[5][6][7] However, while Commerford originally thought it was a song about love and romance,[5] the band's singer and songwriter Chris Cornell explained that "It's a song about concentrating on the afterlife you would hope for, rather than the normal monotheistic approach: You work really hard all your life to be a good person and a moral persona and fair and generous, and then you go to hell anyway.

"[8] The melancholy tone and certain parts of the lyrics of "Like a Stone" have prompted some to wonder if Cornell wrote the song about the late Alice in Chains singer Layne Staley, who died in April 2002.

[...] You can misinterpret that stuff pretty easy, but I don't tend to sit down and plan on writing about a specific issue.

[12] The video was produced by Oualid Mouaness, edited by Jim Rhoads and set in an old Spanish mansion in Silver Lake, Los Angeles where Jimi Hendrix once lived and wrote music in.

[15] A CD single version of "Like A Stone" released in the United Kingdom in 2003 contained the following tracks.