Footsteps. Best PJ song ever?

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  • ontheroad
    ontheroad Posts: 259
    What’s the best version? 

    94 Bridge School with Benmont on piano?
    03 Mansfield preset?


    "I remember when you sang that song about today, now it's tomorrow and everything has changed." - Bu$hleaguer
  • on2legs
    on2legs Posts: 15,950
    Checked my stats... I’ve seen it live 7 times.  I need to listen to the boots and figure out which one is best. 
    1996: Randall's Island 2  1998: East Rutherford | MSG 1 & 2  2000: Cincinnati | Columbus | Jones Beach 1, 2, & 3 | Boston 1 | Camden 1 & 2 2003: Philadelphia | Uniondale | MSG 1 & 2 | Holmdel  2005: Atlantic City 1  2006: Camden 1 | East Rutherford 1 & 2 2008: Camden 1 & 2 | MSG 1 & 2 (#25) | Newark (EV)  2009: Philadelphia 1, 2 & 4  2010: Newark | MSG 1 & 2  2011: Toronto 1  2013: Wrigley Field | Brooklyn 2 | Philadelphia 1 & 2 | Baltimore  2015: Central Park  2016: Philadelphia 1 & 2 | MSG 1 & 2 | Fenway Park 2 | MSG (TOTD)  2017: Brooklyn (RnR HOF)  2020: MSG | Asbury Park  2021: Asbury Park  2022: MSG | Camden | Nashville  2024: MSG 1 & 2 (#50) | Philadelphia 1 & 2 | Baltimore  2025: Raleigh


  • Veddernarian
    Veddernarian Posts: 1,924
    Very qualitative question as everyone has different tastes.  For me, Footsteps is in my bottom third however there are some fantastic live versions that I like way more than the studio version.  
    Up here so high I start to shake, Up here so high the sky I scrape, I've no fear but for falling down, So look out below I am falling now, Falling down,...not staying down, Could’ve held me up, rather tear me down, Drown in the river
  • densan
    densan Posts: 563
    I like the live raw version they did on the radio...Rockline? Not sure.
    I was at the 95 show in Red Rocks, and that version was pretty intense live.
    I miss those times, but so thankful to have lived the PJ dream. 
    Happy Friday!
    Sweet Euphoria Pearl jam Jeff ament Eddie vedder
    Be different & make a difference. Decency & kindness @ a grassroots level works.
  • ceska
    ceska New York Posts: 1,137
    There was a time when Footsteps was *the* Pearl Jam Holy Grail. Yellow Ledbetter was big on the radio around 94-95.. a friend of mine said "Yeah, but the song you want to hear is Footsteps. See if you can find the Jeremy single." This being pre-internet.

    Hard To Imagine was also of that caliber.
  • Fransway
    Fransway Posts: 9
    Love the song, but I wouldn’t consider it their best. For me that would be Present Tense.

    That said, I think it’s probably among the top 2 or 3 vocal performances that Eddie has ever put on tape.
  • WMAmorican
    WMAmorican Posts: 248
    One of my favorites for sure...still remember the first time I heard it live, at the Greek in Berkeley on Halloween 1993, I thought they were doing a cover of "Times Of Trouble" until Eddie started singing!

    But I can't consider any PJ song their "best ever" without some tasty Mike McCready lead playing, so this one can't be it for me. But it probably makes my Top 10...
  • pjhawks
    pjhawks Posts: 12,907
    no
  • Abe Froman
    Abe Froman Posts: 5,379
    pjhawks said:
    no
    Not even close for me. I like it but could probably name 50+ songs I like more
  • JimmyV
    JimmyV Boston's MetroWest Posts: 19,597
    Nah but it's a great one. Chased it for years, always seeing it played either the night before or night after my show. Finally got it in St Louis in 2014. Flew from Boston to Chicago that day only to have our connecting flight cancelled, so we rented a car and drove the rest of the way. Absolutely worth it!
    ___________________________________________

