Soundgarden's Chris Cornell Reflects On Johnny Cash Compliment

(Classic Rock) Chris Cornell was never complimented for his lyrics until Johnny Cash covered Soundgarden - and he believes it's because of the way his vocal can be buried in his band's music.

That's one of the reasons he enjoys his solo work as much as working with Kim Thayil, Ben Shepherd and Matt Cameron. Cornell tells Courant.com: "You can't always make out the words I sing with Soundgarden. When Johnny Cash covered Rusty Cage it was the first time I received compliments from my lyrics.

"To take this in another direction, when I covered Billy Jean by Michael Jackson, it was going to be a joke. I couldn't do it in the form it was originally recorded in so I slowed it down. When I did that, it wasn't funny any more - it's an amazing story, brilliant lyrics.

"When you break out the acoustic guitar, the words are the focal point unless you're the Jimi Hendrix of acoustic guitar. So the words have to have meaning." Read more here.

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