The meaning of Speed of Sound
PJ Fan est. 1990
Posts: 1,788
sorry if this was a post before, i'm too lazy to check...i just want to share what i think the meaning of Speed of Sound is
i think it's about someone who is off fighting in a war and waiting for his/her time to go back home. It's moving so slowly and he just wants it to come quickly and that he goes back home alive ("and that somehow i'll survive"). He's missing his wife/husband or girlfriend/boyfriend. he's wondering if he can deal with he PTSD when he returns home. (can i forgive what i cannot forget and live a lie) he's/she's waiting for the general to tell him/her, that his/her tour of duty is over (waiting on a word that never comes). he/she day dreams of his/her significant (a whisper in the dark, is that you or just my thoughts) he/she realizes that the day he/she returns home is farther away than he/she thinks
really it could be anything cause he writes it so generally that you can relate it to anything. it's just the parenthesized lines above that leads me to think it's about someone is off at war...but really it's about anyone who has an aspiration and can't wait to achieve it
there are lyrics in the music section under the comments for SOS...what is your interpretation?
P.S. this is only based on the demo version and the lyrics in the comments for Speed of Sound. i did not listen to a leaked version and i don't plan on it
i think it's about someone who is off fighting in a war and waiting for his/her time to go back home. It's moving so slowly and he just wants it to come quickly and that he goes back home alive ("and that somehow i'll survive"). He's missing his wife/husband or girlfriend/boyfriend. he's wondering if he can deal with he PTSD when he returns home. (can i forgive what i cannot forget and live a lie) he's/she's waiting for the general to tell him/her, that his/her tour of duty is over (waiting on a word that never comes). he/she day dreams of his/her significant (a whisper in the dark, is that you or just my thoughts) he/she realizes that the day he/she returns home is farther away than he/she thinks
really it could be anything cause he writes it so generally that you can relate it to anything. it's just the parenthesized lines above that leads me to think it's about someone is off at war...but really it's about anyone who has an aspiration and can't wait to achieve it
there are lyrics in the music section under the comments for SOS...what is your interpretation?
P.S. this is only based on the demo version and the lyrics in the comments for Speed of Sound. i did not listen to a leaked version and i don't plan on it
Post edited by Unknown User on
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to me this is about as far as they will go when it comes to politics and war on this album, it's not an anti war song though, it's just using a soldier as a character...i feel this song can relate to anything and he wrote it about reaching an aspiration, but i think his mindset was on a soldier wanting to come home
i could also see it being an extension of Into the Wild - the part about waiting for a sun that never comes made me thing that.
Eddie vedder interview:
A brooding, down-tempo track with complex chord changes that stemmed from a songwriting session with a Rolling Stones guitarist.
“I was working with Ronnie Wood on a record he's putting together. He asked me if I could contribute some words, which really excited me because I love his voice. This particular song was a little difficult to transcribe though, so it ended up in [Pearl Jam's] court. I played it to Brendan at four in the afternoon, and by the next afternoon it was complete.”
"..That's One Happy Fuckin Ghost.."
“..That came up on the Pillow Case...This is for the Greek, With Our Apologies.....”
for the least they could possibly do
The saddest part of the song to me is:
"A whisper in the dark,
is that you, or just my thoughts?
Wide awake and reaching out..."
You can almost see the man lying in his bed late at night, smelling of liquor and cigarette smoking, hoping for the voice of the one he lost. Sadly, he'll never hear it.
The risk I took was calculated, but man, am I bad at math - The Mincing Mockingbird
I totally agree!
Me too - exactly my interpretation: exact reason for that interpretation.....but I also acknowledge that as with most PJ lyrics they are exactly that - open to interpretation, and that is what I love about them.....they always seem to fit where you are in life....