Sweet Lew
Chuck Klosterman has written a book called "I Wear the Black Hat". One of his subjects is Kareem Abdul Jabbar and he brings up Sweet Lew.
Excerpt:
"There's a B-side from the rock band Pearl Jam titled "Sweet Lew," written by Jeff Ament (the "Lew" in its title refers to Jabbar's Christian name). If you listen to the song casually, you wouldn't immediately perceive it as a criticism of Abdul-Jabbar, as the lyrics are mostly complimentary and kind of juvenile ["Wilt the Stilt had nothing on you / Lambchops and Afro-do, Milwaukee Bucks and a barbecue"]. But Ament's interior motive for writing the song was based on a negative encounter he had with Abdul-Jabbar upon meeting him at a charity event. Ament (a lifelong hoop fan and a decent player as a high school student in Montana) was deeply hurt by Abdul-Jabbar's abject lack of interest toward his personal fandom. He didn't even pretend to care. This is telling. What made Pearl Jam dissimilar from their platinum-selling peers (most notably Nirvana) was that — despite being completely suffocated by a level of fame they did not anticipate — they still felt an obligation to appreciate the people who bought their records. Perhaps they did this naturally, or perhaps they did this as a social compulsion. Either way, Pearl Jam has always felt a responsibility to return whatever adoration was directed toward their existence. The motive of that return is beside the point, because the effort is what matters. It's certainly possible to dislike Pearl Jam's music, but you can't hate them as people, unless a) you believe they are somehow fake and b) you have some kind of teenage punk fixation on realness. To any normal person, a facsimile of gratitude is enough; that facsimile is an acceptable amount of emotional access. When Ament met Abdul-Jabbar, all Kareem needed to say was, "Thanks, man. That means a lot. Good luck with your life." He would not have needed to mean any of those words. Even if he'd been transparently acting, it would have been enough to satisfy a person who had pre-decided to love him. But Abdul-Jabbar can't do that. He can't ignore the stupidity of that false relationship, which is why a song like "Sweet Lew" exists. Kareem (being Kareem) loves jazz music — but even if he loved rock, he'd never relate to Pearl Jam (except for maybe "Corduroy"). He would prefer mid-period Rush: "I can't pretend a stranger is a long-awaited friend."
http://www.grantland.com/story/_/id/936 ... -kareem-oj
Excerpt:
"There's a B-side from the rock band Pearl Jam titled "Sweet Lew," written by Jeff Ament (the "Lew" in its title refers to Jabbar's Christian name). If you listen to the song casually, you wouldn't immediately perceive it as a criticism of Abdul-Jabbar, as the lyrics are mostly complimentary and kind of juvenile ["Wilt the Stilt had nothing on you / Lambchops and Afro-do, Milwaukee Bucks and a barbecue"]. But Ament's interior motive for writing the song was based on a negative encounter he had with Abdul-Jabbar upon meeting him at a charity event. Ament (a lifelong hoop fan and a decent player as a high school student in Montana) was deeply hurt by Abdul-Jabbar's abject lack of interest toward his personal fandom. He didn't even pretend to care. This is telling. What made Pearl Jam dissimilar from their platinum-selling peers (most notably Nirvana) was that — despite being completely suffocated by a level of fame they did not anticipate — they still felt an obligation to appreciate the people who bought their records. Perhaps they did this naturally, or perhaps they did this as a social compulsion. Either way, Pearl Jam has always felt a responsibility to return whatever adoration was directed toward their existence. The motive of that return is beside the point, because the effort is what matters. It's certainly possible to dislike Pearl Jam's music, but you can't hate them as people, unless a) you believe they are somehow fake and b) you have some kind of teenage punk fixation on realness. To any normal person, a facsimile of gratitude is enough; that facsimile is an acceptable amount of emotional access. When Ament met Abdul-Jabbar, all Kareem needed to say was, "Thanks, man. That means a lot. Good luck with your life." He would not have needed to mean any of those words. Even if he'd been transparently acting, it would have been enough to satisfy a person who had pre-decided to love him. But Abdul-Jabbar can't do that. He can't ignore the stupidity of that false relationship, which is why a song like "Sweet Lew" exists. Kareem (being Kareem) loves jazz music — but even if he loved rock, he'd never relate to Pearl Jam (except for maybe "Corduroy"). He would prefer mid-period Rush: "I can't pretend a stranger is a long-awaited friend."
http://www.grantland.com/story/_/id/936 ... -kareem-oj
San Jose 10/93, San Francisco 6/95, San Jose 11/95, St Louis 4/03, Columbus 5/10, MSGII 5/21/2010, Alpine Valley 09/03/2011 and 09/04/2011
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Comments
Thanks for sharing though...
Thanks for sharing though...
Typo Man: "Thanks kidz, but remembir, stay in skool!"
PJ: 2011-09-03 2011-09-04
"Pearl Jam has always felt a responsibility to return whatever adoration was directed toward their existence. The motive of that return is beside the point, because the effort is what matters."
I once met him and he took time to chat and have a photo. Good guy.
astoria 06
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this song is meant to be called i got shit,itshould be called i got shit tickets-hartford 06 -