Oh man, the sun is still shining and it's 7:00pm. How do you expect me to write anything when I just put the grill out on the deck?
Sigh.
Alright, I'll meet you half way. Instead of giving another passionate diatribe about an album that you absolutely must hear I'll focus on one particular song, thereby saving us all the effort. That song? The phenomenal and criminally under-appreciated 'Can't Change Me' by Soundgarden and Audioslave frontman Chris Cornell.
The song was the single off of Cornell's first solo album 'Euphoria Morning'. Cornell had been the singer in the massively popular Soundgarden for ten years prior, only to strike out on his own when the band began to dissolve. If you don't know anything about Soundgarden I am sorry for your ignorance; I would then direct you to these Youtube clips for some of their best work in melodic heavy metal/grunge: Black Hole Sun, Pretty Noose and the phenomenal Burden In My Hand. Those aren't even their heaviest metal songs, but they're some of the best writing they did. Then go to iTunes and download their greatest hits. When you're caught up, come back here and read on. Go, I'll wait.
Anyway, by the end of the 90s the band was on the way out. Their last album, the experimental and wonderfully odd Down On The Upside, saw them trying new things but it was a scattered, unfocused effort. When Cornell started working on his solo album all eyes were on him. After all, great band behind him or not, he has an unbelievable set of pipes. When the first single off the album was released, though, we were treated to a surprisingly brooding number that didn't blow the roof off the place, but set us to simmer instead.
'Can't Change Me' is a strange tune in the best way. From the palm-muted opening notes that preface the drums kicking in with the guitar lead, it's an interesting sound in a foreign key, instead of any sludge of the overdone grunge people were expecting. The verses are all loosely strummed acoustic guitars and moaned lines of anguished envy. The song speaks of finding a woman who can have anything at all, yet he can't become a better person for her. The pre-chorus shows the spark of life - "Wait just one minute more, I can see that she's trying to free me" - and we hit the stuttered flair of the drums bringing us to the chorus proper. "She's going to change the world but she can't change me..." It's a haunting, beautiful song of desire that speaks directly to the unmotivated slacker in the audience. You want to be a better person but know you're destined to be the same loser in the end that you are going in. This attitude is strangely honest and refreshingly frank - it's not the trite "No woman can change me!" view but rather the self loathing "She'll try but she can't" that makes it unique. It's a rarely expressed view and that only adds to the already striking tune.
As I said, Cornell's voice is astounding. It's evident in the opening lines. The structure of the song is fairly by-the-numbers, but man is the song a great work that's bigger than the sum of the parts. It's haunting and moody. Unfortunately I would be hard pressed to show you anything in the ensuing time that Cornell has done that could compare to this other than MAYBE his cover of Billie Jean (which later was done by David Cook). Even worse, no one seems to know this song! How can that be? It's an amazing, moving song that has only gotten better with time and yet I've never heard it anywhere other than my own iPod. Not fair at all, world. Not at all. Take a listen to this amazing song and see what you've missed.
