| Euphoria Mourning | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | ||||
| Studio album by | ||||
| Released | September 21, 1999[1] | |||
| Recorded | 1998–1999 | |||
| Studio | 11 AD Studios inLos Angeles, California[2] | |||
| Genre | ||||
| Length | 50:55 | |||
| Label | A&M[3] | |||
| Producer |
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| Chris Cornell chronology | ||||
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| Singles from Euphoria Mourning | ||||
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| Alternate Cover | ||||
 Re-released in 2015 asEuphoria Mourning | ||||
Euphoria Mourning (originally titledEuphoria Morning) is the first solostudio album byAmerican musicianChris Cornell. It was released throughA&M Records on September 21, 1999, and Cornell embarked on a tour in support of the album in 2000. Cornell's only album from between the dissolution ofSoundgarden and the formation ofAudioslave, it did not sell as well as much of his work with those groups, though it did sell over 75,000 copies in its first week of release and has gone on to sell over 393,000 copies in the U.S.[4] The album was well-received critically, and its lead single, "Can't Change Me", was nominated forBest Male Rock Vocal Performance at the42nd Annual Grammy Awards.[5]
On August 14, 2015,Euphoria Morning was re-released on CD and vinyl with the modified titleEuphoria Mourning, which Cornell stated in a press release is what he had originally intended to call the album.[6]
In 1998, Cornell began working on material for a solo album in collaboration withAlain Johannes andNatasha Shneider of the bandEleven,[7] and the album was recorded in Johannes and Schneider's Los Angeles home studio.[8]
Cornell said the album's lead single, "Can't Change Me", is "kind of a sad discovery that this singer is involved with this person that has amazing powers to help people and change things positively, and he's realizing that none of it is really rubbing off on him."[9] He toldMTV News that the genesis of the song can be found in some ofSoundgarden's hits, such as "Blow Up the Outside World" and "Fell on Black Days".[10] An alternate recording of the song featuring Cornell singing in French[11] can be found on various international editions of the album. The lyrics were translated into French by Alexis Lemoine.[12]
"Flutter Girl" was an outtake fromSuperunknown, the 1994 Soundgarden album.[13] The title was created byPearl Jam bassistJeff Ament as part of a joke tracklist for the character Poncier's demo tape in the 1992Cameron Crowe filmSingles,[14] but Cornell surprised Crowe by writing and recording songs with the joke names. The five-trackPoncier EP, which includes the 1992 version of "Flutter Girl", was released as a promotional CD in 2015 forRecord Store Day.[15]
A reworked version of "Mission", retitled "Mission 2000", was included onthe soundtrack of the 2000 filmMission: Impossible 2.
Cornell stated that "Wave Goodbye" was written as a tribute to his friendJeff Buckley, who died in 1997.[16][17]
"Moonchild" is about Cornell's then-wifeSusan Silver. In the song, he affectionately describes how she "gets really freaked out during the full moon".[16]
The album has been described as "psychedelicfolk-rock"[18] that "delves back into '60s psychedelic melodies and acoustic ditties",[19] and "a shaded, textured rock album, lacking the grinding sludge and furious rock" of much ofSoundgarden's music, yet "undeniably of a piece withSuperunknown."[1]
| Review scores | |
|---|---|
| Source | Rating |
| AllMusic |   [1] |
| Alternative Press | [20] |
| Robert Christgau | C+[21] |
| Entertainment Weekly | B+[19] |
| NME | 4/10[22] |
| Q | [23] |
| Rolling Stone |  [24] |
While the album was not a particularly big seller for Cornell, the single "Can't Change Me" was nominated forBest Male Rock Vocal Performance at the42nd Grammy Awards.[5]
The song "Preaching the End of the World" inspired the title ofLorene Scafaria's 2012 filmSeeking a Friend for the End of the World.[25][26]
The album was re-released on CD and vinyl on August 14, 2015, with the modified titleEuphoria Mourning. Cornell said that is the title he had originally wanted for the album, but his manager at the time of the original release, Jim Guerinot, suggested that "Euphoria Morning" (without the "u") would be a better title:[6]
It was a pretty dark album lyrically and pretty depressing, and I was going through a really difficult time in my life – my band wasn’t together anymore, my marriage was falling apart and I was dealing with it by drinking way too much, and that has its own problems, particularly with depression. So I titled the albumEuphoria Mourning, but right before the record came out and I was doing interviews over the radio for example, if you say“Euphoria Mourning”, the listener doesn’t know if it’s mourning with a “u” or morning without a “u”. And that started to bother me. So I had a conversation with my manager at the time, and said I really love the title but do you think it’s confusing? And he suggested thatEuphoria Morning would probably be a better title. I thought, in contrast to the lyrics maybe that works. And it wasn’t my manager’s fault, I was a grown man and could say I don’t think that’s a good idea, and in the back of my mind I didn’t think it was a good idea. But mentally I wasn’t together enough to really know what was right. So I went with “Morning”, and it’s bothered me ever since. It even showed up in an early review where someone reviewing the record said that the title sounded like a potpourri scent, and when I read that I was just like [with disdain], “Fuck! Fuckin’ bullshit!” The title was so beautifully poetic to begin with, just the concept of euphoria in mourning; it was a moment I felt inspired and I let all the air out of it. So when we decided to do its first vinyl release I thought, I want to change the fuckin’ title! [Laughs] It’s time to change it.[6]
All lyrics are written byChris Cornell, except as noted; all music is composed by Cornell, except as noted.
| No. | Title | Lyrics | Music | Length |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Can't Change Me" | 3:23 | ||
| 2. | "Flutter Girl" | 4:25 | ||
| 3. | "Preaching the End of the World" | 4:41 | ||
| 4. | "Follow My Way" |
| 5:10 | |
| 5. | "When I'm Down" | 4:20 | ||
| 6. | "Mission" |
| 4:05 | |
| 7. | "Wave Goodbye" | 3:43 | ||
| 8. | "Moonchild" | 4:02 | ||
| 9. | "Sweet Euphoria" | 3:08 | ||
| 10. | "Disappearing One" |
| 3:48 | |
| 11. | "Pillow of Your Bones" |
| Shneider | 4:29 |
| 12. | "Steel Rain" |
| 5:41 |
| No. | Title | Length |
|---|---|---|
| 13. | "Sunshower" | 5:52 |
| 14. | "Can't Change Me" (French version) | 3:47 |
Personnel adapted fromEuphoria Morning liner notes.[2]
| Chart (1999) | Peak position |
|---|---|
| USBillboard 200[27] | 18 |
| Canadian Albums (Billboard)[28] | 14 |
{{cite AV media notes}}: CS1 maint: others in cite AV media (notes) (link)| Studio albums | |
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| Live albums | |
| Compilations | |
| EPs | |
| Singles | |
| Featured singles | |
| Related articles | |
