What do blind dogs believe?
As you can already tell, I love Soundgarden.
Since I'm such an avid fan, I've noticed some, well, common themes in their music. I also threw in a few side projects that remain consistent with my theories.
Here goes!
Note: Most of these interpretations are my opinion, supported by lyrics or just *hunches*.
I've included a quote from the lyrics that proves (hopefully) my belief.
They're written in approximate chronological order, with the name of the CD I have it on in parentheses.
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INDEX
  1. Christianity & Religion
  2. Snakes
  3. Dogs
  4. Flowers & Feathers
  5. The Sun
  6. Fire & Candles
  7. Water, Rivers, & Rain
  8. Crying & Tears
  9. Black & Darkness
  10. Blood
  11. Lies & Truth
  12. Monkeys

  1. Christianity & Religion

    No, Soundgarden isn't a Christian rock band. Chris Cornell, for one, is a recovering Catholic. Most of the songs mentioned (i.e., Jesus Christ Pose) are NOT bashing the religion, but simply observing aspects of our society that abuse it, etc.

    • "Hand of God" (Screaming Life/Fopp)
      The hand of God lays high above me
    • "All Your Lies" (Ultramega OK)
      All your fears are lies/Loosely buying your cheating, your lying will make it mine
    • "Power Trip" (Louder than Love)
      So maybe now the Pope will bow and kiss my ring
    • "Wooden Jesus" (Temple of the Dog)
      Wooden Jesus, I'll cut you in on twenty percent of my future sin
    • "Your Saviour" (TOTD)
      Whisper to me, your tragic end, but don't give me your saviour
    • "Rusty Cage" (Badmotorfinger)
      When the forest burns along the road like God's eyes in my headlights
    • "Jesus Christ Pose" (Badmotorfinger)
      Thorns and shroud like you've been carrying a load
    • "Holy Water" (Badmotorfinger)
      Holy water on the brain and I"m losing sleep, holy Bible on the nightstand next to me
    • "Let Me Drown" (Superunknown)
      Stretch the bones over my skin, stretch the skin over my head, I'm going to the Holy Land
    • "4th of July" (Superunknown)
      Cool in the waterway where the baptized drown/Down in the hole Jesus tries to crack a smile beneath another shovel load
    • "My Wave" (Superunknown)
      Pray, if you wanna pray, if you like to kneel, if you like to lay
    • "Blind Dogs" (Basketball Diaries sdtk.)
      The safe bet is on your knees. Bow your head to the Trinity
    • "Tighter & Tighter" (Down on the Upside)
      Tight and deep, one last sin before I'm dead. A sucking holy wind will take me from this bed tonight
    • "An Unkind" (DOTU)
      Breeding our Edens of hatred, pathetically stupid and unkind. We couldn't look a saint in the eyes
    • "No Attention" (DOTU)
      They're gonna tell you where to walk, when to smile, and just what to say
    • "Bleed Together" (Burden in my Hand single; A-Sides)
      The head of God on the wall. Ahead of us the heads of us
    • "Heretic" (don't have it)
      Nailed to a burning cross

  2. Snakes

    I should just make this whole section phallic symbols, but that gets fuzzy after a while. I'll contain myself to the sexual innuendo of snakes. Talk about pent-up pressures....

    • "Little Joe" (Screaming Life/Fopp)
      Go to where the reptiles roam on the side of the border that is your home
    • "Get On The Snake" (Louder Than Love)
      Get on the snake with a swarm of motor flys
    • "No Wrong No Right" (Louder Than Love)
      Watch for vipers and poison snakes, feeling fingers make no mistake
    • "Birth Ritual" (Singles sdtk.)
      The snake retreats, admits defeat, and waits for the birth ritual
    • "Black Hole Sun" (Superunknown)
      Hides the face, lies the snake/Times are gone for honest men and sometimes far too long for snakes
    • "Pretty Noose" (Down on the Upside)
      Eat the fruit and kiss the snake goodnight
    • "Tighter & Tighter" (DOTU)
      A sudden snake found my shape and tells the world
    • "An Unkind" (DOTU)
      We see the vipers of distance crawl into our lives every day

  3. Dogs

    Talk about a recurring NIGHTMARE - I'm still undecided on what dogs represent. My guess is that it's some masculine symbol. Andy Wood seemed to know (he wrote the poem that inspired the name of Temple of the Dog, a tribute to him). Well, that or "blind" obedience (sorry for the pun).

