The song was first written by Chris Cornell after being approached by movie producer Eric Esrailian to write a song for his movie , '' The Promise '' . Cornell agreed , as the film 's topic — the Armenian Genocide — resonated with him . While he was not personally Armenian , his wife was Greek , and her family line had been affected by the genocide . He initially had reservations , being surprised that Serj Tankian of System of a Down was not asked to write the song , as Tankian was working on the movie itself , and had been quite outspoken about the genocide in the past , though with introspection and discussions with the production staff , he came to the understanding that he was a good combination of being neither too close , nor too far removed from the subject . Initial sessions for the song were difficult , with Cornell working a week on a completely different arrangement for the song before scrapping it and starting over . After starting over , the creation of the final version came together much faster , with Cornell no longer trying to force things on how the songs should sound
Armenian Genocide
Armenian Genocide
The Promise (Chris Cornell song)