What’s Tameeka Listening To?

After almost year two of Chris Cornell’s passing a decent tribute was given to him. I have been vocal about Chris Cornell receiving the proper respect that he deserves. So Miley Cyrus sang “Say Hello 2 Heaven” it was alright. It’s one of my favorite songs by Temple of the Dog. Hunger Strike is my all time favorite song by Temple of the Dog. Say Hello 2 Heaven is what I’ve been listening to a lot lately besides the Raconteurs.

“Say Hello 2 Heaven”

Please, mother mercy
Take me from this place
And the long winded curses
I keep hearing in my head
Words never listen
And teachers, oh, they never learn
Now I’m warm from the candle
But I feel too cold to burn
He came from an island
And he died from the street
And he hurt so bad like a soul breaking
But he never said nothing to me

So say hello to heaven, heaven, heaven…
Say hello to heaven, heaven, heaven, yeah

New like a baby
Lost like a prayer
The sky was your playground
But the cold ground was your bed
Poor stargazer
She’s got no tears in her eyes
Smooth like a whisper
She knows that love heals all wounds with time
Now it seems like too much love is never enough
You better seek out another road
Cause this one has ended abrupt

Say hello to heaven, heaven, heaven…
Say hello to heaven, heaven, heaven…
Say hello to heaven, heaven, heaven…

I never wanted
To write these words down for you
With the pages of phrases
Of all the things we’ll never do
So I blow out the candle and
I put you to bed
Since you can’t say to me now
How the dogs broke your bone
There’s just one thing left to be said

Say hello to heaven, heaven, yeah
Say hello to heaven, heaven, yeah
Say hello to heaven, heaven, yeah
Say hello to heaven, to heaven, yeah

A Year Ago Today

At times life
Can seem so unfair
When a person passes away
It becomes so clear
That we all
Have very little time here
In a blink of an eye
We go from being our parent’s babies
To holding our very own children
No matter how a person
Touches our lives
Their importance
Becomes apparent
When the person
Is no longer here
To bless us with
The very things
That we hold
So near and so dear
One life touches other
Even though we sometimes
Don’t realize
How significant
That we are
Which is why loss
Hits like a ton
Of bricks
Crashing in
Weighing heavy on our hearts
We are never ready
But why should we be
We are not ready
To set a person free
Today is Chris Cornell’s birthday
He is missed today
As much as he was when
He passed away
Perhaps even more
I wish that
He could tell his family
That he loves them
One more time
I wish that
He could huge them
And not let go
I wish that we could
Get a chance to
Hear him sing live
One more time
I wish that we all
Could witness his smile
To listen to lyrics
That he wrote
Which were pulled
Deep from within his soul
All of us fans feeling like
We can relate
And admire him
For expressing his feelings
I wish he could be here
So we could all let him
Know how much that he is valued
And that he’s not alone

Andrew Wood

Happy Birthday to Andrew Wood! Andrew Wood was the lead singer of the band called Mother Love Bone. Mother Love Bone was formed in Seattle. I remembered when my mother brought me Mother Love Bone’s cassette. My favorite song of Mother Love Bone is called Crown of Thorns.

Interesting facts about Andrew Wood is that he and Chris Cornell used to be roommates before they became famous. Chris Cornell was the lead singer of Soundgarden. Two members of Mother Love Bone became members of the band Pearl Jam. Andrew Wood passed away on March 19, 1990. A few months after Andrew Wood passed some of the members of Pearl Jam and Soundgarden formed the band Temple of the Dog. The name Temple of the Dog came from lyrics of a song by Mother Love Bone called Man of Golden Words. My favorite songs by Temple of the Dog are Hunger Strike and Say Hello to Heaven.

