The line “Hands are bruised from breaking rocks all day” is from Alice in Chains’ song “No Excuses.” The track appeared on the band’s 1994 EP Jar of Flies, one of the group’s most distinctive acoustic-leaning releases.
“No Excuses” was written primarily by guitarist Jerry Cantrell and features a more melodic, restrained sound than many of Alice in Chains’ heavier songs. Cantrell and vocalist Layne Staley share the vocal presentation, giving the song a layered quality that helped it reach a broad rock audience.
The lyric is sometimes misremembered because it appears in the song’s second verse rather than its chorus. The repeated chorus centers on the phrase “No excuses,” while the “breaking rocks” image appears in the verse beginning “It’s okay, had a bad day.” The song became one of the band’s signature recordings and was a major rock-radio success in 1994.