🎵 Soundgarden - Day I Tried To Live REACTION

[@TidePride]

I always understood this song to be about living the mundane life, trying break out and live a more fulfilling life, but not succeeding. The voices in his head is that inner dialog we all have "today is gonna be different". The 1 more time around is a referencing a trip around the sun/1 day.

[@mdegginger4761]

Soundgarden has some great, dense, dank lyrics. years later they still reval.

[@Geoffreydarcy-pv4mq]

Yeah they do. Yeah you right.

[@guitearist]

The meaning is this: Depression forces you to pretend to "live". You make attempts at living like a normal person, but it feels like you're just faking it. One more time around is about just trying to get through another day. The website explanations are dumb.

[@tee4222]

Cornell explained that the song is about trying to step out of being patterned and closed off and reclusive, which he had a problem with. He said that it is about attempting to be normal and just go out and be around other people and hang out. He also said that it is a hopeful song, especially the lines “One more time around/Might do it”, which imply that he failed to connect with others, but he will probably try again tomorrow. He also clarified that the song is not a suicide-note song, as some people misinterpreted it. He said that the word “live” is not meant to be taken literally, but rather as a metaphor for opening up oneself and experiencing everything that is going on around him, instead of blowing it all off and hiding in a cave. My interpretation of the song is that it is a reflection of the existential crisis that many people face in their lives, especially in the modern society that is often alienating and superficial. The song portrays a person who is dissatisfied with his routine and mundane existence, and decides to try something different, to challenge himself, to make a difference, to live. However, he soon realizes that his attempts are futile, that he cannot change the world, that he cannot fit in, that he cannot escape his own nature. He feels like a liar, a hypocrite, a failure. He feels like he is just going through the motions, like he is rolling a boulder up a hill, only to watch it roll back down again. He feels like he is just one of the many pigs, wallowing in the blood and mud of humanity. He feels like he is not living, but merely surviving. The song also touches on the themes of self-deception, self-awareness, and self-acceptance. The person in the song tries to live by pretending to be someone he is not, by lying to himself and to others, by hiding his true feelings and thoughts, by wearing a mask, by playing a role. He tries to be someone else, someone he thinks is better, someone he thinks is happier, someone he thinks is more alive. However, he also realizes that he is a liar, that he is not being honest, that he is not being authentic, that he is not being himself. He realizes that he is not living, but dying. He realizes that he needs to face himself, to know himself, to accept himself, to be himself.

[@sixtell1]

I love this interpretation

[@ZacCostilla]

THIS IS MY FAVORITE SOUNDGARDEN SONG! I love that it’s in non-standard time. The measures in the verses alternate between 7/8 and 8/8 time. And the lyrics capture the frustrations of giving your best effort but not feeling like you succeeded at all. And each verse the music lays out, like when you concentrate and give your all, and then the bridge gets louder, and the chorus is louder yet, revealing the emotions as the frustrations build to the point of an outburst. Also, every instrument is just layered perfectly, between the bass, the drums, and the two guitars.

[@RailwayScholar]

Word

[@guitearist]

This is one that took on way more meaning after Cornell's death. So much of their catalog is like that.

[@Christopher-Baltimore]

The only advice I have is that it’s a masterpiece of Chris’s songwriting. There’s just so much there lyrically. I always took it as he’s trying to live in “the system”, however one might interpret that term. How can one be authentic and moral, yet successful and survive in a world full of deception and evil? He’s trying. Note that he wrote this for their breakthrough album. This album brought them fame like they had never known. I’m damn sure, if I know Chris at all through his art, he hated that.

[@nettiemac]

Cornell on "The Day I Tried to Live": 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." [Foege, Alec (January 12, 1995). "The End of Innocence". Rolling Stone.]

[@thunderspike1892]

Check out Soundgarden from their phenomenal Badmotorfinger album. Jesus Christ Pose, Rusty Cage, Outshined and Slaves & Bulldozers

[@johncondry]

Always loved this song. Hit too close to home.

[@grindhouseglitch]

Soundgarden lyrics tend to be super abstract - often hard to interpret. I remember reading the lyrics in the booklet when this album dropped and I couldn't make sense of any of it, LOL. Still one of my favorite albums, though.

[@mr.brenman2132]

This song actually has a coherent message. I love all of Chris's lyrics though.

[@thenewtowncryer]

Banger!!!

[@GaryKirkham-ju8gw]

This has to be one of the best songs I've ever heard ... Brad, you don't need to go to Genius ... this IS genius ...!!! 😳

[@mitchellbeston1033]

I always took it as the cynicism we hold towards life in general, in that we are supposedly only living if we are doing great things when in reality we are all just living regardless of what we do. Each day we live, regardless of what we do...it's just "one more time around".

[@myterriblenightmares951]

"The lives we make never live up to the ones inside our heads" to me this song is about disappointment with what life is/has become and the fall of dreams you had made for yourself. It's the realization that life won't be good like you wanted. Haunting.

[@bradydeangelo284]

Which older songs do you still listen to after you reviewed them? Are there any you fell in such deep love with, you went back to and still listen to today?

[@keithsaulsbury4304]

so many of Chris's lyrics came from a dark place. in a way it's almost like he had been writing his suicide note for years. in hind site it's really sad.

[@Ma4t2t0_]

Bro ur energy is way different than when your with ur girl

[@nomasker1360]

Ya he's totally fakin it .

[@Ma4t2t0_]

Yeah big time

[@billbrasky1288]

I’ve been listening to this song for almost 30 years and never paid much attention to the lyrics.

[@jam1870utube]

Try not to think of this song literally. A lot of these lyrics are metaphorical, describing the struggle of daily living, and the perceptions we have about life and the world regarding success, failure, and accomplishments or the lack thereof. Some say we are living in a modern say capitalist system of corporate lords and serfs.

[@sixtell1]

I don’t think it’s so much about self deletion but more about trying to fit into a world you don’t get when he tried to live as other people he got it all wrong

[@zane8418]

"I should have stayed in bed."

[@Geoffreydarcy-pv4mq]

We are all Melvins children.

[@B-Killin]

Brad, are you ok bro?

[@guitearist]

"I learned that I was a liar" means he finally realizes he can never be normal. I interpret the "just like you" as him being cynical and thinking that, deep down, everyone feels like he does. Only a truly depressed person can write like Chris Cornell. Unfortunately I feel his pain. 😅

[@clairash2004]

Do yourself a favour and check out Like Suicide. My absolute favourite song off this album. The song title puts people off but i promise it's a banger!!

[@anonymouse1593]

I love Soundgarden, the day I heard Chris died was one of the worst of my life. I always assumed that this song implied that no matter what talent, or perceived preciosity that you might have, or morseo presume to have - the ultimate issue is a disbelief in your own talent (I learned I was a liar) - in the end you were just another pig, struggling in the mud. It hurts me to say so, because Chris was a talent beyond compare, and he was just spilling pearls before swine.

[@MRCATL3]

Incredible loss. Chris Cornell was a badass.

[@redstep-child3096]

Dont find out what Like Suicide is about

[@kaz282]

All Soundgarden songs are about depression or spoons.

[@bigdaddypiggy]

I thinks it’s more along the lines of he tries & fails & gives up

[@vertyisprobablydead]

So your girlfriend hates good music?

[@vertyisprobablydead]

Usually when you make videos like this you give your thoughts and conclusion at the end but no.