Euphoria Morning

In 1998, Cornell began working on material for a solo album in collaboration with Alain Johannes and Natasha Shneider of the band Eleven,{{Cite web |url=https://www.altpress.com/features/chris_cornell_ap_interview/ |title=Chris Cornell AP Interview |date=May 18, 2017 |website=Alternative Press |access-date=December 29, 2018 |archive-date=December 29, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181229062615/https://www.altpress.com/features/chris_cornell_ap_interview/ |url-status=live }} and the album was recorded in Johannes and Schneider's Los Angeles home studio.{{Cite magazine |last=Bambarger |first=Bradley |title='Euphoria Morning' Dawns For Soundgarden's Cornell On A&M |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=oggEAAAAMBAJ&pg=PT20 |magazine=Billboard |date=September 11, 1999 |publication-date=September 11, 1999 |page=19 |access-date=December 30, 2018 |archive-date=April 4, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220404151745/https://books.google.com/books?id=oggEAAAAMBAJ&pg=PT20 |url-status=live }}

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."{{Cite web |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I0b3IvfNtBc |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211211/I0b3IvfNtBc| archive-date=2021-12-11 |url-status=live|title=Chris Cornell on the meaning behind the song "Can't Change Me" |website=YouTube}}{{cbignore}} He told MTV News that the genesis of the song can be found in some of Soundgarden's hits, such as "Blow Up the Outside World" and "Fell on Black Days".{{Cite web |url=http://www.mtv.com/news/517236/ex-soundgarden-singer-expands-his-art-on-euphoria-morning/ |title=Ex-Soundgarden Singer Expands His Art On Euphoria Morning |last=Kaufman |first=Gil |website=MTV News |date=September 7, 1999 |access-date=December 30, 2018 |archive-date=December 30, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181230181140/http://www.mtv.com/news/517236/ex-soundgarden-singer-expands-his-art-on-euphoria-morning/ |url-status=dead }} An alternate recording of the song featuring Cornell singing in FrenchArchived at [https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211211/Xw5DkE9ND9g Ghostarchive]{{cbignore}} and the [https://web.archive.org/web/20170518120615/https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xw5DkE9ND9g&gl=US&hl=en Wayback Machine]{{cbignore}}: {{Cite web |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xw5DkE9ND9g |title=Chris Cornell - Can't Change Me (French)|website=YouTube }}{{cbignore}} can be found on various international editions of the album. The lyrics were translated into French by Alexis Lemoine.{{Cite web |url=https://www.discogs.com/Chris-Cornell-Euphoria-Morning/release/5530463 |title=Chris Cornell – Euphoria Morning (Europe) |website=Discogs |access-date=December 29, 2018 |archive-date=September 9, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180909073827/https://www.discogs.com/Chris-Cornell-Euphoria-Morning/release/5530463 |url-status=live }}

"Flutter Girl" was an outtake from Superunknown, the 1994 Soundgarden album.{{cite magazine |last=Henry |first=Dusty |url=http://consequenceofsound.net/2015/07/chris-cornell-reissuing-debut-solo-album-with-alternate-title/ |title=Chris Cornell reissuing debut solo album with alternate title |magazine=Consequence of Sound |date=July 7, 2015 |accessdate=August 25, 2015 |archive-date=August 18, 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150818041326/http://consequenceofsound.net/2015/07/chris-cornell-reissuing-debut-solo-album-with-alternate-title/ |url-status=live }} The title was created by Pearl Jam bassist Jeff Ament as part of a joke tracklist for the character Poncier's demo tape in the 1992 Cameron Crowe film Singles,{{Cite magazine |url=https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-features/cameron-crowe-on-the-singles-soundtrack-chris-cornell-194903/ |title=Cameron Crowe on the 'Singles' Soundtrack, Chris Cornell |last=Sottile |first=Alexis |date=May 18, 2017 |magazine=Rolling Stone |access-date=December 29, 2018 |archive-date=September 19, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200919055740/https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-features/cameron-crowe-on-the-singles-soundtrack-chris-cornell-194903/ |url-status=live }} but Cornell surprised Crowe by writing and recording songs with the joke names. The five-track Poncier EP, which includes the 1992 version of "Flutter Girl", was released as a promotional CD in 2015 for Record Store Day.{{Cite web |url=https://www.spin.com/2017/05/chris-cornell-poncier-ep-singles-review/ |title=Chris Cornell's Rare, Re-Released Poncier EP Predicted Where Grunge Would Go Next |last=Shoup |first=Brad |date=May 19, 2017 |website=SPIN |access-date=December 29, 2018 |archive-date=September 28, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180928032408/https://www.spin.com/2017/05/chris-cornell-poncier-ep-singles-review/ |url-status=live }}

A reworked version of "Mission", retitled "Mission 2000", was included on the soundtrack of the 2000 film Mission: Impossible 2.

