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Pillow Of Your Bones Lyrics
The embers of the saint inside you
Are growing as I'm bathing in your glow
I'm swallowing the poison of your flower
And hanging on the rising of my low
Colorful and falling from your mouth
Like a painted fever in recoil, like a lie without the pain
On a pillow of your bones, I will lay across the stones
Of your shore until the tide comes crawling back
Throw the pillow on the fire, make my bed under the eye
Of your moon until the tide comes crawling back
A waning hand on silver granite ways
Will mend my broken limbs and bend my haze
I'm sleeping in the silence of your voice
I'm cradling the peril of my only choice
Colorful and falling from your mouth
Like a painted fever in recoil, like a lie without the pain
On a pillow of your bones I will lay across the stone
Of your shore until the tide comes crawling back
Throw my pillow on the fire, make my bed under the eye
Of your moon until the tide comes crawling back
Even though the truth can burn inside or fall behind
I will wander through your open mind and you will find no lie can hide
Until the tide comes crawling
Are growing as I'm bathing in your glow
I'm swallowing the poison of your flower
And hanging on the rising of my low
Colorful and falling from your mouth
Like a painted fever in recoil, like a lie without the pain
On a pillow of your bones, I will lay across the stones
Of your shore until the tide comes crawling back
Throw the pillow on the fire, make my bed under the eye
Of your moon until the tide comes crawling back
A waning hand on silver granite ways
Will mend my broken limbs and bend my haze
I'm sleeping in the silence of your voice
I'm cradling the peril of my only choice
Colorful and falling from your mouth
Like a painted fever in recoil, like a lie without the pain
On a pillow of your bones I will lay across the stone
Of your shore until the tide comes crawling back
Throw my pillow on the fire, make my bed under the eye
Of your moon until the tide comes crawling back
Even though the truth can burn inside or fall behind
I will wander through your open mind and you will find no lie can hide
Until the tide comes crawling
Song Info
Submitted by
ruthie7 On Jan 19, 2002
More Chris Cornell
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Can't Change Me
Sunshower
Preaching The End of The World
Seasons
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This is about drug abuse, gaining a high and the euphoria of the high contrasted with the harshness of reality.
v.1
Whatever he's smoking is like a saint. Marijuana, tobacco, and opium have been used in history for spiritual experience. The embers are growing and he's enthusiastic about the high he'll get ("I'm bathing in your glow"). The saint is also a poison, and Chris is smoiking this just to rise the lows of his up emotional ups and downs.
pre-chorus
Chris enters a euphoria and differentiates between his physical and spiritual self. Chris acheives a state of high spiritual or mental awareness and refers to his self in reality as "you". i.e. the smoke is colorful and falling from your mouth. The high is compared to a fever and of course there is a recoil from drug abuse. But Chris attains a state of numbness and thus the experience is called a lie without the pain.
chorus
Chris continues to refer to his physical self as "you". His normal self is "dead" and spiritually aloof he can lay on all the bones and crap of his every-day life. He can lay down on the shore until the tide comes- until he becomes sober and is swallowed back into the ocean of reality. He doesn't even care about reality in a state like this, so he even throws his own bones in the fire, the ultimate fuck you to reality.
v. 2
The high is like a healing hand that wanes, or fades away with time. The references to silver and granite could be allusions to the feelings of relaxation- (leisure or luxury) and spirituality. In his high he can sleep peacefully without listening to the mumbling of his own mind (referring to his actual self as "you" again- "sleeping in the silence of your voice"). And cradling in his only destructive escape from reality, drugs, alchohol, tobacco ("cradling the peril of my only choice").
He then wanders through his own mind, opened through the euphoria of his high. He then tries to convince himself (you) that drug abuse won't resolve anything ("I will wander through your open mind and you will find no lie can hide")
This is so right.. can't be anything but what you say...I cry with Chris's music.. so deep and there are days I feel this way..It's almost a high for me to hear the words and meanings.. not to mention his sound.. The music he has co written the Natasha and others is wonderful.. It gets me through the day sometimes...
