Chris Cornell Quotes & Sayings

And I'm lost behind
The words I'll never find
And I'm left behind
As seasons roll on by — Chris Cornell

I think the concept of commercials, for example, I have had offers to do songs in different commercials, and it is not what I have liked. — Chris Cornell

Once you sit in front of people and start playing songs, it's all on you. No matter what happens, it's entirely your responsibility the entire time. I like that intensity. — Chris Cornell

If I had a musical identity that was definable then it would be time to get into painting or something else. Race car driving. — Chris Cornell

The freedom I have as a U.S. citizen is unparalleled. Despite the fact people may not like American passports, having that passport affords me more freedoms than any other passport could. — Chris Cornell

I never wrote music or arranged songs or lyrics when I was under the influence of anything but coffee. That's not gone away. — Chris Cornell

What's important is to get into shape and then not to have to worry about it. I don't want to get on stage and not being able to do something. Not being physically fit doesn't work for me. — Chris Cornell

Led Zeppelin is just a bunch of stupid idiots who wrote cool riffs. — Chris Cornell

'The Beatles' did whatever they wanted. They were a collection of influences adapted to songs they wanted to write. George Harrison was instrumental in bringing in Indian music. Paul McCartney was a huge Little Richard fan. John Lennon was into minimalist aggressive rock. — Chris Cornell

To a degree, rock fans like to live vicariously and they like that, music fans in general, but when indie music sort of came into prominence in the early '90s, a lot of it was TV-driven, too, where if you saw the first Nirvana video, you're looking at three guys that look like people you go to school with. — Chris Cornell

I don't think there are too many rock bands in history that can look at the beginning and middle and ending of themselves and see what I see when I think of Soundgarden. I think from the beginning through the middle and the end it was such a perfect ride and such a perfect legacy to leave, — Chris Cornell

We are neighbors in a modern world where proximity is relative and the threshold to our hearts moves outside time and space. — Chris Cornell

I think that one of the main privileges of what I do, which I am just starting to learn, is to have the ability to travel all over the world and experience different cultures. — Chris Cornell

When Soundgarden formed, we were post-punk - pretty quirky. — Chris Cornell

She gives the night its dreams. — Chris Cornell

What makes that song, I think, is how stark it is. — Chris Cornell

I'm looking California and feeling Minnesota. — Chris Cornell

What formed me as a musician, a songwriter, the sound and personality of my band, a whole lot of that happened well before 1991. — Chris Cornell

Sometimes, if a song is written, in essence, to be that stripped down, it's very touchy when you start adding things, because even the smallest thing can have a huge impact. Somebody has to make the decision that there's a better song in there if there's less. — Chris Cornell

There's something about losing friends, particularly young people, where it's not something that you get over. I don't believe there's a healing process. — Chris Cornell

My first favorite band that made music important to me was the Beatles. I was a little kid. I didn't know who was singing what song or who wrote what song. — Chris Cornell

Friends of mine that are from here or that have spent time here have told me about Israel and how warm the people are and that I should someday come here. — Chris Cornell

A true musician, like Johnny Cash, should be able to walk into a room with nothing but an instrument and capture people's attention for two hours. — Chris Cornell

I'm sure I could start a band tomorrow that would have different influences and would want to do something completely different than anything I've done. — Chris Cornell

If you are trying to think ahead musically, it is not going to help you. It is better to ignore what is happening melodically and just look at the little dots coming at you and the corresponding colors and try to do it at the right time. — Chris Cornell

I was going to be a musician, no matter what it took. I supported myself with blue-collared jobs so I could write music and be in a band and play shows. I even got into an underground art scene. I was going to do whatever. — Chris Cornell

The reason there's no modern-day Shakespeare is because he didn't have anything to do except sit in a room with a candle and think. — Chris Cornell

I have a hard time narrowing things down to ten or 12 songs. If I walk off stage in anything less than two hours, it just feels strange. It feels early. — Chris Cornell

Due to irresolvable personality conflicts as well as musical differences, I am permanently leaving the band Audioslave. I wish the other three members nothing but the best in all of their future endeavours. — Chris Cornell

I got in touch with the creative process between the age of 14 and 16, mainly because I was alone so much. — Chris Cornell

An acoustic show is all about you, and any little nuance or mistake is amplified. — Chris Cornell

I feel like you're not a real musician or entertainer if you can't go into a room, pick up an instrument and entertain people. — Chris Cornell

Be yourself is all that you can do. — Chris Cornell

Everybody is influenced by someone. — Chris Cornell

At the end of the day it's the fans who make you who you are. — Chris Cornell

I actually think to some degree that people are down for longer shows with an acoustic show. — Chris Cornell