Cornell stated that "Wave Goodbye" was written as a tribute to his friend Jeff Buckley, who died in 1997.{{cite web|last=Liberty|first=John|title=The details behind Chris Cornell, Jeff Buckley and the mysterious red phone|url=http://www.mlive.com/entertainment/kalamazoo/index.ssf/2011/12/whats_the_story_on_the_red_pho.html|publisher=MLive|date=December 13, 2011|accessdate=April 17, 2015|archive-date=January 27, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180127202424/http://www.mlive.com/entertainment/kalamazoo/index.ssf/2011/12/whats_the_story_on_the_red_pho.html|url-status=live}}

"Moonchild" is about Cornell's then-wife Susan Silver. In the song, he affectionately describes how she "gets really freaked out during the full moon".{{cite web |url=https://www.spin.com/2017/05/chris-cornell-euphoria-morning-feature/ |title=Chris Cornell Talks 'Euphoria Morning' in 1999 SPIN Interview |last=Matt |first=Diehl |work=SPIN Magazine |date=May 18, 2017 |access-date=December 29, 2018 |archive-date=May 21, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170521154634/https://www.spin.com/2017/05/chris-cornell-euphoria-morning-feature/ |url-status=live }}

The album has been described as "psychedelic folk-rock"{{cite web | url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2007-may-04-et-cornell4-story.html | title=Cornell's Soundgarden tunes rock the Avalon crowd | work=Los Angeles Times | date=May 4, 2007 | access-date=November 20, 2015 | author=Wood, Mikael | archive-date=November 21, 2015 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151121051444/http://articles.latimes.com/2007/may/04/entertainment/et-cornell4 | url-status=live }} that "delves back into '60s psychedelic melodies and acoustic ditties", and "a shaded, textured rock album, lacking the grinding sludge and furious rock" of much of Soundgarden's music, yet "undeniably of a piece with Superunknown."

{{Album reviews

| rev1 = AllMusic

|rev1Score = {{Rating|4|5}}{{cite web |author=Stephen Thomas Erlewine |url=https://www.allmusic.com/album/euphoria-morning-mw0000243961 |title=Euphoria Morning - Chris Cornell | Songs, Reviews, Credits, Awards |website=AllMusic |date=September 21, 1999 |accessdate=August 25, 2015 |archive-date=September 23, 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150923142743/http://www.allmusic.com/album/euphoria-morning-mw0000243961 |url-status=live }}

| rev2 = Alternative Press

|rev2score = {{Rating|3|5}}10/99, p.77

| rev3 = Robert Christgau

|rev3score = C+{{cite web |url=http://www.robertchristgau.com/get_artist.php?name=chris+cornell |title=CG: chris cornell |publisher=Robert Christgau |date= |accessdate=August 25, 2015 |archive-date=September 24, 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150924134357/http://www.robertchristgau.com/get_artist.php?name=chris+cornell |url-status=live }}

| rev4 = Entertainment Weekly

|rev4score = B+{{cite magazine |last=Farber |first=Jim |url=https://www.ew.com/ew/article/0,,270851,00.html |title=Euphoria Morning |magazine=EW.com |date=February 2, 2008 |accessdate=August 25, 2015 |archive-date=April 26, 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120426220902/http://www.ew.com/ew/article/0,,270851,00.html |url-status=dead }}

| rev5 = NME

|rev5score = 4/10{{cite web|last=Grogan |first=Siobhan |url=https://www.nme.com/reviews/reviews/19990814105500reviews.html |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20000817214545/http://www.nme.com/reviews/reviews/19990814105500reviews.html |title=Chris Cornell - Euphoria Morning |archivedate=August 17, 2000 |work=NME |date=September 14, 1999 |accessdate=August 25, 2015}}

| rev6 = Q

|rev6score = {{Rating|3|5}}10/99, p.117

| rev7 = Rolling Stone

|rev7score = {{Rating|3.5|5}}{{cite magazine|url=https://www.rollingstone.com/artists/chriscornell/albums/album/117330/review/5944598/euphoria_morning |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20070629165129/http://www.rollingstone.com/artists/chriscornell/albums/album/117330/review/5944598/euphoria_morning |archivedate=June 29, 2007 |title=Rolling Stone : Chris Cornell: Euphoria Morning : Music Reviews |magazine=Rolling Stone |date=September 30, 1999 |url-status=dead |accessdate=August 25, 2015}}

}}

While the album was not a particularly big seller for Cornell, the single "Can't Change Me" was nominated for Best Male Rock Vocal Performance at the 42nd Grammy Awards.{{cite web |url=http://www.rockonthenet.com/archive/2000/grammys.htm |title=42nd Grammy Awards - 2000 |publisher=Rockonthenet.com |accessdate=December 30, 2018 |archive-date=December 20, 2007 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071220020435/http://rockonthenet.com/archive/2000/grammys.htm |url-status=live }}

