Like Pilate, I have a dog...
RhinoJam
Posts: 596
Can anyone translate the meaning of this song for me?
... like Pontius Pilate, the only person who loves him, is his dog?
... like Pontius Pilate, the only person who loves him, is his dog?
Charlotte 10/4/96 Raleigh 8/31/98 Charlotte 8/4/00 Raleigh 4/15/03 Asheville 10/6/04
Bonnaroo 6/14/08 Spectrum 10/30/09 Spectrum 10/31/09 Atlanta 9/22/12 Wrigley 7/19/13
Baltimore 10/27/13 Charlottesville 10/29/13 Charlotte 10/30/13 OKC 11/16/13
St. Louis 10/03/14 Greenville 4/16/16 Hampton 4/18/16
Columbia 4/21/16 Wrigley 8/18/18
Bonnaroo 6/14/08 Spectrum 10/30/09 Spectrum 10/31/09 Atlanta 9/22/12 Wrigley 7/19/13
Baltimore 10/27/13 Charlottesville 10/29/13 Charlotte 10/30/13 OKC 11/16/13
St. Louis 10/03/14 Greenville 4/16/16 Hampton 4/18/16
Columbia 4/21/16 Wrigley 8/18/18
Post edited by Unknown User on
0
Comments
Best on the web - check them out
http://www.youtube.com/user/cantkeepmehere
<left><a href='http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4018/4676758738_20a07ec4f1_m.jpg/'><img src='http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4018/4676758738_20a07ec4f1_m.jpg' border='0' alt='Image Hosted by flickr.com'/></a><br/>
</left>
2008 Bonnaroo - 2009 Philly 2&3 - 2010 MSG 1&2
you think to love someone like only dogs can do is a kind of slavery?
and a kind of loneliness for the loved one?
Jeff Ament discussed the song in an interview:
I think "Pilate" was the question I was asking myself, and "Low Light" was the answer, the realization. Have you ever read The Master and Margarita [by Mikhail Bulgakov]? I just read that book, and at the end they talk about Pontius Pilate being all alone on a mountain with his dog. He couldn't sleep and he couldn't function. It really struck me hard, because at that point I was feeling very alone. I've always had this recurring dream about being old and just me and my dog sitting on the porch. It wasn't necessarily a sad dream or a premonition, but it did get me to thinking about why Pilate was so alone and freaked out. Then I realized he didn't get to finish his conversation with Jesus—that's why he can't function, because he didn't tie up the loose ends in his life. Later, I was playing the guitar, and I was hit so hard by this amazing, emotion. In that moment the words "low light" came out, and somehow those were the only words to explain what I was feeling. It was a kind of gratefulness at finding that place of calm and peace at my center and getting a glimpse of the person I could choose to be. It was the purest happiness that I've experienced in a long time, that particular emotion. God, I thought I was going to explode. I feel very lucky to have been able to put it down on tape that morning and work through it until it became a song.[1]
Found it here but it is a lot of other places too: http://en.allexperts.com/q/Pearl-Jam-549/f/song-meaning.htm
Where I'm not ugly and you're lookin' at me
like pilate I have a dog (well actually I don't I have 2 cats but this line is on loop in my head!)
"The live shows? Well, that's church on Sundays"