    • "Hunted Down" (Screaming Life/Fopp)
      Dogs lead the chase and you are bleeding/Those starved dogs howling run to hunt you down
    • "Say Hello To Heaven" (Temple of the Dog)
      Now how the dogs broke your bone
    • "Reach Down" (TOTD)
      You were going to the dog shows but you kinda lost your way
    • "Call Me a Dog" (TOTD)
      You call me a dog, well, that's fair enough/Bad luck will follow you if you keep me on a leash and you drag me along
    • "Rusty Cage" (Badmotorfinger)
      I'll take the river down to still water and ride a pack of dogs/When the dogs are looking for their bones
    • "Outshined" (Badmotorfinger)
      Someone let the dogs out, they'll show you where the truth is. The grass is always greener where the dogs are shedding
    • "Blind Dogs" (Basketball Diaries sdtk.)
      What do blind dogs believe? I don't want to know
    • "Never Named" (Down on the Upside)
      I had a dog; he was a mix. He loved me like a god but I was just a kid
    • "The Ending" (Declaration of Conformity by Wellwater Conspiracy)
      Satisfied mongrel

  4. Flowers & Feathers

    Yeah, you weren't expecting this, huh? As strange as it seems, Soundgarden (Chris especially) likes to use these colorful lyrical accessories. Feathers and sand are combined quite often. Besides, femininity right after dogs looked like fun.

    • "Flower" (Ultramega OK)
      Her reflection looks concerned and flowers hit her grave
    • "Hands All Over" (Louder Than Love)
      Hands all over Western culture, ruffling feathers and turning eagles into vultures
    • "Somewhere" (Badmotorfinger)
      Still the willow weeps on roses for her bed in laughs of love
    • "Seasons" by Chris Cornell (Singles sdtk.)
      Sand and feathers for my head/Now I want to fly above the storm but you can't grow feathers in the rain
    • "Like Suicide" (Superunknown)
      Dazed out in her garden bed (and some say it's about a bird - feathers!)
    • "Rhinosaur" (Down on the Upside)
      The skulls beneath my feet like feathers in sand
    • "Sunshower" by Chris Cornell (Great Expectations sdtk)
      Dark as roses and fine as sand/A feather trail to a better way (the whole song fits)
    • "Fresh Deadly Roses" (don't have it)
      You gave me, fresh deadly roses/You laid your lilies

  5. The Sun

    It all started with Kim Thayil in the heyday of long-haired Chris and shaggy ol' Ben. Chris touchedc upon it with his TOTD brethren. Finally, it was made famous and forever grouped with the 'Garden by *gasp* "Black Hole Sun" and "Fell on Black Days." Yes, it's the one, the only -- the SUN!

    • "Four Walled World" (Temple of the Dog)
      And now the sun is low
    • "Room a Thousand Years Wide" (Badmotorfinger)
      He walks in the cold sun and wind
    • "Fell on Black Days" (Superunknown)
      Sunspots have faded
    • "Black Hole Sun" (Superunknown, as if I have to tell you)
      Black hole sun, won't you come and wash away the rain
    • "Limo Wreck" (Superunknown)
      Two eyes, two suns, too heavenly blind
    • "Fourth of July" (Superunknown)
      Naked in the cold sun, breathing life like fire
    • "Burden in My Hand" (Down on the Upside)
      Out in the sunshine, sun is mine
    • "Tighter and Tighter" (DOTU)
      Remember everything is just black or burning sun (FULL of imagery)
    • "Sunshower" (Great Expectations sdtk.)
      The title and: I know all your graces someday will flower, oh, in a sweet sunshower

  6. Fire & Candles

    It can symbolize rebirth or destruction, governmental control or freedom, energy or peace. Ah, the element of fire. Just goes to show how intelligent and varied the guys' interests were. Oh, and they probably set a fine table. (Kidding!)

