Photo credit: Dustin Halter for AlternativeNation.net
Ross Halfin posted in his diary over the summer that Chris Cornell recorded an album that never came out. He captioned a photo: “Chris Cornell as it’s his birthday. And birthdays should be ‘Celebrated’. This was in Los Angeles while recording an album of UK style blues singers that never came out.”
The vaults of unreleased Chris Cornell material are first being opened in November with the release of the career retrospective Chris Cornell, featuring the unreleased song “When Bad Does Good.”
Josh Brolin discussed the release of Chris Cornell’s new song “When Bad Does Good” in a new Instagram post. He also discussed witnessing Cornell talk to Jeff Buckley onstage after Buckley’s passing the first time he met him.
“My dear friend,
They released ‘When Bad Does Good’ today. I remember when you sent it to me and ask what I thought. Hearing your voice again overwhelms me like that first time we met at Hollywood Cafe and you were on stage with just your guitar and a phone next to you and you were having conversations with Jeff Buckley.
It all comes back: all the conversations, the written words back and forth, a small room back stage here and there when we could find the time full of easy conversation and connections. I miss you buddy. Vicky and I have stayed in touch. It was Toni’s birthday, but I’m sure you know that. All is well but hearts still contract and expand with each thought of you or as a song bleeds through the radio. I love you, buddy. Always will. xo JB.”
The previously unreleased Chris Cornell song “When Bad Does Good” was released on Thursday morning as a new single for the Chris Cornell retrospective set for release in November, and some of its lyrics ended up on Soundgarden’s newest album, King Animal.
The lyric ‘When blood is raining down, it cuts a deep river, and I’m diving’ appear on “By Crooked Steps” which suggest this songs was written and recorded in 2011 or 2012, and either was considered to become a Soundgarden song, or at the very least some of it was lifted for “By Crooked Steps.” Read the lyrics below.
Standing beside an open grave
Your fate decided, your life erased
Your final hour
Has come today
Lit by the fire of your temples burning
You are a child
And so was I
Now you’re a hunter
But I am a lion
And I will cut you down
Like I’ve done so many times
Sometimes bad can do some good,
Sometimes bad can do some good
And I heard you say that
Flesh sells by the pound
When blood is raining down
It cuts a deep river
And I’m diving
Now shine a light down
On to the earth
And shake this gold dust out
Out of the dirt
No saints beside me
And no prayers to guide me
Sometimes bad can do some good,
bad can do some good
Sometimes bad can do some good
(Rain down, heaven is falling)
I’ve chosen a side
And I will show no pity
And spare no lives
For those who try me
Let it be understood
Sometimes bad can do some good,
Sometimes bad can do some good