If you want to label me a hopeless fanboy addict of Pearl
Jam, then as far as I'm concerned you can go right ahead. This
group speaks to me like pretty much no other. After I had already started
down the path of music, politics, and outlook that I pretty much remain
on today, I found that Pearl Jam had beaten me there. And there
were times I felt I was waiting my whole life for Grunge
to become an official fashion.
Not all my favorite Pearl Jam songs are the mainstream hits.
For example, I happen to own a bootleg copy of a demo tape they sent
to Eagle Records, and I find their instrumental rendition of "The
Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald" is so spellbinding it's probably
my favorite PJ tune of all time. Their second album, ("versus"),
had a string of great songs including "Daughter," "Glorified
G" (a great social commentary), and "Dissident." The
album "Yield" totally blew me away with songs like "Faithfull"
and "In Hiding."
But the
song "Oceans", from their first album ("Ten"), will
stick with me forever. The song has a gentle but strong beat (particularly
at the end of the song) which really reminds me of the ocean, the rise
and fall of the waves and tides.
Here's a two-fer. The lyric that is playing is probably my all-time
favorite Pearl Jam song, "Oceans". But I'll also throw
in the lyrics to "Black", the song everyone remembers
off their first album.
"Oceans" by Pearl
Jam
Hold on
to the thread,
The currents will shift
Guide me towards you
Know something's left
And we're all allowed
To dream of the next...
Oh, the
next...
Time we
touch...
You
don't have to stray
Though oceans away
Waves roll in my thoughts
Hold tight the ring...
The sea will rise...
Please stand by the shore...
I
will be... I will be...
I
will be there once more...
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"Black" by Pearl Jam
Sheets
of empty canvas, untouched sheets of clay,
They spread
out before me, as her body once did...
All five
horizons revolved around the sun (I see into the sun)
Now this
air I tasted and breathed has taken a turn...
And all
I taught her was... everything
I know
she gave me all... that she wore
And now
my bitter hands chafe beneath the clouds
Over what
was everything
And all
these pictures, they've all been washed in BLACK
Tattoo'ed
everything.
I take
a walk outside, I'm surrounded by some kids at play.
I can feel
their laughter, so why does it sear?
And twisted
thoughts that spin... 'round my head (I'm spinning)
How quick
the sun can rise away
And now
my bitter hands tread on broken glass
Of what
was everything
And all
these pictures, they've all been washed in BLACK
Tattoo'ed
everything
Oh, and
love gone bad turns my world to BLACK
Tattoo's
all I see; all that I am; all that I'll be...
(I know
someday you'll have a beautiful life,
I know
you'll be a sun
In somebody
else's sky...)
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How about some more? From their more recent album "Yield",
here's a snarky little comment in the song:
"Do the Evolution" by Pearl Jam
I'm ahead, I'm advanced
I am the first mammal to wear pants...
[snip]
Admire me, admire
my home,
Admire my son,
He's my clone...
[ironic in a song about evolution, of course]... and then there's this
classic piece from the album "versus":
"Glorified G" by Pearl Jam
Got
a gun, 'fact I got two --
But that's OK, man, because I love God!
[begging the question, does God love guns?]
I wish I could point you towards the lyrics of "Yellow Ledbetter,"
a song that pretty much everyone loves -- but it's an improvisation,
the lyrics change every time Eddie sings it. Except for one lyric that
goes "I
don't know if I was the boxer or the bag!"
Hey guess what! As I was writing these pages, Pearl
Jam once again decided to demonstrate why they're among my favorite
bands of my life thus far. They let anyone download an MP3 of the single
from their upcoming album for free. (UPDATE 5-2-06: Now that the album
has come out, you apparently can't download the song anymore.) If you're
a MySpace user you can stream it and also see the lyrics here.
(You can also watch a video of a really good song from the new album
here.)
This is not a throwaway song -- it's a darn good song
and the MP3 is high quality. Ya know, back when Pearl Jam fought Ticketmaster,
people actually argued, "Well
if they're so concerned about Ticketmaster overcharging, why doesn't
Pearl Jam give away music for free?" Even at the time, it
was a silly argument, because only a few months before, they had allowed
radio stations to broadcast their entire second album (...and that didn't
seem to hurt their sales any), and also a four-hour concert from Atlanta,
Georgia (which they later sold as an album). Of course I taped both
of those broadcasts, and then later went out and bought the CDs so that
I'd have better quality. Pearl Jam just goes to show, in my opinion:
that Capitalism doesn't have all the answers, especially when it comes
to art or music. If you're a good enough musician, you can give
away your music for free and still make
lots of money... So next time somebody argues that without Intellectual
Property laws, all the artists and writers and computer programmers
would go bankrupt, just ask 'em: "You mean the way Pearl Jam did?"
This song is copyright by Pearl Jam. No ownership
or permission is expressed or implied. The accompanying audio clip is
for your "review purposes",
in other words, I am explicitly hoping that this sample inspires you to
go out and buy the song. And thereby avoid having Pearl Jam sue me.
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