That PJ song that you heard in just the moment you needed it

dpiovera

Hey! First thread ever here - So, this is why I believe PJ has become so important to me. Their music is awesome all around, never a bad song. BUT... what sets them apart is that it seems like when I'm going through something in my personal life it seems as though the right song just comes on my speakers. Two big "dammit Eddie" moments: 1. In a really bad marriage, quite abusive, in probably the worst time of my life, I was so depressed I was suicidal... So I was hanging my clothes in the terrace and start contemplating just jumping from it. And then "Better man" came on. Just started crying like crazy. Next day, 10 AM, sat my husband down, told him I wanted a divorce. Best decision I ever made. 2. Simply contemplating all the mistakes that I made, all the things I could have done better, all the time I wasted on people or things that didn't matter. "Present Tense" comes on. Tears roll down my eyes as I ride the train and people wonder what the fuck could be wrong with me.

I mean, do you ever feel like they got front row seat to the movie of your life or something?

Weird. But they got me through - it's not like music MAKES you make decisions, but they sure do encourage thought, turn you into the right direction (if the lyrics are good) and that may be the push you need to, sometimes, even save your own life. In a way this thread is my thank you note to Ed, who surely won't see it, but I like to put it out there anywhere. Sorry if I sound like a freak. I can't help it if I'm one.

From Buenos Aires, thank you!

Anyone want to share their just-at-the-right-time songs?

r00thless91

Footsteps.. It's been a month but I've done more for myself this month than I have when I was with him. Some people just get comfortable and want to drag you down with them. So this wraps up my whole week.

dpiovera

I know exactly what you mean!!

DPAtty

Too many songs in too many situations to narrow it to just one, but some that immediately spring to mind:

The End-the pain in those lyrics and the raw emotion they elicit helped draw me back from the edge when I was thisclose to ending my marriage. Really fucking dark times;

Future Days-released right as I was in the midst of putting the pieces back together and reconciling said marriage. It fits our situation to a T, like Ed knew everything that had happened;

Long Road, especially the San Diego, 2006 show. Long Road has always been special for me, although I could never really articulate EXACTLY why. It's just a haunting song, lyrically and melodically. It's truly a masterpiece of art. But the San Diego 2006 version is the only recording in which Eddie explains the song's origins that I'm aware of. I hadn't listened to that version since probably 2008. When a dear friend was killed in a car wreck on Easter, 2013, I retreated into PJ as my refuge, and that San Diego show surfaced again, and with it, that version of Long Road. It couldn't be said more perfectly at that moment than as Eddie puts it following around 5:30 or so, and for the next minute, during his explanation of the song's origins: "We lost one of the good ones. This is an important moment in history - we lost one of the good ones." And he changes the lyrics later on to "I know you're with me, I know you're with me today." (Probably because he fucked up the first part of that quatrain by singing the "the sun is settin'" part first...good recovery, but it works, especially for me that day and every time since.

Alive-I listen to this on the rather rare instances when I am able to stop a client's execution.

Indifference-the opposite of "Alive"...I listen to it for the defiance and "fuck you" mindset in the face of overwhelming odds, for strength to keep going when the state kills one of my clients.

I should really stop at this point...this list seems rather depressing as I read over it!!

On the other hand, Just Breathe was playing when one of my kids was born, so I've got that going for me...which is nice.

r00thless91

it was not depressing, more of an interesting read.

dpiovera

r00thless91 said:

it was not depressing, more of an interesting read.

I'm with her. It's so nice to hear how people turn to Pearl Jam for comfort. I guess it's

Last-12-Exit

Last kiss and just breathe for me.

Rearviewmirrorer

Thumbing my way.... it gave me a lot of hope in a moment I needed it...

jhager79

Thumbing my way."No matter how cold the winter, there's a springtime ahead"
To me it means that if things are bad now, they will get better. Just one persons take on a great song.

Jon Chorba

Man...just last week, feeling really overwhelmed and lost. I really felt like a shitty husband for focusing so much on my work and not enough on my lady. Off He Goes comes on and it just hits me like a ton of bricks.

AriannaCescutti

Their songs are very different from each other, and every song is important. There are moments that I need to listen Do the Evolution, cause give me power,but also there are moments that I need Nothingman, cause I want to stay calm.This is only an example, but I love Pearl Jam in every song! they save my life, literally!

InLukinsFridge

Nice thread... some heavy reading! Amazing how this band does this to people, like the OP said, like they have a front row seat in the movie of your life.

So many songs/lyrics have nailed me over the years, but probably most memorable is EV's "Rise." It hit me while seeing him in Tulsa in 2012. It was a pivotal time for me, my family, my career. I was faced with an important decision, and when I heard the lyric "Gonna rise up, find my direction magnetically. Gonna rise up, throw down my ace in the hole," I remember feeling like I suddenly knew exactly what I needed to do and feeling a sense of complete peace and unbreakable confidence in my decision.

Recently "Inside Job" has been on repeat in my head. "I will not lose my faith." And "Let me run into the rain, to shine a human light today." Love it.

Peace.

