Chris Cornell

hardest song to sing?

i'm wondering if we can come to a consensus on this. in regards to range, melody, power, whatever - which do you think is the most difficult cornell-related song to sing? and has chris ever chimed in on this himself?

many people default to 'jesus christ pose', but perhaps something more soulful like 'when im down' is more demanding, tonally

Re: hardest song to sing?

I think there are probably much harder songs in his repertoire than JCP. Everyone has different strengths and weaknesses as a singer though so it will vary with the individual. I always thought "Follow My Way" and "Heart of Honey" sounded tricksy melodically, needing a very good ear and a powerful pair of lungs, but maybe that's just how they come across to me.

Re: hardest song to sing?

I always thought CC must have an extra lung. . .kind of like that bag on bag pipes that keeps putting out air when the piper takes a breath. His breath control is unbelievable.

Re: hardest song to sing?

wow, there are sssooooo many that are all over the place range wise, but just to think of one as the toughest wthout going back to listen to several to decide I'd go with "Head Injury" off Ultramega OK, that one goes from way low to wwaaayyy high several times over.

Re: hardest song to sing?

the end of The Day I Tried to Live blows out my voice worse than a whole season full of hockey games.

if you can't finish the song without being a mute, that makes it hard, I'm sure there's things that are much harder technically, but that "I woke the same as any other day, you know, I should have stayed in bed, yeah, whoa, etc" is brutal.

Re: Re: hardest song to sing?

mckay21 wrote:

the end of The Day I Tried to Live blows out my voice worse than a whole season full of hockey games.

if you can't finish the song without being a mute, that makes it hard, I'm sure there's things that are much harder technically, but that "I woke the same as any other day, you know, I should have stayed in bed, yeah, whoa, etc" is brutal.

Re: hardest song to sing?

I love his voice in Last Remaining Light and also in Slaves and Bulldozers. Different types of songs, but they show his range.

I thought for sure everyone would have said Beyond the Wheel...!

Re: hardest song to sing?

I would think Birth Ritual would be high on the list...

Re: Re: hardest song to sing?

Pizzaguy wrote:
I would think Birth Ritual would be high on the list...

Re: hardest song to sing?

I've never heard Birth Ritual. A CC song I don't know the words to? What the hell!

Re: Re: hardest song to sing?

CCSLAVE wrote:
I've never heard Birth Ritual. A CC song I don't know the words to? What the hell!

Re: Re: Re: hardest song to sing?

clarefromscotland wrote:

Pizzaguy wrote:
I would think Birth Ritual would be high on the list...

Never been able to stand that one! Might be hard to do but sounds like he's inhaled helium. Comes under heading "just because you can, doesn't mean you should..." imho of course. ;o)

Re: Re: Re: hardest song to sing?

Pizzaguy wrote:

CCSLAVE wrote:
I've never heard Birth Ritual. A CC song I don't know the words to? What the hell!

It is on the Singles soundtrack. I think it is a top 5 Soundgarden song

IMHO of course

Go into YOU TUBE and search Birth Ritual. There is a live version and studio

Let me know what you think. It is OLD SCHOOL Soundgarden sound..

Re: Re: Re: Re: hardest song to sing?

CCSLAVE wrote:

Pizzaguy wrote:

CCSLAVE wrote:
I've never heard Birth Ritual. A CC song I don't know the words to? What the hell!

It is on the Singles soundtrack. I think it is a top 5 Soundgarden song

IMHO of course

Go into YOU TUBE and search Birth Ritual. There is a live version and studio

Let me know what you think. It is OLD SCHOOL Soundgarden sound..

Hell yeah I checked it out.

Totally badass. Reminds me of Loud Love. Or really, early SG lmao.

Re: hardest song to sing?

just cornell???

i was in a band and i could NOT reach the nots of COCHISE

other bands that are impossible..MUSE!!!!!!!!

Re: Re: hardest song to sing?

SoundgardenIRE wrote:
just cornell???

i was in a band and i could NOT reach the nots of COCHISE

other bands that are impossible..MUSE!!!!!!!!

Re: hardest song to sing?

jesus christ pose is probably the hardest tho.. spent the last day listening to his songs to see which..

defo jcp!!!

Re: hardest song to sing?

cold bitch

Re: hardest song to sing?