Happy Birthday to Andrew Wood! R.I.P

The Pain Inside

People who aren’t fans will never

Understand they say that we idolize

They think that we are going overboard

For wanting you to receive

The proper recognition that you deserve

I mean who really thinks that what

Took place at the billboard awards

Was proper I mean it was absurd

A moment of silence that lasted

For like a blink of an eye

Because they don’t realize

How your music impacted our lives

How your music got us through

Very tough times

Through tears that we cried

Sometimes day and night

When there was no one in sight

Who we could trust or confide in

Without them passing judgement

People have absolutely no clue

About how the feeling of depression

Can seduce you

Thoughts of negativity

That swarms the mind

The worse part of it

Clueless people think that depression

Is of darkness

They truly have no idea

Depression just is

Anytime it can happen

Like at a finger’s snap

And no one is exempt

Women, men, teen, poor or rich

It swallows you into an abyss

It’s victims constantly

Long for freedom’s kiss

The pain hits hard like a fist

People must understand that no one

Willingly choose to feel like this

I’ve been depression’s victim

Feeling it squeeze the emotions

From out of my body

Had me walking around like a zombie

Thankful for your music

Coming to the rescue

Yes I smile

But behind it

Lies a pain

Like nothing that

I have ever felt before

I am mourning you

Crying the blues

Praying to God

Because I don’t know

What to do

This pain is killing me inside

No one will ever know the reason

Behind what I am feeling inside

I am trying hard to deal with

The pain right now

Is so unreal

Wishing that we had

More time to hear

More of your melodies

More time to enjoy

More memories

Of concerts, new music and videos

Now we are left with wondering

What another albums

Could have been in store

For us to enjoy

Why were you taken away

From us so soon

Your voice could sing any genre

Loved your covers of Billie Jean

And Nothing Compares 2 U

Your lyrics were always just

What we needed

Your music was everything

I say this with the utmost sincerity

From the looks of it

The pain that I am feeling ending

Appears to be nowhere in sight

People who aren’t fans

Will never understand

The treasure that was lost

What’s Tameeka Listening to?

Chris Cornell passed away on May 17 and so  I wanted to share his music. It was so hard to choose a song  I love Temple of The Dog, Soundgarden, Audioslave and his solo music. I decided to go with “Hunger Strike” Chris voice was amazing in this song. Check it out:

For Chris

Music transcends race, age, gender and social class. Music can bring different people to together while they sing the same lyrics to a song. People who know me know that I listen to all kinds of music however rock music is my baby. I love rock music. The Seattle Scene was everything Nirvana, Pearl Jam, Soundgarden, and Alice in Chains one can throw Candlebox up in there too. I had every cassette of the bands from the Settle Scene.  Growing up 1991 was a great year of music in April my mother brought me the cassette Temple of the Dog and in October Badmotorfinger. My mother brought me Motorvision on VHS of course it was the 90s. Man, kids of today will never know what it’s like to watch a VHS tape and be able to tell which parts were watched the most from constantly rewinding certain parts on a tape. On Motorvision I kept watching the part where Soundgarden performed Searching with My Good Eye Closed the energy was amazing!!!! I have been a fan of Soundgarden for more than half of my age. A lot of mainstream fans (not putting them down) think that Superunknown put Soundgarden on the map but it was Badmotorfinger actually. My favorite songs off Badmotorfinger are Rusty Cage, Outshined, Slaves and Bulldozers and Searching with My Good Eye Closed. As a teenager I battled with depression and music helped me out a lot. This is the reason why I was so heartbroken about Chris Cornell’s death. I am Not idolizing Chris Cornell and quite frankly I’m sick of people who make a person feel bad about sharing about how someone touched their life.

My birthday is May 17 and Chris Cornell died on my birthday it’s so sad. I remember my phone going off from an email that I received. The email said Audioslave and Soundgarden leader singer so I click on it to open it and found out about his passing. I feel so sorry for Chris Cornell’s wife and children as well as everyone whose lives that he touched. Chris Cornell voice was unique that could hit a high C vocal range and he was an amazing songwriter too. Chris wrote most of the songs of the groups that he was in. On the album Superunknown one of my favorite songs is “Fell on Black Days. Fell on Black Days written by Chris is about how he suffered from a severe case of depression during his teenage years rarely leaving the house. Chris once spent a whole year without leaving the house he played the guitar and drums. I could go on and on about Chris Cornell’s songs and his talent. In an interview with Launch Radio Networks, Chris Cornell said: “The ‘be yourself’ part really just came from a lot of things that I’ve gone through in my life and a lot of different changes and all the different tragedies and all the horrendously stupid mistakes I’ve made in my personal life, and wanting to be able to make up for those things and wanting to be able to not be ashamed, all that stuff. You know, that’s the one thing about getting older that’s better, and this song kind of says it so simply, to a degree that 10 years ago I would’ve been embarrassed to put it in a song ’cause it is so simple. But there it is.”

In the song “Show me how to live”, Chris Cornell asks for help from God, saying that He created him, but now needs his guidance. There are a few religious references in the song, including “Nail in my hand,” which is relates to the crucifixion of Jesus.

Near the end, Cornell created an interesting vocal effect by hitting his throat with the side of his hand to change the pitch of his voice

I went over to Chris Cornell’s website and read his thoughts about his tribute to Prince; he performed Prince’s song “Nothing Compares 2 U”. He said “Sadly now his own lyrics in this song could not be more relevant than at this moment, and I sing them now in reverence as I pay tribute to this unequaled artist who has given all of our lives so much inspiration and made the world so much more interesting.” Those words are exactly how I feel right now Chris Cornell there will never be another like you because “Nothing Compares 2 U.” I know that you sometimes “Fell on Black Days” wanted the “Black Hole Sun” to come but you continued “ Searching with Your Good Eye Closed” asked God to “Show You How to Live” while you continued to “Be Yourself”. You were an awesome artist Say Hello to Heaven.