Joe Satriani has paid tribute to late Soundgarden frontman Chris Cornell with an instrumental cover of Audioslave’s Be Yourself.
The track, which also features drummer Kenny Aronoff, is part of bassist Mark Menghi’s King Ultramega project – an ongoing tribute to the singer in honor of Soundgarden’s Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inauguration in November.
Satriani eases back on the fretboard fireworks in the cover, translating Cornell’s vocal line and Tom Morello’s sparse lead lines into more of a laid-back, low-gain bluesy vamp than you might expect from an Audioslave cover.
Only when it gets to Morello’s wah-wah solo does Satch engage the drive and add some modal embellishments, otherwise dialing into the pure melody of Cornell’s vocals.
“[Chris Cornell] was a brilliant vocalist and communicator,” says Satriani. “He often used his voice like an instrument, shaping the tone of his voice like a guitarist would finesse riffs and phrases.
“I took a deep dive into his magical sensibilities and came up with a multi-tracked guitar production approach that I felt would pay proper homage to his brilliance.”
“I remember like it was yesterday,” adds Menghi. “I was on a run through some crazy trail, just zoning out and the original song came on through my headphones… as I was running, I remember hearing Chris sing, ‘to be yourself is all that you can do,’ it was like he was talking to me… then thought to myself, ‘I can totally hear this as an instrumental a-la Satch style…’
“My hope is that whomever is listening to this song hears Chris over Joe’s guitar and understands that we are paying homage to Chris with our take on this tune.”
The song follows King Ultramega’s previous cover of Soundgarden classic Rusty Cage, which featured Mastodon’s Bill Kelliher and Alice in Chains’ William DuVall.
Be Yourself is out now. Proceeds from the track go towards addiction recovery and mental health nonprofit MusiCares.