    • "Entering" (Screaming Life/Fopp)
      Bleeding hearts, two lights, goodness, stable
    • "Little Joe" (SL/Fopp)
      Sticks and fire, sticks and fire won't break your bones it is a lie
    • "Hand of God" (SL/Fopp)
      As I rub you out like water, fire, coal, etc./Fingers of fire, coal, and lead
    • "No Wrong No Right" (Louder than Love)
      Restless widow in the dark carelessly looks for a spark
    • "Say Hello to Heaven" (Temple of the Dog)
      Now I'm warm from the candle but I'm too cold to burn/So I blow out the candle and I put you to bed
    • "Hunger Strike" (TOTD)
      The fire is cooking
    • "Rusty Cage" (Badmotorfinger)
      Too cold to start a fire, I'm burning diesel, burning dinosaur bones/When the forest burns along the road
    • "Mind Riot" (Badmotorfinger)
      The candle was burning yesterday like somebody's best friend died/I'm luck's last match struck
    • "Drawing Flies" (Badmotorfinger)
      Sitting her like wet ashes with x's in my eyes and drawing flies
    • "Let Me Drown" (Superunknown)
      Burn the candle deep inside
    • "Limo Wreck" (Superunknown)
      No real lyrical reference, but a fiery crash! Plus the background to the lyric sheet.
    • "Fourth of July" (Superunknown)
      Clean sparks diving down/Breathing life like fire/Light a Roman candle
    • "Blind Dogs" (Basketball Diaries sdtk.)
      Shave your head and burn your sheets
    • "Ty Cobb" (Down on the Upside)
      Tire rubber fires
    • "Never Named" (DOTU)
      I'll put my hand in flames
    • "Never the Machine Forever" (DOTU)
      Mercurial mind the fire
    • "Switch Opens" (DOTU)
      Draw your names among their ashes
    • "The Ending" (Declaration of Conformity by Wellwater Conspiracy)
      Fireflies wait beneath dust (yeah, maybe a stretch)

  7. Water, Rivers, & Rain

    The pounding of rain on a roof on a warm summer dusk...ah, enough with the mushy stuff. Let's get down to business. Water: it's wet and makes me wanna pee. Or something.

    • "Hand of God" (Screaming Life/Fopp)
      As I rub you out like water, fire, coal, etc.
    • "Hands All Over" (Louder than Love)
      Hands all over the coastal waters
    • "Get on the Snake" (LTL)
      Get on the snake where the water turns to steam
    • "Rusty Cage" (Badmotorfinger)
      I'll take the river down to still water/And it's raining icepicks on your steel shore
    • "Jesus Christ Pose" (Badmotorfinger)
      And would it pay you more to walk on water than to wear a crown of thorns
    • "Face Pollution" (Badmotorfinger)
      Drowned in shark fins
    • "Somewhere" (Badmotorfinger)
      Like moon to earth or the sky to sea
    • "Drawing Flies" (Badmotorfinger)
      Bathed in perspiration, drown my enemy
    • "Holy Water" (Badmotorfinger)
      Title and: Holy water is rusting me
    • "New Damage" (Badmotorfinger)
      The wreck is going down; get out before you drown
    • "Roadside" (Hater)
      Standing in the rain has upset my being
    • "Seasons" (Chris Cornell on Singles sdtk.)
      But you can't grow feathers in the rain
    • "Let Me Drown" (Superunknown)
      Drown me in you/Please dissolve me
    • "My Wave" (Superunknown)
      Don't come over here, piss on my gate, save it just keep it off my wave
    • "Superunknown" (Superunknown)
      Where the river's high
    • "Limo Wreck" (Superunknown)
      Swallowing rivers
    • "Black Hole Sun" (Superunknown)
      Won't you come and wash away the rain
    • "Blind Dogs" (Basketball Diaries sdtk.)
      Suffer to swim and dying to sink
    • "Burden in My Hand" (Down on the Upside)
      ...Beneath the riverbed/...Drown in alcohol
    • "Never the Machine Forever" (DOTU)
      Follows me down the river
    • "Green Undertow" (Declaration of Conformity by Wellwater Conspiracy)
      You jump into the undertow
    • "Sunshower" (Chris Cornell on Great Expectations sdtk.)
      It's alright when you're all in pain and you feel the rain come down

  8. Crying & Tears

    Let it all out, boys! Seriously, this doesn't mean that SG is showing their "feminine" or "romantic" side. Human nature, my friends. I had originally grouped this with water, but it merited its own category.

