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The meaning of Corduroy?

BigairbruceyBigairbrucey Posts: 141
edited December 2013 in Words and Music...Communication
I've read this song over and over I still realy have no idea what it's about. Anyone have some thoughts?


Corduroy

The waiting drove me mad...you're finally here and I'm a mess
I take your entrance back...can't let you roam inside my head
I don't want to take what you can give...
I would rather starve than eat your bread...
I would rather run but I can't walk...
Guess I'll lie alone just like before...

I'll take the varmint's path...oh, and I must refuse your test
Push me and I will resist...this behavior's not unique
I don't want to hear from those who know...
They can buy, but can't put on my clothes...
I don't want to limp for them to walk...
Never would have known of me before...
I don't want to be held in your debt...
I'll pay it off in blood, let I be wed...
I'm already cut up and half dead...
I'll end up alone like I began...

Everything has chains...absolutely nothing's changed
Reading PA 2004
Virginia Beach outside in the grass 2008
Philly Spectrum night 2 2009
New York MSG night 2 2010
Montreal Bell Centre 2011
Post edited by Unknown User on

Comments

  • mysticweedmysticweed Posts: 3,710
    edited February 2011
    i read that ed bought a corduroy jacket from a thrift shop
    and the gap or some fucking body wanted to copy it, sell it for $300
    and asked ed to model
    Post edited by mysticweed on
    fuck 'em if they can't take a joke

    "what a long, strange trip it's been"
  • Cool Face RyanCool Face Ryan Posts: 1,254
    yea its basically a round up of how the pressures of fame change a lot of shit. and yea the song was named after the jacket story
    MSG II 5/21/10
    Tres Mts. Gramercy Theatre 3/26/11
    *formerly manutd3581
  • MD97728MD97728 Posts: 115
    the jacket story is for real? wow - never heard that before. interesting.
  • cbrunelle783cbrunelle783 Posts: 1,025
    http://www.avclub.com/articles/eddie-vedder-of-pearl-jam,13789/

    Found this on the Corduroy Wikipedia page. The question/quote about the jacket is but about 1/3 of the way down the page. I didn't know it was Ricky Martin lol.

    I love Wikipedia, as a librarian parents always tell me that teachers don't want their kids to use it for school projects. I personally think that it's a great place to start to get info. It can't be used as the only source but it could be used as a vehicle to obtain other sources. I don't approve of cutting and pasting articles and calling them your own. However, on the whole Wikipedia is increasingly becoming a more valid source.
    Boston 5/17/10
    Tres Mts. 3/27/11
    EV Solo:Providence 6/15/11 Boston 6/16/11 Hartford 6/18/11
    PJ20 9/3/11-9/4/11

    Concert Wishlist: I am Mine, Marker in the Sand, Parachutes, In Hiding, All Those Yesterdays, I Got Shit, Long Road, Light Years
  • theserialthrillatheserialthrilla Posts: 15,760
    what its not about the bear :shock:

    corduroy%5B1%5D.jpg
    <img src="http://i740.photobucket.com/albums/xx46/tremors25/thefixerthrilla1.gif&quot; align="left">
    <img src="http://i740.photobucket.com/albums/xx46/tremors25/thrillafixterorange.gif&quot; align="left">
    <img src="http://i740.photobucket.com/albums/xx46/tremors25/thrillafixterblack.gif&quot; align="left">
    <img src="http://i740.photobucket.com/albums/xx46/tremors25/thrillafixterwhite.gif&quot; align="left
    <img src="http://i740.photobucket.com/albums/xx46/tremors25/thefixerthrilla1.gif&quot; align="left">
  • cbrunelle783cbrunelle783 Posts: 1,025
    theserialthrilla wrote:
    what its not about the bear :shock:

    corduroy%5B1%5D.jpg


    :lol::lol::lol:

    I the words "the waiting drove me mad/ you're finally here and I'm a mess" (I lost my button) takes on a whole new meaning.
    Boston 5/17/10
    Tres Mts. 3/27/11
    EV Solo:Providence 6/15/11 Boston 6/16/11 Hartford 6/18/11
    PJ20 9/3/11-9/4/11

    Concert Wishlist: I am Mine, Marker in the Sand, Parachutes, In Hiding, All Those Yesterdays, I Got Shit, Long Road, Light Years
  • PJForceofNaturePJForceofNature Posts: 3,087
    I used to teach pre-school, and reading the book "Corduroy" to the kids was one of the highlights-they loved that story! Now, every time I hear PJ's "Corduroy", I think of that little bear! :lol:
    "A beacon on dry land"
  • IamaPatriotFanIamaPatriotFan Posts: 2
    This song is probably the most cunfusing and greatest all at the same time. The more I try to imagine what it's about the more confused I get.

