The release dates for Chris Cornell's 2007 solo album carry on were May 28 (UK) and June 5 (US).You can read the lyrics at Chris Cornell's official discography.
A tracklisting was announced as part of Chris Cornell's February 15 press release, which named Elvis Costello and Tom Waits as songwriting influences, and in a US radio interview on 14 March Chris said carry on was the name of a song which didn't actually make the cut.
no such thing was played on US radio for the first time on 14 March 2007. Unlike much of the album it's riff-rock, although the chord structure & arrangement seem more complex than most of Audioslave's songs. The lyrics seem to be about survival - and how wallowing in nihilism doesn't work.
The sinister and agressive poison eye was first performed for Yahoo! Music's Nissan Live Sets video in front of an invited audience in Los Angeles on April 4.
arms around your love is a breakup song, about "a guy whose girl leaves him for another guy, but she didn't really want to — it was just that he was such a loser," Chris told MTV. "And now, this guy's got to deal with seeing her around with someone else." This, along with songs from Soundgarden, Temple of The Dog and Audioslave, features on Suretone's Chris Cornell promotional CD The Roads We Choose - A Retrospective. It was the first UK single from the album, released May 21, and features a cover of Led Zeppelin ballad Thank You live acoustic from Stockholm.
safe and sound - this one's described as "bluesy and soulful". Chris has often cited Otis Redding and Aretha Franklin as vocal influences and has written and performed gospel, R&B and soul-inflected songs right through his career - from 1991's Temple Of The Dog to his own 1999 solo album, Euphoria Morning. Chris and his band played the song live as part of their session for Canada's Much More Music on 13 April. The song immediately drew comparisons with Van Morrison and Eric Clapton. According to producer Steve Lillywhite, it's his favourite song from the album!
she'll never be your man - Chris told MTV that this one tells the story of a man "whose woman leaves him for another woman, which is sort of hard to deal with because men know how to compete with other men for something like a woman and a relationship...it's never happened to me, but just in thinking about it and hearing stories about it, it's like, 'Maybe I was so bad, not only did she dump me, she gave up men entirely?' The song was added to Chris's MySpace page in streaming audio on 4 May 2007.
the reflective ghosts was played for the first time in Boston on 19 April 2007. Some people felt it reminded them of the music of Jeff Buckley, who was, according to Steve Lillywhite, one of the main reference points for the album in its early days. Lyrically, it seems to deal with personal change and growth - and the difficulties it can bring for other people.
killing birds - "alt-rock experimentation", and a title which seems to recall 1994's Like Suicide, which was also inspired by an ornicidal incident. Chris has mentioned it was the last song he wrote for the album.
billie jean - a "slow-burn" cover of the Michael Jackson hit. In November 2006 he told MTV news that "it just sort of happened organically. I changed the music quite a bit, I didn't touch the lyrics. And it's not a joke. I took a completely different approach to it, musically." In March 2006, he told US radio that he'd started experimenting with the song after a conversation with his wife about unlikely cover versions - it was certainly an unlikely choice for Chris as he has often been less than complimentary about Michael Jackson in the past! Chris gave a memorable acoustic performance of the song during his live set at O Baren, Stockholm, on September 7, 2006, which you can download at Live & Rare, and unveiled the band version of the song live for Yahoo! Music's Nissan Live Sets video on April 4 2007.
Chris at O Baren, Stockholm,Sep 2006 © Bence Vajda
scar on the sky - the press release described this one as "psychedelic", though those who first heard Chris play the song live acoustic at the Dallas show on April 27 said it reminded them of the song Sweet Euphoria. The most commonly quoted reference point has been The Beatles. On some retail sites, the Japanese version of the album had this track listed as hover. The chorus lyric contains the lines "hover in the diving light, we can rip the night..." so it's possible that was an earlier title.
The "redemptive" your soul today was initially described as having a "harder edge" which should appeal to fans of Chris's work with Soundgarden or Audioslave. The studio version got its first radio play on Philadelphia's WMMR on April 23 - it's a sexy blues-rocker with a big chorus, reminiscent of the great 70s band Free.
finally forever is a "country-flavoured" love song written for Chris to sing at his own wedding reception. Audioslave's Like A Stone and Doesn't Remind Me were both classed as country-tinged ballads, and Chris once introduced I Am The Highway as his "cowboy song." Chris is a longtime fan of country legend Johnny Cash, who returned the compliment by covering Soundgarden's Rusty Cage.
silence the voices is described as "anthemic". Chris told Rolling Stone in November 2006 that it dealt with the war in Iraq, addressing Bush's decision to wage a war without contemplating the toll it would take. He also told The Wave: "the subject matter is that thought that I’ve had many times with Bush Sr. and Bush Jr.: When they go to put the green light on some huge militaristic move, where they know there’s gonna be collateral damage, they know children and adults are gonna be killed, along with our own American servicemen and women, where’s the voice that says, “Unless they’re coming down your driveway with a f--king tank, let’s exhaust all other possible avenues for peace.” Where’s that voice? I don’t get how someone can put a green light on something where they know even one hair on one head of an innocent child is gonna be harmed."
disappearing act - described as a "paean to persistence", the song appears in a solo acoustic version - actually Chris's home demo - over the closing credits of the William Friedkin movie Bug. Says Chris, "we didn't really know what to do with Disappearing Act. I knew I wanted a full band, we wanted upright bass, acoustic guitars, like keep it acoustic-ish, but have it be a band, not just be me and an acoustic guitar. And I think because we didn't really have a template for it, we were sort of exploring, and it was also one of the first songs we did. And then Steve [Lillywhite] got adventurous on it and he put a lot of bowing and strings on it and different things, and he basically made a mess that he had to sit around and figure out how to make work. And he did, actually!"
Although the Cornell track is not included on the OST album, it does appear over the closing credits of the film and can be heard on the DVD, which is already out in the US and due for release in the UK on February 25 2008. It's a shortened version of the song and features just Chris and an acoustic guitar. The version of the song on Carry On is a full band rendition and is a longer arrangement.
you know my name - co-written with film composer David Arnold, this was the theme tune for the smash hit Bond movie Casino Royale, starring Daniel Craig, who is, according to the official movie site's blog page, a Cornell fan - a bit of a mutual admiration society those two have got going there! In the UK, the single release made #7 in the singles sales charts. Check out the British and German versions of the release. Chris made the decision not to include the track on the movie soundtrack album, though Chris's video does appear on the movie DVD - see the DVD cover art and menu screens. Here's an interview with David Arnold about the writing of the song, which has now won several awards and a Grammy nomination.
That's where the US version of the album ends - but the UK and Australian versions feature two more "bonus" tracks:
today is an unusual song with a falsetto vocal which contrasts a dark lyric with a backing track that's almost jaunty. It's reminiscent of Prince in its strangeness and its confrontational feel.
Musically, roads we choose is an off-kilter waltz - and lyrically, a profoundly personal love song about need and commitment. It's the only song on carry on to have been originally written for an Audioslave album - in this case, Out Of Exile.