I'm not usually in a talkative mode. — Chris Cornell

If you're an American kid, you can't help but be influenced by Led Zeppelin, Black Sabbath and the Rolling Stones because they're always on the radio. — Chris Cornell

I've had a long career and I want to continue to have a long career. The way to do that is not to go away. — Chris Cornell

I think it's important for fans to know that but if I'm doing something that inspires me musically then I think it will inspire someone else too. — Chris Cornell

I can go from one extreme to another, from playing at the Sydney Opera House on the Songbook tour to shows with Soundgarden at Voodoo Fest, all in a week. — Chris Cornell

Most frontmen are not born hams like David Lee Roth. We're more like Joey Ramone: awkward geeks who somehow find our place in the world on the stage. — Chris Cornell

There wasn't a key moment when I knew I wanted to quit. — Chris Cornell

To me, music shouldn't be ego-driven. When you go out on stage and play songs, it is. But when you're sitting in a room, writing songs, it's a completely different process. It's a completely different place. It's a creative place, a musical place. It has nothing to do with who likes what. — Chris Cornell

It's great when you play to an audience that knows the words to all your songs, and sings them back to you. — Chris Cornell

People don't realize how much fun it is to be depressed. — Chris Cornell

I don't really go to clubs so I don't know what sounds are made there, — Chris Cornell

You make me drop things
Like all the plans I had for a life without you — Chris Cornell

I used to work in jobs I hated because I needed the money to buy a guitar. I know what it feels like to be depressed. On the other hand, I also know what it feels like to have money, to be successful, to be independent, but I can tell you that money and success never solve your problems. — Chris Cornell

I play Texas Hold'em on my Blackberry. I have amassed a fortune on that. I have almost 30 million dollars from playing. It is unreal. — Chris Cornell

Radio and TV can still push a band, but things need to be shaken up. There is the Internet, but mostly what I see there is little kids on YouTube playing music. — Chris Cornell

If I'm going to go out to be a solo artist, it's because I want to do something different without having to wait on someone else's schedule or hobbies or be limited by other people's prejudices. I'd be kind of stupid not to exercise that. — Chris Cornell

I don't really go mountain biking per se, like a proper sport. — Chris Cornell

There's a lot of music that I don't like. — Chris Cornell

In the United States, workouts tend to focus on body image and how you look. For me, it's really all about the brain. — Chris Cornell

And if you don't believe the sun will rise, stand alone and greet the coming night in the last remaining light. — Chris Cornell

I'm not a lyric writer to make statements. What I enjoy doing is making paintings with lyrics, creating colorful images. I think that's more what entertainment and music should be. — Chris Cornell

Maybe sincerity is the new punk. But to me, I think I have to connect with something emotionally, on some level, or I don't care about it. And if I don't care about it, then I don't think anyone listening to it will, either. — Chris Cornell

I had to teach myself to let go of the conventional rock way of playing guitar and singing. Some things you wouldn't expect to work, did and some things won't ever work. — Chris Cornell

Worried moon
I'm afraid of what's to come
Worried moon
Yeah, tell me what you know
Worried moon
You see further down the road
Worried moon — Chris Cornell

Rock never meant the same thing to everyone, but when I was growing up in the late seventies, everyone could identify the five, ten bands that formed the center. — Chris Cornell

When you start your first band and it has an impact on the rest of the world you go through a lot with those guys and you become very protective of that legacy. — Chris Cornell

The words you say never live up to the words in your head. — Chris Cornell

What do you think Jesus would twitter, 'Let he who is without sin cast the first stone' or 'Has anyone seen Judas? He was here a minute ago.' — Chris Cornell

My brother brought home 'At San Quentin' when I was about 7, and we played it over and over again. — Chris Cornell

I started as a drummer, so I sort of took on singing duties by default. I had sung backgrounds and some lead vocals from behind the drums in different bands that I'd been in, and I'd gotten great responses for the songs I would sing. I really started pursuing the possibility of being a lead singer based on the fact that I was working a full-time restaurant job and then playing gigs at night, hauling drums around. One day, it just dawned on me that, 'Hey, I could be in a band and be the singer, and it would be a lot easier!' — Chris Cornell

Children should always feel like the adults are living in this world to nurture them, to take care of them, to protect them from any bad thing that might come. — Chris Cornell

The focus on my wife and my children, it really helps me make sense of the music side of it somehow. — Chris Cornell

I don't get in there and create a character. It's more of a voice that I hear living inside the music. — Chris Cornell