Alice in Chains Overview ↓ User Reviews ↓ Variations ↓ Also Performed By ↓ Attributes ↓ First appearing on the groundbreaking Singles soundtrack in 1992, then tacked on as a coda to the harrowing concept album Dirt, "Would?" became one of Alice in Chains' most popular songs, perhaps second only to rock-radio staple "Rooster." A touch more melancholy than many of the group's best-known rockers, "Would?" was no less anguished, and its lyrics hinted -- in roundabout fashion -- at the drug addiction which helped produce the feeling of tortured despair that dominated the band's music. But aside from references to "flying" and a "drifting body," as well as the chorus line "Into the flood again/Same old trip it was back then," the lyrics mostly center around failure ("Know me, broken by my master") and regret, plus pleas for understanding ("So I made a big mistake/Try to see it once my way") for which the singer doesn't seem to hold out much hope, given the despairing tone of the song. Cantrell's liquid solo lines float behind a simple, ringing riff, while the rhythm section grinds ominously underneath. The guitar shifts into full throttle on the chorus, adding an explosive frustration that complements the melancholy minor-key melody; even if the lyrics don't always make literal sense, the music unfailingly puts the desired feeling across. The structure of "Would?" is unorthodox -- after alternating between verse and chorus, the song charges into a completely new coda section never hinted at anywhere else. As the coda begins, it seems to resolve the minor-key melody of the chorus into the brighter, more anthemic major key, but immediately throws in a resoundingly dissonant chord change, leading the listener's ear into totally unexpected territory. What had at first sounded like a complete release of the tension built up during the previous parts of the song has now become something queasy, haunting, and even more evocative, flirting with catharsis but never quite achieving it. The more ambiguous lyrics of the first part have given way here to utter desolation and loneliness ("Am I wrong?/Have I run too far to get home?/Have I gone/And left you here alone?"), and Cantrell's supporting rhythm guitar work is busy and almost chaotic. As the song ends, Staley shouts the cryptic challenge, "If I would, could you?" over blasts of guitar dissonance. The final effect of the song is actually more menacing than the sum of its part, perhaps because the indirect allusions of the lyrics make the gloomy angst of the song seem too intense to articulate explicitly. Whatever the case, "Would?" is one of the band's most fully realized individual moments. Appears On Year Artist/Album Label Time AllMusic Rating 1992 Various Artists Singles [Original Motion Picture Soundtrack] Epic 3:27 1992 Alice in Chains Dirt Columbia 3:27 1999 Alice in Chains Nothing Safe Columbia / Sony Music Distribution 3:28 1999 Various Artists Rock: Train Kept a Rollin' Sony Music Distribution 3:28 1999 Various Artists Sony Music 100 Years: Soundtrack for a Century Sony Music Distribution 3:28 1999 Alice in Chains Music Bank Columbia 3:27 1999 Alice in Chains Bank Heist Columbia 3:28 1999 Alice in Chains Music Bank: The Videos Sony Music Distribution 2001 Alice in Chains Greatest Hits Columbia 3:28 2003 Alice in Chains Nothing Safe/Music Bank Smv 3:28 2004 Alice in Chains The Essential Alice in Chains Legacy / Columbia 3:28 2006 Alice in Chains Dirt/MTV Unplugged Epic / Sony BMG 5:38 2007 Various Artists 20 Years of Rage ABC Music 3:28 Various Artists What's Up? Magnum