The Story Behind: "Like a Stone" by Audioslave
Like a Stone is a song by the American alternative rock supergroup Audioslave. The song was the second single from their debut studio record Audioslave, which was released on November 19, 2002.
Backstory/Recording
The song was one of the first songs written by the band, which formed after lead singer of Rage Against the Machine left the band. Producer Rick Rubin told the rest of the band to contact Chris Cornell, which just stopped writting for his second studio album. Once the band got together and played a few songs, they knew they were going to form a new band.
The record and the song were produced by Rick Rubin and also by the band itself. The recording of the album was lengthy and took just less than a year. The members of the band had a very tight schedule leaving them to record the album only when they had time in four different studios: Cello Studios, Hollywood, Royaltone Studios, Burbank, Studio Litho, Seattle and Studio K, Seattle.
The Meaning of the Lyrics
Tim Commerford (bassist) stated that the song is about an old man, waiting to be reunited with all of his friends and family, whom have passed on. Singer Chris Cornell said that "It's a song about concentrating on the afterlife you would hope for, rather than the normal monotheistic approach: You work really hard all your life to be a good person and a moral persona and fair and generous, and then you go to hell anyway."
Most people also suggested that the song was written by Cornell about the late singer from Alice in Chains, whom died in 2002. The rumor was latter denied by Cornell: "No. I'm not one of those guys where, like, something happens and then I go run around, 'Ooh, 9/11, and now it's 9/12, let me write about that. I wrote the lyrics before he died. You can misinterpret that stuff pretty easy, but I don't tend to sit down and plan on writing about a specific issue. They come up or they don't."
Cornell stated later that the lyrics are indeed about finding God, even stating at concerts that "your heaven is what you make it" meaning that "heaven" is in the eye of the beholder.
The Music Video
The music video for the song was directed and written by director Meiert Avis, whom worked with such artists as: Bruce Spingsteen, Bob Dylan, U2 and State Radio and many others.
It takes place in a very old mansion in Los Angeles where the legendary guitarist Jimi Hendrix once lived in and also wrote his music. The band was there only to rehearse, but had all the filming equipment there, so they have decided to film the video right then and there. The video features the band playing in the mansion and Commerford's one year old son.