Fresh Tendrils

It's beautiful and disgusting what women can do to you.

The War on Drugs has done a lot of awful things but the absolute worst is the influence it's had on song interpretation.

But this song does seem to be about drugs, specifically alcohol. It sounds like it's about a teetotaller who takes up alcohol to help them out socially with fitting-in but eventually becomes addicted, leading to feelings of shame that he conformed rather than be himself.

"seemed to take me through, get me by, satisfy, etc." - drinking helping him fit-in with others and giving him relief from problems

"many served the few" - drinkers encouraging teetotallers to drink

"give me little bits of more than I can take, try, etc." - the teetotaller commits himself to taking-up drinking and encourages offers of more shots, different drinks etc.

"that everybody tries" - very few people never try alcohol

!

Definitely fitting in with the "newborn" theme of the rest of the album, the title refers to "tendrils", which are defined as:

"A twisting, threadlike structure by which a twining plant, such as a grape or cucumber, grasps an object or a plant for support. "

So basically a fresh, or newborn child, clings to his mother or father like a tendril. The lyrics make a lot more sense that way, referring to a child biting off more than it can chew- longing to enter the world that everyone seems to hate. The "Shame shame throw yourself away" line is like a parent angrily ranting almost sarcastically to her child.

Or that's how I take it.

I see this as a song about the dislike of the structure of relationships

I always thought it was about alcohol addiction

It's about manipulation of men by women.

Long time coming Many served the few

seems so political to me ...make me remind of the feudal times ..ok .. but it´s all about rage too ..in a personal way

I am not sure about this song. I think it's about a couple when one of the partners (lets say the girl) who is always right made a big mistake and now he is ashamed about it and her partner is happy about seeing her like this and keeps reminding her she wanted to make mistakes like everyone else. But that's just what i think. you can never know with Chris.

Why does everything any heavy band from the 90's writes have to be about drugs? Shame, shame, throw yourself away - doesn't that seem like something a hateful parent would say? "What the hell is wrong with you? Why don't you do me a favor and get the hell out of my life?". Seeing how Cornell seemed to maybe have had problems with his dad (taking this from his newest solo album) it could be about the way he felt when his dad talked down to him in the past? "If it sits upon your tongue or naked in your eye" - If its so close to being a complete thought you can almost say it but its not quite there or if its so blatantly obvious its right in front of you. My point is with this is look into the lyrics before assuming "OH MY GOD THIS SONG IS ABOUT DRUGS". Give Cornell more credit than that.

i think theres some drug elements in it but i agree with the parent/child interpretation, on account of the title... i always thought of the "shame shame throw yourself away" line as something a parent or teacher would say to a kid. and for some reason this song really, really reminds me of the show malcolm in the middle, if thats relevant to anyone.