Five days after the tragic death of Chris Cornell, Norah Jones paid tribute to the Soundgarden legend with a spine-tingling live solo piano rendition of “Black Hole Sun” that 13 million viewers can’t stop replaying

“I just found this tonight and watched it 10 times. Then I wiped the tears. Hauntingly beautiful, and a lovely tribute. We miss you Chris,” is what a top commenter had to say after watching Norah Jones’ tribute to Chris Cornell just five days after his tragic death. Norah created a mesmerizing solo piano rendition of “Black Hole Sun” that drew in 13 million viewers and kept them on the edge of their seats throughout. “Black Hole Sun” is unquestionably the Soundgarden frontman’s magnum opus.

The fact that Norah stripped away all the big drums and riffs from the tune and it was still absolutely spellbinding shows what a genius piece of songwriting it is. The scintillating melody and harmony of the song have a sophistication to it that you really can’t find in any other hard rock song of that era, and Chris’s evocative lyrics just seal the deal. The Music Man has to say that Norah so completely got right to the heart and soul of the song. She completely changed the music but that same emotion is there.

Norah performed her take on “Black Hole Sun” on May 23, 2017, shortly after Chris’s passing on May 18. Viewers knew this was something special and added comments such as “This isn’t just a cover. This is therapy” and “As Chris’s Lighting Designer, having done hundreds of shows around the world with him, I find this to be an incredibly brilliant and moving tribute. Thank you for handling this with such care.”

In 2007, Chris appeared on The Howard Stern Show to discuss the origin of “Black Hole Sun.” He said that he was “in a car driving home at like 4 am when I wrote that song.” He agreed with Howard’s suggestion that the music was written entirely in his head, even down to the guitar melody in the bridge. Chris then performed a solo acoustic version of “Black Hole Sun,” which remains one of his most beautiful performances.

Soundgarden released “Black Hole Sun” on May 13, 1994, as the third single from their 1994 studio album Superunknown. Chris is the sole credited writer, and the band produced the song with Michael Beinhorn.

The Music Man readers might be interested to hear that Chris told Uncut Magazine that the title “Black Hole Sun” came to him after he misheard a quote from a TV news anchor. He figured it would make an “amazing song title,” and then sought to imagine what kind of song would fit the title.

Chris noted in the Uncut interview that he wrote the music during a car ride, and then the next day he added “a couple of key changes in the verse” to accentuate the melodies. The frontman then wrote the lyrics in a stream of consciousness session, basing them off “the feeling” he got from the music in the chorus and the song title.