    "...I changed by not changing at all..."
  • Gigatonofbricks
    Gigatonofbricks Philadelphia, PA Posts: 148
    Definitely a top 10 PJ song for me.  
    5-28-06
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    4-28-16
  • Foriginal Sin
    Foriginal Sin Scottsdale, AZ Posts: 1,876
    They played this version live on the radio, just Stone and Ed, forgot the station but had to be 91-92. It was perfect. Love the voice in this song 
    Chicago 6/29/98, Alpine Valley(EV) 6/13/99, Alpine Valley 10/08/00, Chicago 10/09/00, Phoenix 10/20/00, Orlando 4/12/03, Tampa 4/13/03, San Diego 6/05/03, Vegas 6/06/03, Phoenix 6/07/03, Chicago 6/18/03, Alpine Valley 6/21/03, Orlando 10/08/04, D.C. 10/11/04, Chicago 5/16/06, Chicago 5/17/06, LA 7/12/08, Chicago 8/23/09, Chicago 8/24/09, LA 10/07/09, San Diego 10/09/09 (Front Row Center, Finally), Phoenix(EV) 11/4/11, Wrigley 7/19/13, Phoenix 11/19/13, Denver 10/22/14, Wrigley 8/20/16, Wrigley 8/22/16
  • Niko80
    Niko80 Posts: 1,613
    The version on the Jeremy single is fantastic. Eddie and Stone performs it perfectly, stripped down and full of soul. 
    I will swallow poison
  • glb
    glb Posts: 356
    Sometimes it is 
    "I've got things to do and things to say in my own way..."
  • Hankj25
    Hankj25 Posts: 388
    edited April 2020
    Look, this is all subjective but one thing I know for sure is that my rankings are the correct ones. 

    RVM
    Hail Hail
    Release
    Present Tense
    Light Years
    SOLAT
    Severed Hand
    In Hiding
    DTE
    Breath

    there is your top 10. 
    Seattle 8-8-18
    Chicago 8-18-18
    Chicago 8-20-18
    St. Louis 4-4-20
    Denver 4-9-20
    Denver 9-22-22
    Noblesville 9-10-23
    Vancouver 5-6-24
    Seattle 5-30-24
    Nashville 5-6-25


    EV
    Chicago 2-9-22
    Tempe 2-26-23
  • pledgeagrievance
    pledgeagrievance Posts: 2,874
    Top 5 for me 

    Hard to Imagine 
    Present Tense
    Faithful
    Footsteps
    In My Tree

  • JF116983
    JF116983 Posts: 176
    pledgeagrievance said:
    I was listening to PJ radio on the way home and Footsteps came on. The case for it being the best song they've recorded is as follows: The lyrics. "I've got scratches all over my arms/one for each day since I fell apart" encapsulates the universality of the song as a whole. Even if someone hasn't been through a bad breakup, the lyric can apply to just about any feeling of loss or hopelessness. The history of the music. Its relation to temple of the dog and times of trouble Please feel free to add more . . . For me, present tense was on top for a long time but today it's got to be footsteps
    It was part of the Mamason Trilogy I think the guy confessing he did what he had to do - I think the Trilogy is Alive Once Footsteps if I remember correctly. 

    I always preferred Times of Trouble musically and lyrically but enjoyed footsteps as well
  • Chasing Footsteps
    Chasing Footsteps Posts: 315
    JimmyV said:
    Nah but it's a great one. Chased it for years, always seeing it played either the night before or night after my show. Finally got it in St Louis in 2014. Flew from Boston to Chicago that day only to have our connecting flight cancelled, so we rented a car and drove the rest of the way. Absolutely worth it!
    Yes sir! Chasing Footsteps 😀
    Ft. Laud 96, WPB I and II 98, WPB I and II 2000, San Sebastian, Spain 2000, WPB 03, Tampa 03, MSG I and II 03, Kissimmee 04, Atlantic City I and II 05, Mansfield I 08, Toronto 09, Noblesville 10, Alpine Valley I and II 11, Wrigley 13, Baltimore 13, Ft. Lauderdale 2016, Miami 2016, Wrigley 2 2016
  • CS160564
    CS160564 Posts: 34
     don't like Footsteps at all, never have.  Always found it too sparse 
  • BF89905
    BF89905 Posts: 1,447
    Abe Froman said:
    pjhawks said:
    no
    Not even close for me. I like it but could probably name 50+ songs I like more

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