I'llridethewave

Absolutely happens to me. A lot. It's one of the reasons I can handle my commute... Tuesday- perfect example: crappy mood, put in Mansfield boot 2008... don't look at/recall opener.. and it's Hard to Imagine. Immediate tears when I hear opening notes. I love that song SO MUCH. A few songs later is Down... Won't let the light escape from me, won't let the darkness swallow me. It resonated and lifted my spirits. It's nuts how some lines just HIT me. BAM!

Thank you, Universe, for Pearl Jam.

GabrielleM

Thumbing My Way, that song is my solace I think. I don't know how to explain, but I've gone through many times that my heart was really broken and that song was better than any advice anyone ever gave to me.
Immortality, Present Tense, I Am Mine, Indifference... Those songs really helped to go through some things, specially with my own mental health.
There's a lot of songs, each one helps me to go through a lot of things that happens in my life. I am glad that I got the chance to know the band through my parents, because their songs are there when I feel like I am falling.

courtmcc

Inside Job saved my life. I wouldn't be here if I didn't hear that song at that moment.

InHiding80

Rearviewmirror

I have been in many situations leaving people and surroundings I know I will gladly never be around again and that song just describes it to a T at the end.

Sarah

Just want to say that I love threads like this.

Shyner

Last kiss for u Chloe, I love u

Foxkin

Present Tense and Indifference have regular playtime in my head, as well as Rear View Mirror! But in the depths of serious depression last year, The Fixer actually became my anthem and gave me some encouragement to keep going. I think that's what I love, a song for every joy and headf*** out there. Damn Ed, how do you do it?!

stuckinline

"Some words when spoken...can't be taken back..."

dpduke69

jhager79 said:

Thumbing my way."No matter how cold the winter, there's a springtime ahead" To me it means that if things are bad now, they will get better. Just one persons take on a great song.

That line is so therapeutic to me. I'm not religious but that line is like a little prayer for me when things are getting dark again.

khinmon

The song that I heard when I most needed it was definitely "Just Breathe". I had been going through a lost of stress and heard the song after a really long day. The lines "Oh I'm a lucky man to count on both hands the ones I love" brought some much needed perspective into my day. 

stuckinline

Heard 'Just Breathe' as a family member was dying. Not my favorite song, but the lyrics took on a whole new meaning.

Shyner

Dissident

#420Dabz

Theres more than one but forsure it will be Inside Job. At the time i went thru a breakup. My ex never loved me she just said that shit just to get to me and after the split i would say Fuck love Loves Dead and even start  ask what is love? But the line from the song "i used to try to kill love, It was the highest sin". I was made by love and grew up loved by my family and thats a biggest sin i will never commit is to say i never loved my parents .  i love people,the planet and so much more. The song told me to not give up on love. To keep on being the human light in peoples lives and that song put me back on my feet to keep on moving forward that same day. And hearing the song many times before didnt mean much to me than it did after that breakup and speak to me

Gibson

Off He Goes - wouldn't be here without it.

Spent every penny I had o tour Canada in '05. At the time I assumed it would be my last. Got Off He goes in my hometown, and everything changed.

stuckinline

#420Dabz said:

Theres more than one but forsure it will be Inside Job. At the time i went thru a breakup. My ex never loved me she just said that shit just to get to me and after the split i would say Fuck love Loves Dead and even start  ask what is love? But the line from the song "i used to try to kill love, It was the highest sin". I was made by love and grew up loved by my family and thats a biggest sin i will never commit is to say i never loved my parents .  i love people,the planet and so much more. The song told me to not give up on love. To keep on being the human light in peoples lives and that song put me back on my feet to keep on moving forward that same day. And hearing the song many times before didnt mean much to me than it did after that breakup and speak to me

Wishing you peace and joy.

lukemil33

For me.....Daughter / It's Okay. Last year at this time I was in a really bad place. I was dealing with so many messed up relationships and family issues. The first week of February I lost one personal friend as well as two longtime family friends. When that happens it really makes you lose hope for things to get better. A week later I had a really bad day and came home to find out that my dog had died. I'd know for months she was living on borrowed time but it just hit me so hard. Why did it have to be that night? I had almost nobody I could talk to at the time and I'd pretty much resigned myself to end it that night. I showered, but I always play music as I shower. That night I just opted for YouTube autoplay and clicked on PJ playing Daughter at the Gorge '06. I had no idea about the Its Okay tag being added on. I broke down. Just everything let loose and it felt good to have some guy I'd never met care so deeply. It felt like a best friend just grabbing me and saying hey man. This is horrible now but you can get through it. I decided it was okay that night and I kept going. A live Better Man followed Daughter and they added the Don't Run Away tag onto it and that was incredible. Daughter / Its Okay saved my life that night. I have no doubt. I created my 10 Club account that night. Now a year later I'm on the forum telling you guys about it and feeling the best I've felt in life for a long while. Last night while I was reconnecting with an old friend, the VA beach version of daughter from 2000 came on and it was incredible again. Last night was when I realized how much it really means to me. I experienced the song randomly at the lowest and highest points of my life. The song will always be a sign for me to never give up and always keep fighting even if Eddie is the only one saying it's okay. Theres many more songs that have gotten me through in smaller ways or said what I needed to hear......but Daughter / Its Okay is the most profound by a long shot. Thanks for reading.