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Sleight of hand

Born2JamBorn2Jam Posts: 255
edited March 2006 in Words and Music...Communication
Just curious........
anyone else interpret this song as being about suicide?
That's what I hear, and it gives me the chills everytime I listen to it.
"This band has provided many people a soundtrack to their lives.." ~ CitizenRick
Post edited by Unknown User on

Comments

  • SquidgeSquidge Posts: 145
    I have never really tried to interpret it....i'll give it a go now though.

    Y'know, it wouldn't surprise me if it is.....Vedder can be a bit sombre sometimes.
  • Smile78Smile78 Posts: 9
    Never looked at it that way. I think its about someone who lives a monotonous life and does the same thing every day and doesnt realize it. One day (whether its due to getting older and wiser he isnt sure) but he wakes up and sees things differently and wants to change his life. Thats where I think the line "he waves goodbye to himself, Ill see you on the other side" means. So in a way, yes, he is ending his life....but I see it more as a change.

    Its cool to hear different views on it though.
  • UnkeptUnkept Posts: 65
    Yeah, it always struck me as a guy giving up. Espescially if I listen to it on a monday morning in November on the way to the office...but that's just me.
  • Born2JamBorn2Jam Posts: 255
    Smile78 wrote:
    Never looked at it that way. I think its about someone who lives a monotonous life and does the same thing every day and doesnt realize it. One day (whether its due to getting older and wiser he isnt sure) but he wakes up and sees things differently and wants to change his life. Thats where I think the line "he waves goodbye to himself, Ill see you on the other side" means. So in a way, yes, he is ending his life....but I see it more as a change.

    Its cool to hear different views on it though.

    Cool.

    And yeah, I always enjoy hearing other people's interpretations, too.
    Sometimes, someone else hears it with a complete opposite meaning and I find that really interesting.
    I'm so glad PJ doesn't really talk about what their songs are written about.
    I love finding my own meanings in their songs, and hearing other ones as well.
    I don't even have to look for it. Just take the song in, and my interpretation just sort of presents itself.
    "This band has provided many people a soundtrack to their lives.." ~ CitizenRick
  • Born2JamBorn2Jam Posts: 255
    Unkept wrote:
    Yeah, it always struck me as a guy giving up. Espescially if I listen to it on a monday morning in November on the way to the office...but that's just me.

    Yeah, I hear ya.
    Some days this song just strikes me really hard.
    "This band has provided many people a soundtrack to their lives.." ~ CitizenRick
  • wakeupscreamingwakeupscreaming Posts: 71
    Smile78 wrote:
    Never looked at it that way. I think its about someone who lives a monotonous life and does the same thing every day and doesnt realize it. One day (whether its due to getting older and wiser he isnt sure) but he wakes up and sees things differently and wants to change his life. Thats where I think the line "he waves goodbye to himself, Ill see you on the other side" means. So in a way, yes, he is ending his life....but I see it more as a change.

    Its cool to hear different views on it though.




    It´s funny to see interpretations from people who live so fare away, especially when i´ve got the same interpretation. i agree with you!
    i hurt myself today,
    to see if i still feel,
    i focus all the pain,
    the only thing that´s real...
  • Pearl Jam and toastPearl Jam and toast Posts: 4,475
    maybe a guy who is tired of his monontanous, 9-5 clone life and kills that side of him rather than himself.

    more time.. time to dream.. to himself.. - a send off from that boring world

    waves goodbye.. to himself.. - changing himself

    see you on the otherside... - the 'death' of that part of his life.

    another man... moved by sleight of hand - not sure what is meant by sleight (or trick, illusion) of hand here.. but seems to agree with the line before it.

    by the way..

    This is Jeff's Song!!!!... not Eddie's :)
    Come on pilgrim you know he loves you..

    http://www.wishlistfoundation.org

    Oh my, they dropped the leash.



    Morgan Freeman/Clint Eastwood 08' for President!