    • "Hunted Down" (Screaming Life/Fopp)
      Tears have left your eyes
    • "Tears to Forget" (SL/Fopp)
      These tears to remember, these tears to forget
    • "Little Joe" (SL/Fopp)
      Just like your father, your eyes will water...
    • "All Your Lies" (Ultramega OK)
      Will make it mine, while never crying
    • "Beyond the Wheel" (UOK)
      Tiny baby cries
    • "Nazi Driver" (UOK)
      Not a tear will be shed
    • "Uncovered" (Louder than Love)
      Naked and cold, mumbling and crying
    • "Say Hello to Heaven" (Temple of the Dog)
      Poor stargazer, she's got no tears in her eyes
    • "Four Walled World" (TOTD)
      Well she cries and she cries all night to the sound of the freeway hum
    • "All Night Thing" (TOTD)
      And we'll fall like a tear falling to the ground
    • "Somewhere" (Badmotorfinger)
      Still the willow weeps on roses for the dead in laughs of love
    • "Mind Riot" (Badmotorfinger)
      I was crying from my eye teeth and bleeding from my soul
    • "My Wave" (Superunknown)
      Cry if you wanna cry, if it helps you see, if it clears your eyes
    • "Superunknown" (Superunknown)
      If this doesn't make you smile, you don't have to cry
    • "Head Down" (Superunknown)
      We hear you cry, we hear you wail
    • "Limo Wreck" (Superunknown)
      Tears of the feeble, hands of the slaves
    • "She Likes Surprises" (Alive in the Superunknown)
      Torn at the seams, she's crying
    • "Zero Chance" (Down on the Upside)
      and crying long upon the loss I've found
    • "Sunshower" (Chris Cornell on Great Expectations sdtk.)
      On forgotten graves you cry

  9. Black & Darkness

    OoOoOo, boys and girls, tuck your teddy bears in tight! Another thought thread most likely started by "Black Hole Sun," I bring up darkness. Pain, suffering, mischief! And a tee hee to you, Mr. Cornell.

    • "Fopp" (Screaming Life/Fopp)
      Fopped last night and the night before
    • "665" - "Beyond the Wheel" - "667" (Ultramega OK)
      Dark music from HELL. 'Nuff said.
    • "Smokestack Lightning" (Ultramega OK)
      Shine a light home (dark outside, yes?)
    • "No Wrong No Right" (Louder than Love)
      Restless widow in the dark
    • "Times of Trouble" (Temple of the Dog)
      The world in black is upon your back
    • "All Night Thing" (TOTD)
      It's an all night thing
    • "Mona Bone Jakon" (Hater)
      And all the sunsets have pain
    • "Tot Finder" (Hater)
      I said I talked all night, I thought she was the same
    • "Seasons" (Chris Cornell on Singles sdtk.)
      Summer nights and long warm days are stolen as the old moon falls
    • "Black Hole Sun" (Superunknown)
      Title and chorus: Black hole sun, won't you come and wash away the rain
    • "Fell on Black Days" (Superunkown)
      Title...self-explanatory
    • "Blind Dogs" (Basketball Diaries sdtk.)
      Dark song, dark time: Run away, now it's Halloween
    • "Zero Chance" (Down on the Upside)
      Most depressing song I've heard.
    • "Blow Up the Outside World" (DOTU)
      The blackness of Armageddon, solitude, privacy with one other
    • "Burden in My Hand" (DOTU)
      Just a burden in my hand, just an anchor on my heart, just a tumor in my head, and I'm in the dark
    • "Tighter and Tighter" (DOTU)
      Remember everything is just black or burning sun
    • "Switch Opens" (DOTU)
      Here at sundown, nothing is when everything is all right
    • "Overfloater" (DOTU)
      Tear your shadow down
    • "Sunshower" (Chris Cornell on Great Expectations sdtk.)
      Dark as roses.../Worried mornings turn into days and into worried nights

  10. Blood

    Yes, the stuff lives are made of. Pretty straightforward, one might think -- it personifies or magnifies every thing or emotion -- but NOT THE CASE! Each song merits its own interpretation, so dive right in...not literally, though...ooo bad one Lumber.

