Bassist Tim Commerford claims that the song is about an old man waiting for death , who sits in a house alone after all his friends and family have passed on , waiting to be reunited with them . However , while Commerford originally thought it was a song about love and romance , band 's singer and songwriter Chris Cornell explains that " It 's a song about concentrating on the afterlife you would hope for , rather than the normal monotheistic approach : You work really hard all your life to be a good person and a moral persona and fair and generous , and then you go to hell anyway . " The melancholy tone and certain parts of the lyrics of " Like a Stone " have prompted some to wonder if Cornell wrote the song about the late Alice in Chains singer Layne Staley , who died in April 2002 . Cornell has denied this , saying " No . I 'm not one of those guys where , like , something happens and then I go run around , ' Ooh , 9/11 , and now it 's 9/12 , let me write about that . I wrote the lyrics before he died . ... You can misinterpret that stuff pretty easy , but I do n't tend to sit down and plan on writing about a specific issue . They come up or they do n't . " The music video for " Like a Stone " was written and directed by Grammy winner Meiert Avis , who has also directed videos for State Radio , U2 , Bruce Springsteen , Bob Dylan , J-Lo and many others . The video was produced by Oualid Mouaness , edited by Jim Rhoads and set in an old Spanish mansion in Los Angeles where Jimi Hendrix once lived and wrote . Commerford 's then 1-year-old son , Xavier was featured in the video . It shows the band performing inside the mansion where they also set up a recording booth
9/11
September 11 attacks
Like a Stone