    "Make our day"
  • PJfanaaronPJfanaaron Posts: 15
    first off, once again, Ament writes a damn good tune. I have a pj mix cd I listen to all the time, and this song is on it. In the early mornings, fog rolls in, and this song takes me away as I drive to work. Definetly regretful, losing the young mans dream as he pours himself into uniform. we all at one point or another get stuck in monotany. I dunno about the suicide angle, but it could be. Eddie does have a habit of geting a little dark sometimes, lyrically. But a great song.
    That's one more time around... and there is not a sound. . . he's lying dead, clutching benjamins never put the money down

    He's stiffening. . . we're all whistling

    A man we'll soon forget.
  • deadmosquitodeadmosquito Posts: 729
    i always kinda thought of it as a guy learning to break the redundant routine of daily life and learning to live for the first time... exactly the opposite of suicide i guess. which is funny cos i am generally more of a pessimist than an optimist, i guess i just never thought of it as suicidal til i heard that viewpoint on this board a couple years ago.
  • Pearl Jam and toastPearl Jam and toast Posts: 4,475
    deadmosquito wrote:
    i always kinda thought of it as a guy learning to break the redundant routine of daily life and learning to live for the first time... exactly the opposite of suicide i guess. which is funny cos i am generally more of a pessimist than an optimist, i guess i just never thought of it as suicidal til i heard that viewpoint on this board a couple years ago.
    thats what i was getting at.

    its killing.. that side of himself.

    its an inspiring song and the very end of the song's emotion serves it well.
    Come on pilgrim you know he loves you..

    http://www.wishlistfoundation.org

    Oh my, they dropped the leash.



    Morgan Freeman/Clint Eastwood 08' for President!

    "Make our day"
  • electronblueelectronblue Posts: 3,460
    the first 2 times that i listened to "sleight of hand " honestly i wasn't to keen about it. i thought waht is the hype over this song? Then, one day i really listened to it and whoaaa! now i think its one of my favorites and i lean towards Smile78's interpretation more so...~


    :)
    ********************************
    "Forgive every being,
    the bad feelings 
    it's just me"


  • Man_Of_The_HourMan_Of_The_Hour Posts: 330
    Born2Jam wrote:
    Just curious........
    anyone else interpret this song as being about suicide?
    That's what I hear, and it gives me the chills everytime I listen to it.

    I've always interpreted it that way too. But I'm not sure though, the last verse is the hardest to get.
    Well, do you need a lot of what you've got to survive?
  • Ms. HaikuMs. Haiku Posts: 7,265
    Routine was the theme,... he'd wake up,..wash and pour himself
    Into uniform,... something he hadn't imagined being...

    As the merging traffic passed,... he found himself staring,..
    Down,... at his own... hands..
    Not remembering the change,... not recalling the plan,
    Was it...?

    He was okay,... but wondering... about wandering
    Was it age?... By consequence?... or was he moved by
    Sleight of hand?

    Mondays were made to fall,... lost on a road he knew by heart
    It was like a book he read in his sleep,... endlessly...
    Sometimes he hid in his radio,... watching others pull into their homes
    While he was drifting...

    On a line,... of his own,... off the line,... on the side
    Bye the by,.... as dirt turned to sand,
    As if moved by sleight of hand...

    When he reached the shore of his... clip-on world...
    He resurfaced to the norm
    Organized his few things,... his coat and keys...
    Any new realizations... would have to wait...
    Til he had more time,... more time...
    Time to dream,... to himself... he waves goodbye,
    To himself... I'll see you on the other side...

    Another man...moved by sleight of hand...


    I love that tenclub.net has the lyrics. Let's look at this, eh? The music drew me in originally. Is the sleight of hand a metaphor for putting a tie on.

    What is it with these bandmembers and ties :) Ties can be works of art!
    There is no such thing as leftover pizza. There is now pizza and later pizza. - anonymous
    The risk I took was calculated, but man, am I bad at math - The Mincing Mockingbird
  • muiren77muiren77 Posts: 3,511
    sleight of hand? i guess it is something or "Someone" (like some divine intervention) that just made him realize how he had lived his life...
    what is essential is invisible to the eye

    apparently, 07162056 is THE date...
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