    • "Hunted Down" (Screaming Life/Fopp)
      Dogs lead the chase and you are bleeding
    • "Entering" (SL/Fopp)
      Bleeding hearts, two lights
    • "Swallow My Pride" (SL/Fopp)
      All the warmth in her heart couldn't keep my blood from running cold
    • "Beyond the Wheel" (Ultramega OK)
      We're driving flesh and blood
    • "Nazi Driver" (UOK)
      Color in with lakes of red/The only color is red...red
    • "Incessant Mace" (UOK)
      Two bloody hands and bleeding hearts
    • "Get on the Snake" (Louder than Love)
      Where the metal river bleeds/My heart's bleeding, I'm dying to leave
    • "Uncovered" (LTL)
      Strong as your bloody lie is uncovered
    • "Hunger Strike" (Temple of the Dog)
      The blood is on the table, the fire's cooking
    • "Rusty Cage" (Badmotorfinger)
      You tied my lead and pulled my chain to watch my blood begin to boil
    • "Slaves and Bulldozers" (Badmotorfinger)
      So bleed your heart out
    • "Mind Riot" (Badmotorfinger)
      I was crying from my eye teeth and bleeding from my soul
    • "Holy Water" (Badmotorfinger)
      Bloody murder is the best I heard her scream
    • "Limo Wreck" (Superunknown)
      Behind the blood red break of the lights
    • "The Day I Tried to Live" (Superunknown)
      I wallowed in the blood and mud with all the other pigs
    • "Like Suicide" (Superunknown)
      With eyes of blood and bitter blue
    • "Never the Machine Forever" (Down on the Upside)
      Machine has no heart to give, heart it takes could be mine
    • "Tighter and Tighter" (DOTU)
      And bloody wits...another hits me and I have to say goodbye
    • "No Attention" (DOTU)
      I've got war on my min, blood on my hands, and love on my head
    • "Switch Opens" (DOTU)
      Hey you patients, where's your surgeon? Left you with your insides open
    • "Bleed Together" (Burden in My Hand single)
      Title and: I'm giving blood tonight, I don't care how, I don't care why
    • "Sleeveless" (Declaration of Conformity by Wellwater Conspiracy)
      We can both bleed

  11. Lies & Truth

    All YOUR fears are lies. Anyway, the mystique of what the truth is -- or the several things it can become -- is a theme in all music. SG uses it so effectually that at times you miss all the terrible puns or cliches.

    • "Little Joe" (Screaming Life/Fopp)
      Sticks and fire won't break your bones, it is a lie
    • "All Your Lies" (Ultramega OK)
      All your fears are lies
    • "Mood for Trouble" (UOK)
      Dying to squeeze out the ugly truth for everyone to hear/You believed your perfect pool of lies
    • "Ugly Truth" (Louder than Love)
      You hide your eyes, but the ugly truth just loves to give it away
    • "Gun" (LTL)
      Hit hit til the truth is spoken
    • "Uncovered" (LTL)
      Strong as your bloody lie is uncovered
    • "Outshined" (Badmotorfinger)
      Someone let the dogs out, they'll show you where the truth is
    • "Room a Thousand Years Wide" (Badmotorfinger)
      A thousand doors a thousand lies
    • "Holy Water" (Badmotorfinger)
      It's the big lies that are more likely to be believed
    • "Mona Bone Jakon" (Hater)
      I got my reasons, to me they're all true
    • "Putrid" (Hater)
      I know it's a lie
    • "Superunknown" (Superunknown)
      If this isn't making sense, it doesn't make it lies
    • "Black Hole Sun" (Superunknown)
      Times are gone for honest men and sometimes far too long for snakes
    • "The Day I Tried to Live" (Superunknown)
      And I learned that I was a liar, just like you
    • "Fourth of July" (Superunknown)
      Thought I was the only one but that was just a lie
    • "Burden in My Hand" (Down on the Upside)
      Cause down below the truth is lying (pun!?) beneath the riverbed
    • "Boot Camp" (DOTU)
      I must be pure and true
    • "You Do You" (Declaration of Conformity by Wellwater Conspiracy)
      Tempted, I've tried, heard too many lies...

  12. Monkeys

    This is a very short and sweet category that I finally decided to finish after listening to Badmotorfinger's imagery one too many times. Therefore, this introduction ends here.

    • "Face Pollution" (Badmotorfinger)
      Scared by monkey faces, drowned in shark fins
    • "Holy Water" (Badmotorfinger)
      As I'm/you're raped by another monkey cirucs freak

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