Pearl Jam's saddest songs

Kloddz

So this morning on my way to work I was listening to Thumbing My Way from the Benny Hall show and found myself thinking "Damn, this is sad. What else is?" So here's my list, from 12 (intended to make it 10 but couldn't break it down :? ) to 1, 1 being the most gut-wrenching.

(Album songs and Lost Dogs only.)

12. Breakerfall
11. Better Man
10. Parting Ways
9. Sad
8. Other Side
7. Off He Goes
6. Nothingman
5. Fatal
4. Thumbing My Way
3. Light Years
2. Come Back
1. Black

So what are everyone else's saddest PJ songs, either lyrically or musically or both?

dimitrispearljam

1.footsteps
2.come back
3.sleight of hand
4.Nothing as it seems
5.release
6.the end

theserialthrilla

dimitrispearljam wrote:

1.footsteps
2.come back
3.sleight of hand
4.Nothing as it seems
5.release
6.the end

wtf dimi no black :shock: :shock: :shock:

craigb

1. Puzzles & Games

dwhite76

Its funny you posted this. On the way home from the doctors I was playing Come Back (my favorite song) and turned to my wife and said "This has to be the saddest song and lyrics ever written. Eddie is a lyrical genius."

doompony

black.
and come back.
and other side.
and sad.
and release.
and indifference.

Brisk.

Breakerfall over The End? :shock:

PJ Fan est. 1990

I'd say comeback has to be a doozey...

my girlfriend hates that song...well not really, she loves it, but she can't listen to it or else she'll start bawling her eyes out. She gets that way with a lot of songs, mostly Jeff Buckley. (Last Goodbye, Lover You Should Have Come Over, etc.) Come Back is an especially sad song when paired with Man of the Hour, because then there's an actual story line beginning to unfold. Some character depth of someone you can relate to. "That last song was about knowing someone is going and this next song takes place about a few months later" (paraphrased) - Eddie Vedder after playing MOTH and moving onto Come Back. My father took me to the E. Rutherford show where Ed said that. My father was battling cancer, he lost the battle later that year. I will never forget that night.

also Black is a big sad song for me. in my last relationship (before the previously mentioned girlfriend) we went through a tough tough break up. it was heart wrenching. (at least to my naive teenage heart it was) I played the song on guitar (as i do often) and i couldn't finish it. I got choked up...(don't judge me)

Kloddz

Brisk. wrote:

Breakerfall over The End? :shock:

Yeah I know, it's just that I absolutely wanted Breakerfall on that list, so one other song had to go... :?

dimitrispearljam

theserialthrilla wrote:

dimitrispearljam wrote:

1.footsteps
2.come back
3.sleight of hand
4.Nothing as it seems
5.release
6.the end

wtf dimi no black :shock: :shock: :shock:

WHAT? BLACK??ITS THE MOST POWERFUL LOVE SONG EVER!!!!!!!!SAD???????NO WAY...
THIS SONG HAS ALL IN...SAD,HAPPINESS,LONELY,KINDNESS,SELFISH,SELFLESS,PAIN,RELIEF,SHARING, GIVING.TRYING,BELIEVE,PATHION,MEMORIES....THE ONLY SONG THAT ALL THE PEOPLE IN THE PLANET WAS,IS ,OR WILL BE IN WHAT IT SAYS...
THATS WHY IS THE BEST SONG WRITTEN IN THE HISTORY OF MUSIC.....
THIS SONG IS THE MEANING OF WHAT LIFE IS FOR...NO WAY LIFE IS SAD THING....

violetpsyche

Hmmm, ok, I can't do orders of magnitude but here are my ten:

I Got Shit
Wash
Fatal
Black
Parting Ways
Indifference (which is somewhat ironic)
Immortality
Footsteps
Release
Come Back

Having said I can't put them in order, I Got Shit is definitely number one for me. I don't know what it is about that song but I find it heart-wrenching - there seems to be so much of longing and loss in both the lyrics and music.

wolfamongwolves

No one's mentioned Man of the Hour???!!!

...broken signs left just for me... he was guiding me... love, his own way....

I got chills just typing that!

Paulina87

No one mentioned Strangest Tribe??

For me (not in order):
Nothingman
Thumbing my way
The end
All or none
Sad
Fatal
Strangest Tribe
Other Side
Immortality

jbaker67

Long Road
The End
Black
Come Back
Parting Ways

gecko

I Got Shit
Sleight of Hand
Light Years
Parting Ways
Nothingman
Long Road
Elderly Woman
Let Me Sleep
All or None
Can't Keep
Other Side
Still Here

Pap

Speed Of Sound

blenderman69

the end.

WhyNotSweden

Parting Ways

curmudgeoness

Sad
Parting Ways
Small Town
Other Side
The End

"Sad" is their saddest song. Break-ups suck; death is forever.

Zoso

dead man and the end get my vote.

demetrios

Arc
Black
Man Of The Hour
Nothingman

pandora

Jeremy
All Those Yesterdays
Garden
Once
Army Reserve

jwagner

These come to mind immediately:
Better Man
Man of the Hour
Come Back
The End

I love this aspect of Pearl Jam. Ah hell, I love all aspects of Pearl Jam........

PJBuckeye

Footsteps

Kloddz

jwagner wrote:

I love this aspect of Pearl Jam. Ah hell, I love all aspects of Pearl Jam........

So true...

Jurassic Marc

comeback is the saddest, other side is a close second though. sad is sad...is sad is sad. is sad sad? sads sad.


4. parting ways
3. sad
2. other side
1. comeback

somebody said sleight of hand but that song makes me feel so great. the situation is described so perfectly that i feel like its a guide to not falling into the trap that the protagonist does. i feel the same way about all those yesterdays.

Jurassic Marc

pandora wrote:

Jeremy
All Those Yesterdays
Garden
Once
Army Reserve

good call with army reserve, sad.

Gern Blansten

I got shit
Sad
Light years
Come back

YieldNebula311

Lots of good mentions in here. To me, Parachutes has always had a sad tone to it. I'm more of one that listens to the tone and feel of a song than the lyrics really, so I could be wrong. But it just sounds like it could be a sad song to me, lol.

Cradles Broken Glass

Footsteps gets me, "I've got scratches all over my arms, one for each day since I fell apart," is an amazing, you can feel the pain.

Gmoney

parachutes and light years make me cry like a baby