The 19th-century Native American chief who inspired a Soundgarden song
Chief Sealth was a pioneering Native American figure who, as a Suquamish and Duwamish chief, was a powerful advocate for the protection of Native American land when white settlers threatened it. He is also likely the only man in history with both a state – Seattle – and a Soundgarden song named after him.
‘Into The Void (Sealth)’ was a Black Sabbath cover of Master of Reality’s ‘Into The Void’. It was a fitting song, given Sabbath’s original was about the Earth becoming so inhospitable that a group of astronauts fly into space to find a new home. Soundgarden’s version replaced these dystopian, futuristic lyrics with a famous letter written by Sealth in the 1800s.
In the impassioned missive, Sealth said: “The President in Washington sends word that he wishes to buy our land. But how can you buy or sell the sky? The land? The idea is strange to us. If we do not own the freshness of the air and the sparkle of the water, how can you buy them?”
The Native American reverence for nature included some beautiful imagery: “We know the sap which courses through the trees as we know the blood that courses through our veins. We are part of the earth, and it is part of us. The perfumed flowers are our sisters.”
Soundgarden seized on Sealth’s poetic words with their substituted lyrics: “We don’t own the freshness of the air / Or the sparkle of the water / How can you buy them from us / The white man doesn’t understand our ways / For he’s a stranger who comes in the night / And takes from the land just what he needs.”
As frontman Chris Cornell put it himself: “I’m not a lyric writer to make statements. What I enjoy doing is making paintings with lyrics, creating colourful images,” he said. “I think that’s more what entertainment and music should be.
” Recorded for the 1992 re-release of the Batmotorfinger album, it served not only as a nod to Sealth but to a band Cornell said “rescued him”. Of all the titans of heavy rock, Cornell was often likened to Led Zeppelin frontman, Robert Plant, but it was the sounds of Sabbath that provided crucial inspiration on ‘Into The Void (Sealth)’.
Its riffs are some of the heaviest in Sabbath’s catalogue, making it a personal favourite of Tony Iommi. ‘Into The Void’ joined ‘Children of the Grave’ in its unique tuning, with Iommi and Geezer Butler tuning their guitars down a step and a half for the song. Soundgarden were able to match their darker sound with a flicker of their usual grunge, cementing the song as a fan favourite that went on to win them a Best Metal Performance nomination at the 1993 Grammy Awards.