This is so right.. can't be anything but what you say...I cry with Chris's music.. so deep and there are days I feel this way..It's almost a high for me to hear the words and meanings.. not to mention his sound.. The music he has co written the Natasha and others is wonderful.. It gets me through the day sometimes...
@im_in_asia_now I know your comment is now 10 years old, but I have to reply with, great analysis. It doesn't help that the lyrics are incorrect in 1 spot. When corrected, it makes the song even deeper. This lyric should be:
@im_in_asia_now I know your comment is now 10 years old, but I have to reply with, great analysis. It doesn't help that the lyrics are incorrect in 1 spot. When corrected, it makes the song even deeper. This lyric should be:
I will lay across the stones Of your shore until the tide comes calling
I will lay across the stones Of your shore until the tide comes calling
The tide (of reality) beckons to him, then eventually crawls back.
The tide (of reality) beckons to him, then eventually crawls back.
The beginning of this song refers to Chris' addiction to heroin again, like most songs on this album. 'Bathing in your glow' and 'swallowing the poison of your flower' clearly refer to the poppy and it's effects. 'And hanging on the rising of my low' represents the effects that heroin is having on him. If you understand depression, the feeling of emphasising and lingering on the 'lows' is what Chris is referring to here. 'Like a painted fever in recoil' describes an intense and vivid feeling that is quickly taken away once heroin is introduced. 'Like a lie without the pain' explains how heroin can be use to "cheat" emotions and cover them up.
'A waning hand on silver granite ways will mend my broken limbs and bend my haze' I feel this is an expression of Chris' feeling of unfulfilment. The lyric is referring to the Hollywood walk of fame and the fact that he isn't on it. If he was, would he feel better??? The next line 'I'm sleeping in the silence of your voice' means that heroin, or his addiction, is holding him back.
Towards the end of the song Chris expresses his own feelings that he is worthy of recognition despite what the media or masses might think. 'Even though the truth can burn inside ir fall behind, I will wander through your open mind, and you will find no lie in hide' Now comes the epiphany: THE LYRIC 'UNTIL THE TIDE COMES CRAWLING' REFERS TO ALL THE PEOPLE NOW CALLING FOR CHRIS' NAME TO BE ON THE WALK OF FAME AND ALL THE PEOPLE NOW RECOGNISING HIM AS A GREAT SINGER/SONGWRITER. ALMOST 'BETTER TO BURN OUT, THAN FADE AWAY'
This song is so damn good. If I ever rob a bank, I'm listening to this song while I do it because it pumps me up so much. Incredible song and should have it's own radio station and be played continuously.
This song may be a second part of Nazi Driver by Soungarden. The image of "It may take some time"/"Moon and sun", "Broken limbs"/ "Remove the flesh from the thighs", "No lie can hide", " I don't care if it tastes like poison/ I'm gonna feed the prison"/ "I'm swallowing the poison of your flower"
Also, Nazi Driver has the "Bed of your bones"/ " Throw my pillow on the fire". So maybe, just maybe, it isn't about sex or drugs or getting a blowy from a fishy in a so merry afternoon. But Cornell is such a polysemic mofo. So every theory is valid since he is sadly no longer here to tell us.
Also, Nazi Driver has the "Bed of your bones"/ " Throw my pillow on the fire". So maybe, just maybe, it isn't about sex or drugs or getting a blowy from a fishy in a so merry afternoon. But Cornell is such a polysemic mofo. So every theory is valid since he is sadly no longer here to tell us.
Great song from this best-kept-secret album. Dark lyrics but the melody is so good... Besides I have no idea what they mean. If someone can help me out...
I love this song so much.
I could be wrong, but I think that this song is about sex. The images are pretty obvious and they all point toward sex.
'Like a painted fever in recoil, like a lie without the pain' The way he sings that, is just great, makes the song. As for a meaning, it's a hard one to dicypher, for sure.
This song is my favorite song of Chris Cornell.