The song "Preaching the End of the World" inspired the title of Lorene Scafaria's 2012 film Seeking a Friend for the End of the World.{{cite web|url=https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/commentary-norah-had-screenwriter-wanting-120281|title=Commentary: 'Norah' had screenwriter wanting to be 16 again|work=The Hollywood Reporter|date=October 2, 2008|accessdate=November 9, 2017|archive-date=November 9, 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171109193255/http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/commentary-norah-had-screenwriter-wanting-120281|url-status=live}}{{cite news|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/entertainment/movies/for-end-of-the-world-writerdirector-lorene-scafaria-music-is-key/2012/06/21/gJQAXGfetV_story.html|title=For 'End of the World' writer/director Lorene Scafaria, music is key|newspaper=The Washington Post|date=June 21, 2012|accessdate=November 9, 2017|archive-date=August 21, 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170821093936/https://www.washingtonpost.com/entertainment/movies/for-end-of-the-world-writerdirector-lorene-scafaria-music-is-key/2012/06/21/gJQAXGfetV_story.html|url-status=live}}

The album was re-released on CD and vinyl on August 14, 2015, with the modified title Euphoria 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:

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 album Euphoria 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 that Euphoria 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.

{{tracklist

| all_lyrics = Chris Cornell, except as noted

| all_music = Cornell, except as noted

| title1 = Can't Change Me

| lyrics1 =

| music1 =

| length1 = 3:23

| title2 = Flutter Girl

| lyrics2 =

| music2 = {{hlist|Cornell|Natasha Shneider|Alain Johannes}}

| length2 = 4:25

| title3 = Preaching the End of the World

| lyrics3 =

| music3 =

| length3 = 4:41

| title4 = Follow My Way

| lyrics4 =

| music4 = {{hlist|Cornell|Shneider|Johannes}}

| length4 = 5:10

| title5 = When I'm Down

| lyrics5 =

| music5 =

| length5 = 4:20

| title6 = Mission

| lyrics6 =

| music6 = {{hlist|Cornell|Shneider|Johannes}}

| length6 = 4:05

| title7 = Wave Goodbye

| lyrics7 =

| music7 =

| length7 = 3:43

| title8 = Moonchild

| lyrics8 =

| music8 =

| length8 = 4:02

| title9 = Sweet Euphoria

| lyrics9 =

| music9 =

| length9 = 3:08

| title10 = Disappearing One

| lyrics10 =

| music10 = {{hlist|Shneider|Johannes}}

| length10 = 3:48

| title11 = Pillow of Your Bones

| lyrics11 = {{hlist|Cornell|Shneider|Johannes}}

| music11 = Shneider

| length11 = 4:29

| title12 = Steel Rain

| lyrics12 =

| music12 = {{hlist|Cornell|Shneider}}

| length12 = 5:41

}}

{{tracklist

| headline = Japanese bonus tracks

| title13 = Sunshower

| music13 =

| length13 = 5:52

| title14 = Can't Change Me

| music14 =

| note14 = French version

| length14 = 3:47

}}

• "Sunshower" had previously been released on the soundtrack of the 1998 film Great Expectations.
• "Can't Change Me" (French version) was also included on various other international editions of the album.

Personnel adapted from Euphoria Morning liner notes.{{cite AV media notes |title=Euphoria Morning |others=Chris Cornell |date=1999 |type=CD liner notes}}

;Main personnel

• Chris Cornell - lead vocals (all tracks), guitar (tracks 1–3 and 5–13), harmonica (track 1)
• Alain Johannes - guitar (tracks 1–6, 8, and 10–12), bass guitar (tracks 2–5, 10, and 11), backing vocals (tracks 1 and 13), theremin (track 4), mandolin (tracks 4 and 13), clarinet (track 10), tabla (track 12)
• Natasha Shneider - keyboards (tracks 1–4, 6–8, and 10–13), bass guitar (tracks 6 and 13), backing vocals (tracks 4–7, and 13), tambourine (tracks 1–4, 11, and 12), piano (track 5), organ (track 5), timpani (track 11)
• Ric Markmann - bass guitar (tracks 1, 7, 8, and 12)
• Josh Freese - drums (tracks 1–4, 6, 8, and 11)

;Additional musicians

• Jason Falkner - bass guitar (track 5)
• Greg Upchurch - drums (track 5)
• Victor Indrizzo - drums (track 7)
• Matt Cameron - drums (track 10)
• Bill Rieflin - drums (track 12)
• Misha Shneider - bayan (track 14)

;Technical personnel

• Chris Cornell - production, engineering, mixing
• Alain Johannes - production, engineering, mixing
• Natasha Shneider - production, engineering, mixing
• Dave Collins - mastering

{{Reflist|30em}}

{{Chris Cornell}}

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Category:1999 debut albums

Category:Chris Cornell albums

Category:Albums produced by Chris Cornell

Category:Albums produced by Alain Johannes

Category:A&M Records albums