“Black Hole Sun” is the signature song by the rock band Soundgarden. Written by frontman Chris Cornell, the song was released in 1994 as the third single from the band’s fourth studio album Superunknown (1994). it topped the Billboard Mainstream Rock Tracks chart, where it spent a total of seven weeks at number one
I wrote it in my head driving home from Bear Creek Studio in Woodinville, a 35–40 minute drive from Seattle. It sparked from something a news anchor said on TV and I heard wrong. I heard ‘blah blah blah black hole sun blah blah blah’. I thought that would make an amazing song title, but what would it sound like? It all came together, pretty much the whole arrangement including the guitar solo that’s played beneath the riff. I spent a lot of time spinning those melodies in my head so I wouldn’t forget them. I got home and whistled it into a Dictaphone. The next day I brought it into the real world, assigning a couple of key changes in the verse to make the melodies more interesting. Then I wrote the lyrics and that was similar, a stream of consciousness based on the feeling I got from the chorus and title.
Chris Cornell – to Uncut Magazine
Musically, “Black Hole Sun” has been described as grunge, psychedelic rock, alternative rock, and hard rock. Cornell says the lyrics are sort of a surreal dreamscape, a weird, play-with-the-title kind of song. He has said that he wrote the song intending it to be sad.
It’s funny because hits are usually sort of congruent, sort of an identifiable lyric idea, and that song pretty much had none. The chorus lyric is kind of beautiful and easy to remember. Other than that, I sure didn’t have an understanding of it after I wrote it. I was just sucked in by the music and I was painting a picture with the lyrics. There was no real idea to get across.
Chris Cornell
Lyrics
Black Hole Sun written by Chris Cornell
[Verse 1]
In my eyes, indisposed
In disguises no one knows
Hides the face, lies the snake
In the sun in my disgrace
Boiling heat, summer stench
'Neath the black, the sky looks dead
Call my name through the cream
And I'll hear you scream again
[Chorus]
Black hole sun, won't you come
And wash away the rain?
Black hole sun, won't you come?
Won't you come? Won't you come?
[Verse 2]
Stuttering, cold and damp
Steal the warm wind, tired friend
Times are gone for honest men
And sometimes far too long for snakes
In my shoes, a walking sleep
And my youth I pray to keep
Heaven send Hell away
No one sings like you anymore
[Chorus]
Black hole sun, won't you come
And wash away the rain?
Black hole sun, won't you come?
Won't you come?
Black hole sun, won't you come
And wash away the rain?
Black hole sun, won't you come?
Won't you come?
[Post-Chorus]
(Black hole sun, black hole sun)
Won't you come?
(Black hole sun, black hole sun)
Won't you come?
(Black hole sun, black hole sun)
Won't you come?
(Black hole sun, black hole sun)
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[Guitar Solo]
[Verse 3]
Hang my head, drown my fear
'Til you all just disappear
[Chorus]
Black hole sun, (Black hole sun) won't you come (Won't you come?)
And wash away the rain?
Black hole sun, (Black hole sun) won't you come? (Won't you come?)
Won't you come? (Won't you come?)
Black hole sun, (Black hole sun) won't you come (Won't you come?)
And wash away the rain?
Black hole sun, (Black hole sun) won't you come? (Won't you come?)
Won't you come? (Won't you come?)
[Post-Chorus]
(Black hole sun, black hole sun)
Won't you come?
(Black hole sun, black hole sun)
Won't you come?
(Black hole sun, black hole sun)
Won't you come?
(Black hole sun, black hole sun)
Won't you come?
(Black hole sun, black hole sun)
Won't you come?
(Black hole sun, black hole sun)
Won't you come?
Won't you come?
Further Reading
Sources