I would have to agree that most CC songs can be sung but the most memorable parts , cannot be replicated (easily).
Mailman, Four Walled World, Call Me a Dog, Birth Ritual...to name a few.

hardest song to sing?

I lost my voice when I was young, and I do not know why.... maybe it was because an elder of mine knocked me within myself and told me to stop cursing.

Anyway, over the years, I held my voice deep within and even though no one ever heard me sing, within my inner ear, and within my heart I was singing. And to be honest, I have a silent scream so loud that it will send you deaf, so possibly it has been wise to slowly and carefully release such a thing.

And when it comes to which song is the hardest song to sing of Chris Cornell's, I don't think there is one, as we all have our own voice, and who cares if we have perfect pitch or not! And, over the years I have thoroughly enjoyed the learning process of developing my voice while I have been singing along with him.

He is a great tool to work with, and he has helped me to help myself, so I will always give thanks to him for what he has done for me. And one last thing to say before I go on my merry way....

I know this, for his voice is etched within my heart's memory of what it feels to be alive.

Re: hardest song to sing?

I say Beyond The Wheel, that live version on youtube is amazing! like it, though chris looks f***ed up! lol. I love singing follow my way!

most fun song to sing

Pillow of Your Bones is such a great song. I've pondered this question for awhile and it may not be the hardest, but it is very rangy. More than that the melody is so ... dynamic and fun to sing, the music is perfect, sounds cool and the lyrics are fantastic to me.

Re: hardest song to sing?

I always find it hard to sing the word "hole" in the bridge of No Such Thing. If you don't breathe right it's hard to hold the note and ascend like he does. I can do it though

Re: hardest song to sing?

Chris should answer this- Its a great topic. I would really like to hear his answer. :)

Re: hardest song to sing?

someone twitter this question to him ....

Re: hardest song to sing?

I don't know where you guys are practicing your range with these songs. My son used to go outside a hammer away at a song, not carring about the neighbors or anything. He would go out there and belt the songs out until he could get it right. Then he would come inside and sing the song at some reasonable level and have all the kinks worked out. It seems like he needs a bit more volume to reach some of those higher screams and teach is voice to hit the notes correctly.

I would think that doing 'Say Hello 2 Heaven' would be hard, but then I really can't sing any of his stuff. I can sing along to Barry Manillo (SP?) pretty okay, I guess or James Taylor. Ha! I would need a professional vocal coach to help me to do what Chris does, and that might not be enough.

To refere to an above statement by Pizzaguy....... I love Audioslaves first record, and put it at the top of my all time favorite lists as a record that provides amazing attitude adjustment. It's like magic. :)

Re: hardest song to sing?

I can't choose... but whem im down gives me chills.

Re: hardest song to sing?

Limo Wreck is a bitch - I think it's a high C in the chorus..

Re: hardest song to sing?

Hardest song to sing ?
Well, probably most of them.

Can you imagine Soundgarden without Cornell?
Seriously?

I mean, a lot of bands can "re-form" with some degree of success with different singer.
But Soundgarden? Really who could even come close to Cornell as the front guy ?

(not to mention his songwriting contribution . . . )

Re: hardest song to sing?

When I'm Down

Re: hardest song to sing?

Probably, Smokestack Lightning. He just goes waaay too high in that song, that it becomes near ridiculous. lmao

Re: Re: hardest song to sing?

deafinseattle3 wrote:
I don't know where you guys are practicing your range with these songs. My son used to go outside a hammer away at a song, not carring about the neighbors or anything. He would go out there and belt the songs out until he could get it right. Then he would come inside and sing the song at some reasonable level and have all the kinks worked out. It seems like he needs a bit more volume to reach some of those higher screams and teach is voice to hit the notes correctly.

I would think that doing 'Say Hello 2 Heaven' would be hard, but then I really can't sing any of his stuff. I can sing along to Barry Manillo (SP?) pretty okay, I guess or James Taylor. Ha! I would need a professional vocal coach to help me to do what Chris does, and that might not be enough.

To refere to an above statement by Pizzaguy....... I love Audioslaves first record, and put it at the top of my all time favorite lists as a record that provides amazing attitude adjustment. It's like magic. :)

Re: hardest song to sing?

To answer the original question

Slaves&Bulldozers

Bleed your heart out - I think your vocal cords must be bleeding !!!!

