The band is named after a sculpture in Seattle called "Soundgarden," and longtime speculation was that this song got its name from another Seattle sculpture called "Black Sun" by the artist Isamu Noguchi. (The piece is located in Volunteer Park on Capitol Hill. It looks kind of like a huge, black doughnut and is aimed so you can see the Space Needle through the middle of it.) Chris Cornell stated in a 2014 interview that the title came from something he heard on the news - he thought the anchor said "black hole sun," but he really was saying something else. Cornell started thinking about the phrase and decided to write a song around it, as he felt it was a thought-provoking title. He wrote the lyrics first, then composed the music based on the images he came up with.
"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," he continued. "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."
Lyrics
In my eyes Indisposed In disguise As no one knows Hides the face Lies the snake And 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 Black hole sun Won't you come And wash away the rain? Black hole sun Won't you come? Won't you come? 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 (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) Hang my head Drown my fear 'Til you all just disappear (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? Won't you come?
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