Songfacts®:

• Scott Weiland said that this song "reflects my hunger for redemption." A key line is, "I'm not dead and not for sale," which he later used as the title of his autobiography.
  
  Weiland took pride in his individuality, holding true to his ideals not matter the critical or financial cost. The scattershot lyrics reflect the turmoil in his life, but he's willing to own it. "Just let me be," he sings.
• Stone Temple Pilots drummer Eric Kretz wrote most of the music for this track. The inspiration for his drum line was the Tower of Power song "What Is Hip?"
• This has the longest title of any Stone Temple Pilots song. The full title never appears in the lyrics, but we do hear about a paper heart in the first line ("Don't cut out my paper heart), and "trip" shows up twice: "Keep on trippin' anyway," "One more trip and I'll be gone."
  
  "Trip" has a dual meaning, as it can be a stumble or a drug trip.
• Stone Temple Pilots had been shaken and stirred by the time they set out to Westerly Ranch in Santa Ynez, California to record the Tiny Music... Songs From The Vatican Gift Shop album. Weiland was arrested for drug possession a few months earlier and started a new band called Magnificent Bastards. Meanwhile, his bandmates started their own side band called Talk Show. But with the help of their longtime producer, Brendan O'Brien, they made an album that stood the test of time, with "Big Bang Baby" released as the first single, followed by "Trippin' On A Hole In A Paper Heart."
  
  "What came out of that was an interesting record and a great time of hanging out at a cool house on a cool property and having a good time doing that," bass player Robert DeLeo told Songfacts. "You don't get many opportunities to do that. It's one of those things I look back on and really appreciate my job."
  
  The tour following the album wasn't as amicable: Weiland ended up in rehab and they had to pause it for months, leading to further internecine tensions.