    I do feel like it's about Eddie's ability to cope with the main stream attention and others taking advantage of his fame for their own personal gain. The cordoroy Jacket story I like to think it was written about " They can buy , but can't put on my clothes". ( I remember having one, looked just like his but from "abercrombie and fich" and prob cost me 10 times more than his...Then ther's his his "lost my button refernece" in which he plays into the story book character as well and is oddly relatable.

    he seems frustrated, he's rich and can have anything he wants but he can't buy what he wants because it's free. Prob just wanting to play for small unknowing crowds in small piss smelled basements.

    He does seem to change the lyrics a lot but in particular the original to the 2011 version he first refers to himself as a varment. Like an annoying pest do to his early deffiance but later he takes "the servants path".

    The Vitology theme keeps resurfacing as well. It sounds to me like primitive medicine like blood letting and "spilled my tincture". " I'm already cut up and half dead"

    I never knew what a tincture was but I was always sure thats what the verse was. it actually is a word and part of primitive medicine. I also came across a song wich i don't think has any relation but i think does a great job of explaining the phrase. "tincture to spill" http://www.lyrics85.com/EXPOSED-TO-NOIS ... CS/468293/.

    Still very confused. but great song!
  • nym5cbnym5cb Posts: 72
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DKolM8d1bW4
    The Ricky Martin clip lol. Very Eddie.
    "And i listen, for the voice inside my head... Nothin'... I'll do this one myself."
    5/21/10- MSG
    9/2/11- PJ20 1
    9/3/11- PJ20 2
    9/2/12- Made in America, Philly
  • Rachel_NelsonRachel_Nelson Posts: 4
    I think it's about an abusive relationship..the being IN it..the ambivalence. Feeling like you need them but they are so horrible to you. Just my interpretation though.<---I wrote that before I read the thread..but I think it can apply..like, being famous is sort of like being in an abusive relationship. Where you are sort of trapped because that hand that feeds you [money, success] is also the hand that snaps the photograph on your most personal of days. I heard Eddie say once that abusive relationships are harder to get out of than you'd think (I think it was on Storytellers)..and there are a lot of abusive relationships going on in many scenarios.
  • 88keys88keys Posts: 151
    Bigairbrucey wrote:
    I've read this song over and over I still realy have no idea what it's about. Anyone have some thoughts?


    Corduroy

    The waiting drove me mad...you're finally here and I'm a mess
    I take your entrance back...can't let you roam inside my head
    I don't want to take what you can give...
    I would rather starve than eat your bread...
    I would rather run but I can't walk...
    Guess I'll lie alone just like before...

    I'll take the varmint's path...oh, and I must refuse your test
    Push me and I will resist...this behavior's not unique
    I don't want to hear from those who know...
    They can buy, but can't put on my clothes...
    I don't want to limp for them to walk...
    Never would have known of me before...
    I don't want to be held in your debt...
    I'll pay it off in blood, let I be wed...
    I'm already cut up and half dead...
    I'll end up alone like I began...

    Everything has chains...absolutely nothing's changed

    I assume you got these lyrics from the this site, but can anyone understand why it doesn't include the last third of the song lyrics... specifically these:

    "Take my hand, not my picture, spilled my tincture...

    I don't want to take what you can give...
    I would rather starve than eat your breast...
    All the things that others want for me...
    Can't buy what I want because it's free...
    Can't buy what I want because it's free...
    Can't be what you want because I'm...

    I ain't supposed to be just fun...
    Oh, to live and die, let it be done...
    I figure I'll be damned...
    all alone like I began...

    It's your move now...
    I thought you were a friend, but I guess I, I guess I hate you.."
    Camden 8/28/1998; Jones Beach 8/24/2000; Camden 9/1/2000; Camden 9/2/2000; Albany 4/29/2003; New York 7/8/2003; Vancouver 9/2/2005; Atlantic City 10/1/2005; Albany 5/12/2006; E. Rutherford 6/1/2006; E. Rutherford 6/3/2006; New York 6/24/2008; New York 6/25/2008; New York 5/20/2010
  • deezarockindeezarockin Posts: 9
    Open to interpretation, but basically amongst other meanings, sticking it to those who want more but give nothing.
    Strength in individuality
  • brewcrewbrewcrew Posts: 4
    "I don't want to limp for them to walk..."

    That lyric could stand for everything thats wrong with society today...

    Black Friday at Wallmart, Elimination of the middle class, Sub Prime Loans..etc.

    All examples have people gaining while others "limp" to keep them walking.

    What a song..
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