Interpretive Dunce - Black Hole Sun by Soundgarden

The Interpretive Dunce has returned for your pants! We're here to help you understand what song lyrics really mean. With the aid of the mighty Selectorbot 5000 your suggestions are turned into actual analysis! Sort of. Don't look to close. It's been a while. The Selectorbot 5000 has been in the shop, you know how it is. Anyway! This week we have Soundgarden's Black Hole Sun! Let's go to the video tape:

In my eyes, indisposed,
In disguise, no one knows
Hides the face Lies
The snake, the sun
In my disgrace
Boiling heat, Summer stench
'Neath the black
The sky looks dead
Call my name
Through the cream
And I'll hear you
Scream again

Black hole sun
Won't you come
And wash away the rain

Black hole sun

Won't you come
Won't you come

It's interesting, the first line seems to tie directly to Eyes Without a Face. You know, that could be why that face had no eyes. They were indisposed. Could be! But don't think that this whole song is just Chris Cornell yelping about a Billy Idol song. That would be nothing short of awesome, I admin, but it is not what is happening. Sadly.

So what is going on? Well, quite obviously, or at least obvious to us here in IDHQ, this is a song by Megatron, wishing that Star Scream would just die already. No, really. See, there he is talking about being in disguise, like robots often are when they're Transformers. And how the disguises also run deeper, hiding a snake, perhaps in ones midst.

The sky looks dead, it calls his name. Poor Megatron. He led those flying, transforming into jet plane Decepticons and yet all he could do was turn into a hand gun. No wonder he is so bitter. Standing there, alone on a cliff, with only Star Scream behind him.

Megatron and Star Scream hate each other

You'd grow to hate that guy, too. Always planning on your demise, wanting your power, how could you trust him? You can't. And yet you can't kill him either, because when you do turn into a gun, that's the guy that fires you. Little bit sexual? Maybe. But no, they're robots, get your mind out of the gutter.

The black hole sun, that Megatron wants to come and "wash away the rain" is Optimus Prime. Prime, being the leader of the Autobots and Megatron's sworn enemy, is the one guy who can come in shining (like a sun?) and yet make his day suck (like a black hole).

Stuttering
Cold and damp
Steal the warm wind
Tired friend
Times are gone
For honest men

And sometimes
Far too long
For snakes
In my shoes
A-walking sleep
And my youth
I pray to keep
Heaven send, Hell away
No one sings
Like you anymore

Black hole sun
Won't you come
And wash away the rain

Yes, that's right, Megatron wishes Star Scream would die at the hands of Optimus Prime so that, for once, Megatron could get some proper sleep. Oh, tired friend, the times are gone for honest men. This is when the Decepticons betray one another (yet again) and Megatron actively wishes for his enemies to win. Megatron wants change!

Optimus Prime Change into a truck poster

It works even better if you think of Megatron singing it with his voice, not Cornells'. It also works better if you think of Chris Cornell doing Megatron cosplay. But maybe that's just Selectorbot 5000 and he needs to go back in the shop. Either way, the point is: Poor Megatron. I mean not only is he clinically depressed, and probably needs an oil change, but he is reduced to having Chris Cornell sing sad songs about him. Yeah. Well, at least he has a movie career to look forward … wait, Michael Bay? Doing even more Transformers movies… oh, poor, poor Megatron.

This has been the Interpretive Dunce! You know how we do this of course: You suggest a song in the comments (you know you want to) and I will randomly pick one and interpret it for you. You chose what we'll be talking about next week. Tell your friends. Tell your enemies. Just remember this only works when you join in the fun. Come back next week and I'll continue to help you get to the bottom of what these folks actually mean with their lyrics. And now is the time we kick out some jams.

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