guy he's thinking of. It's about trying to fit in and not being accepted, realising you're not a true person , you're just like everyone else you loathe, a liar, the day you tried to change something, the day you tried to live. This is one of those songs that SOME people can relate to.
Words you say never seem To live up to the ones inside your head
My favorite part of the song.. It is so hard to communicate
it is defenitely about waking up and deciding that it was time to 'live' and 'win'...which meant to join the rat race, lie, support capitalism...
anyone know what this verse means??
The day I tried to win I dangled from the power lines And let the martyrs stretch Singing
Honestly, before reading the lyrics I always heard it as "I dangled from the power lines and left them all astretch", as if to say he was made of something heavier than those thick metal cables - super-hero or extra-terrestrial like - and impervious to any ill effects of doing so. I still hear it that way...
The day you try to succeed, the day you try to win, to make it to the top, you can fail miserably and hurt people, or win miserably and hurt people. Basically, the cheaty way to get to the top of the proverbial "totem pole" is by letting others suffer. "Dangled from the power lines" to me refers to being high up, but being barely able to support yourself in a risky position like this.
With the comment daddio made on the lines
The day I tried to win, I dangled from the power lines and let the martyers strech
I think that means, hanging from power lines would be instant death for anyone, and you would fry yourself doing it. Martyers, those willing to die for a cause, would stretch upward to try to save him, thus, becomming a martyer by dying to save his life. I think his meaning was to kill himself or try to kill himself and kill those who are willing to sie for his cause, in otherwards, it would be pointless to save him, because he would already be dead. Making their effort utterly worthless.
I might be 100 percent wrong, but it goes with the rest of the song, stealing from the poor, giving to the rich, taking from people who are needy and giving to those who are not. Trying to live as those who have no heart, no soul, in other words, living like most people do day by day.
I might be wrong....I usually am.
This song obviously explains a lot lyrically but Chris' vocal and emotional input is simply astounding. The message of the song is a man that has been depressed for a very long time and he tries to change his life by getting out of bed and being active, forgetting that he has been seperated from society he isn't accepted by anyone and decides it would of been better to stay in bed and live another day feeling like death!