#LucindaKiest - Audioslave - Cochise (2002)

We laten nog eens een weekje een eloquent muzikant aan de keuzeknoppen. Altcountrysuperster Lucinda Williams timmert met wisselend succes al veertig jaar aan de weg met scherpe analyses over het reilen en zeilen in de wereld, gecombineerd met reflecties over het woelige, persoonlijke leven. Op de koop toe hanteert ze een uitgesproken muzikale smaak, die we deze week graag toelichten.

Lucinda Williams is niet te beroerd om het smaakpalet te verbreden en soms ver van het pad af te wijken. Getuige de voorkeur, bij toeval onstaan, voor Audioslave: “I wasn’t aware of any of these guys, or any of their bands, before Audioslave. Somebody left their CD on my tour bus, so I put it on and I was like, “wow.” Then I started reading the lyrics. It’s always about the lyrics for me. I loved Chris Cornell’s voice; it had such a bluesy, spacey sound. I was also really happy to like a band that was a little more contemporary, because I wasn’t really listening to the same style of music that I did when I started out—the whole singer-songwriter, folk-rock thing. The best of that had probably already come out, I reasoned. I started listening more to hard rock and hip-hop."

"After Audioslave, I went back and listened to Soundgarden and Rage Against the Machine, but I loved the combination of them in Audioslave more. I tried to record their song “Show Me How to Live” with my band one time in the studio—I had to start so low to be able to reach the high parts, I finally gave up. It made me realize what a great voice Chris Cornell had even more…”

Cochise, de debuutsingle van de debuutplaat van Audioslave, verwijst naar het gelijknamige Apache-opperhoofd uit het begin van de negentiende eeuw. De naam wordt niet vernoemd in de tekst en het gaat dus ook niet over hem, maar de titel paste volgens gitarist Tom Morello perfect bij de vibe van het nummer. Morello was net bezig met een biografie van Cochise: "Cochise was the last great American Indian chief to die free and absolutely unconquered. When several members of his family were captured, tortured, and hung by the US Cavalry, Cochise declared war on the entire Southwest and went on an unholy rampage, a warpath to end all warpaths. He and his warriors drove out thousands of settlers. Cochise the Avenger, fearless and resolute, attacked everything in his path with an unbridled fury. This song kinda sounds like that. This song takes aim at someone who seems to be wasting his life away, warning him that he needs to save himself.”