Re: hardest song to sing?

Birth Ritual is a headbangers wet dream. In the same way vintage Axl is, too. Some people just don't get it. Like Chris said, you either get it or you don't. And if you don't, that isn't a bad thing, either.

I love Pillow of Your Bones and Steel Rain. Back to back greatness.

And I would think tricky.
Jill

Re: hardest song to sing?

My vote is for Birth Ritual . . . . . . . I think I hit a few of those notes during my son's birth LOL (his head size was off the charts)

Re: hardest song to sing?

haha I hear you lol that was a good tittle for that song

Re: hardest song to sing?

Birth Ritual had to be the song Henry Rollins was talking about when he said Cornell's voice could peel the paint off walls.

Jill

Re: Re: hardest song to sing?

Merino wrote:
I always thought CC must have an extra lung. . .kind of like that bag on bag pipes that keeps putting out air when the piper takes a breath. His breath control is unbelievable.

Re: Re: hardest song to sing?

ezander wrote:
My vote is for Birth Ritual . . . . . . . I think I hit a few of those notes during my son's birth LOL (his head size was off the charts)

Re: Re: hardest song to sing?

mckay21 wrote:

the end of The Day I Tried to Live blows out my voice worse than a whole season full of hockey games.

if you can't finish the song without being a mute, that makes it hard, I'm sure there's things that are much harder technically, but that "I woke the same as any other day, you know, I should have stayed in bed, yeah, whoa, etc" is brutal.

Re: hardest song to sing?

Beyond the Wheel or Mailman

Re: hardest song to sing?

How about the US. National Anthem?

Has anyone ever heard him sing that?

Jill

Re: Re: hardest song to sing?

hear4cc wrote:
How about the US. National Anthem?

Has anyone ever heard him sing that?

Jill

Re: Re: Re: hardest song to sing?

grungeera wrote:

mckay21 wrote:

the end of The Day I Tried to Live blows out my voice worse than a whole season full of hockey games.

if you can't finish the song without being a mute, that makes it hard, I'm sure there's things that are much harder technically, but that "I woke the same as any other day, you know, I should have stayed in bed, yeah, whoa, etc" is brutal.

I've been singing Soundgarden since i was 14.
The Day i tried to lieve is probably one of the easiest Cornell screams. It sounds more difficult than it actually is.
There are some screams like e.g. some on Cold Bitch and the 'Come on' on New Damage which i can only hit in falsetto.
The most impressing song i've heard by Chris is definatly during a live concert in 1988 on Smokestack Lightening. I always thought that the only way to hit such a note was in falsetto, i could'nt believe he could hit that note with his head voice, until i saw a live recording of it.
I was blown away by the power with which bhe pulled it off. Here is the scream, unfortunatley there's no video anymore, only an audio recording.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4VyrxIijQK8

ANother song which is hard to do is Loud Love, i always failed at the opening scream because it stays at the same high, the rest if easy.

You seem to be impressed by Cornells later work, but check out songs like 'head injury', 'say hello to heaven', slaves and bulldozers', 'gun', 'four walled world', -------------------->'POWER TRIP'<------------,' Call me a dog' and not to forget his highest album note ?full on kevin's mom'.

Re: hardest song to sing?

the cover of Smokestack Lightning and/or Beyond the Wheel. without a doubt. insane.

Re: hardest song to sing?

My vote would be beyond the wheel....

Re: hardest song to sing?

When you comin' home?

(makes me crazy)

Re: hardest song to sing?

definitely either superunknown or the day i tried to live. I mean SU like every line he says he goes up high and then the OH NO ITS THE SUPERUNKNOWN is crazy. and totally the end of TDITTL is amazing

Re: hardest song to sing?

Slaves and Bulldozers is impossible to sing!!!!! it is from another world, not from Earth!

Re: hardest song to sing?

My two cent are the following: (three if your counting).....and in no particular order

1. Slaves and Bulldozers

2. The Day I Tried to Live

3. Birth Ritual

4. You can probably throw in a couple songs off the first Audioslave album too....

Re: hardest song to sing?

It would definitely be "Say Hello 2 Heaven." Why? Because Chris has been recorded as the highest male vocalist to hit a certain octave in that song. So obviously that would be one of the hardest accomplishments for Chris vocally.