An Amazingly Prophetic Song

Hands All Over by Soundgarden

Words by chris cornell
Music by kim thayil

(emphases are mine)

Hands all over the eastern border
You know what? I think we're falling
From composure
Hands all over western culture
Ruffling feathers and turning eagles into vultures

Got my arms around baby brother
Put your hands away
Your gonna kill your mother, kill your mother
And I love her

Hands all over the coastal waters
The crew men thank her
Then lay down their oily blanket
Hands all over the inland forest
In a striking motion trees fall down
Like dying soldiers

Hands all over the peasants daughter
She's our bride
She'll never make it out alive
Hands all over words I utter
Change them into what you want to
Like balls of clay
Put your hands away
Your gonna kill your mother
And I love her

huh?

anybody have any comments?

okay, now just in case it isn't as glaringly obvious to anyone else as it is to me
go figure!
i will explain the underlined parts, above:

Hands all over the eastern border
You know what? I think we're falling
From composure

the eastern border refers to the Israel border with surrounding neighbors
we have our hands all over that
but we are falling 'from composure"
composure means: A calm or tranquil state of mind; self-possession.

Hands all over western culture
Ruffling feathers and turning eagles
Into vultures

we have our hands all over the culture of the west
making it seem, in the eyes of the rest of the world,
that we are self-oriented, materialistic warmongers
(are we??!!!?)

Got my arms around baby brother
Put your hands away
Your gonna kill your mother, kill your mother

baby brother?
the so-called short-sighted, actually power-LESS, "ptb"
gonna kill your mother!
Mother Earth!
at least it sure seems like that's the clear and present danger of the hour

Hands all over the coastal waters
The crew men thank her
Then lay down their oily blanket

coastal waters?
baby brother has his hands all over the GULF Coastal waters!

now, the last two lines may not have come to pass, yet, because "her" that the crew men thank must surely be "your mother" since that is the only "she" so far mentioned in the lyrics.
whatever they thank "her" for causes them to lay down their oily blankets!!!


oh yeah, in case it's not clear, this is a song of prophesy for the United States of America.

these crises in the world, right now, the two main ones, are currently laid at our charge!

even if we didn't actually have a hand in the oil or the war machine...still we consent!

by not objecting, we give our consent.

I love Chris Cornell and Soundgarden and Audioslave but if he were psychic he wouldn't have made the lame solo stuff.

Interesting connection though.

no, i'm not saying he is psychic.

i do think that music is somehow prophetic
especially rock, in particularly classic rock but newer stuff, too, especially if it is somehow crossing the line

like Rob Zombie and ICP.

different lines, but you dig.

star and flagg , young lady! seattle sound rocks...yes, our modern music is so special.

reply to post by GBP/JPY




with one of the founding fathers being none other than Mr. James Marshall Hendrix, HIMSELF...it only follows that Seattle would birth a lot of excellent bands!!!

he's the founder of my church
Electric Sky Church
motto: Music is My Religion

our prophets really prophecy!


i should say: the REVEREND J.M. Hendrix.

hee hee



[edit on 7/1/2010 by queenannie38]

I think that if you take any common news item and put it in a song, it's bound to come up over and over again. Even if you remember it, history has a tendency to repeat itself. And if you make the references vague enough, it'll seem like it fits.

If I wrote a song about an eagle fighting a snake, it would probably end up prophetic in some way, too.

reply to post by queenannie38


an amazingly prophetic song that has nothing to do with psychic powers. well that's sort of amazing in it's own right, uh sort of.

so what exactly is it that makes this song prophetic and not just really lame news?

reply to post by Blue Shift


but the Gulf Oil Spill is NOT a common news item!

that's the clincher.
when i got to that second verse, reading the lyrics, the other day, i froze.

at first it just seemed to fit in the vague general way that you describe, but it got very specific in the second verse!

reply to post by queenannie38


Well, I admit there are parallels in the song to recent events. The "blanket of oil", "gonna kill your mother" and "coastal waters" sure resonate.
It's weird how music can sometimes tap into those sorts of seemingly prescient themes.

The Wilco album "Yankee Hotel Foxtrot" was recorded a little before 9/11.
But listening to it the first time, just after 9/11 it seemed eerily prophetic of that day. "Ashes of American Flags", "War on War", and lyrics like "tall buildings are swaying, you're smoking", plus much more on the album seemed almost too much for a coincidence.

There is something special that sometimes happens in music that goes beyond simply entertaining tunes. As a musician myself, I have been lucky enough to have experienced that a few times, though I couldn't explain it even if I had to.

[edit on 1/7/2010 by Chamberf=6]

reply to post by Chamberf=6


i call it "the kiss of the muse"

many songwriters probably would, too!

i for sure think it is more about what is COMING IN on the aether - it is sent and those that collect it are those who seek out creative inspiration.

it's a mere attraction of opposites...that isn't "mere" at all!