best interpretation of Off He Goes

Pearl Jam and toast

from the skyiscrape.com. It's exactly what i thought the song stood for but in better words than i could make.

This is an incredible song and it appears that my interpretation is very different than everyone elses. To me, this song is a reflection of Eddie during the times he struggled with instant Stardom and the ill affects from it. Eddie wrote this song in the 3rd person from Beth's perspective. Here is the breakdown:

"there he goes with his perfectly unkept clothes" -- This descibes Ed pretty accurately.

"but i've seen his picture / it doesn't look the same up on the rack" -- At one point, Ed was in every magazine around, but Beth sees and knows a different person.

"we go way back / i wonder about his insides / its like his thoughts are too big for his size" -- Ed & Beth go way back to Ed's gas attendant days in San Diego...and Ed's lyrics and thoughts are pretty intense. He is a deeply emotional person and the affects of stardom definitely affected his insides.

"nothing's changed, but the surrounding bullshit that has grown / and now he's home / and we're laughing like we always did my same old, same old friend" -- Ed has commented several times that he has not changed, but everything and everyone else around him has since Ten. When things got too wierd, Ed would take his truck and just disappear. I've read countless times that Ed just disappears for days when things get too intense for him. This "escaping" is focus of the song Off He Goes.

"until a quarter-to-ten / i saw the strain creep in / he seems distracted and i know just what is gonna happen next" -- This does not refer to time, but instead the album Ten. The huge success of that album is the cause of all the negative changes in Ed's life. When it gets wierd... Ed gets upset and then He's Off Again...

--John Carreno

DarkStar

hmmm...well, everyone is encouraged to have their own interpretations with PJ songs...for me, I hear 'off he goes' as ed's story of himself...told by ed to ed...

ds

olderman

DarkStar wrote:

hmmm...well, everyone is encouraged to have their own interpretations with PJ songs...for me, I hear 'off he goes' as ed's story of himself...told by ed to ed...

ds

i am certain that Off He Goes and In My Tree are introspective, talking to himself, Ed songs..

and yet, OHG is also universal.. I can relate the song to one very good friend who took his own life... unkept clothes .. i saw the strain creep in..

beautiful song..

thank you mr vedder

||Release_Me||

I definitely think its Ed talking about Ed, introspective. He sees what he used to be like and how that part of himself is slowly drifting away. Amazing song.

whoYOUare

i thought it was a good song before i came up with this idea, and after figuring the meaning out (in my eyes) it made the song so much more powerful. i do think Ed is singing to himself, and it is in the third person, but with that being said it means something different to eeveryone and who am i to say what the song literally means?

Kovo

I always thought it was about two friends, and one moves far away when they're young. The one that stayed behind misses his friend, but grows up. The one that left lived his life his own way, and was looking for someone who felt just as aloneand unique. Since never grew up, and since everyone he knew has grown up, he feels even more alone then when he set out.

Pearl Jam and toast

Kovo wrote:

I always thought it was about two friends, and one moves far away when they're young. The one that stayed behind misses his friend, but grows up. The one that left lived his life his own way, and was looking for someone who felt just as aloneand unique. Since never grew up, and since everyone he knew has grown up, he feels even more alone then when he set out.

thats along the lines of what i used to think until i thought about it how that interpretation puts it.

as olderman said its a very universal and open meaning. However it feels best to you is how you should think about it.

this is one of the best songs ever written in my opinion. musically and lyrically.

DarkStar

Pearl Jam and toast wrote:

thats along the lines of what i used to think until i thought about it how that interpretation puts it.

as olderman said its a very universal and open meaning. However it feels best to you is how you should think about it.

this is one of the best songs ever written in my opinion. musically and lyrically.

amen brother...amen.

ds

RVM86

Man, I never thought of Off He Goes in that way. I always thought Ed was talking about a friend that was dear to him. But I guess when I think about the song and how deep Ed thinks and writes, I bet the song was written about himself.

One of my absolute favorite PJ songs! Beautiful!

Moonchild

Interesting interpretations of this one, although I think I read somewhere once that Ed wrote this song about Neil Young.

moho

Somehing about it always had me thinking it was about a deep close friend who is a drug addict and is constantly trying to get off the habit but just can't kick it and of he goes back to it. I have a friend like that who is as you once knew him when he isn't on drugs ("and now he's home / and we're laughing like we always did my same old, same old friend") Then when he is back on drugs its scary. He flies around completely not himself just in with a new crowd in order to obtain drugs (" like he's riding on a motor bike in the strongest winds" ) .Strongest winds being his friends who he is now hanging out with who are far more dear to him at the moment than his old mate who isn't as important because his friendship does not contain drugs.

I duno what you all think but it really effects me that way.

LikeAnOpeningBandForTheSun

i remember him saying it was about being friends with an asshole.

i swear it could be about me. too many times i've vanished in the middle of the night, moved off and broke off contact only to come back later and act like nothing was different, only to do it again later.

MoonlightDrive81

i always thought if there was a pearl jam movie or a movie about ed it would be titled "off he goes". this song it also very descriptive of the way i am. it's probably my favorite of the slower songs.

L0VeB0ATCApTA1N

Well I always thought the song was about a friend who is also an addict of sorts. Coming and going in and out of good and bad times. "And the strain kicks in, he seems distracted and I know just what is going to happen next..." Very familiar in this context...

up in my tree...

Off he goes is really beautiful, and actually it can be seen in different ways. Everyone has its own interpretation. But I think it's much more interesting if compared to "save you". Written years later, shows how things have changed since off he goes.
What do you think of this connection?

Droevig

I've always thought of off he goes as a kind of father issue.

If anyone has ever lived in a house where both parents arent always around. It's a kind of sparradic love/visitation. You may get a letter, or see a picture now and then, but the person is always so different. To me it was always about that missing person. Someone you know you wanted to meet, to be with, to understand, but you knew that you never could.

as for save you, I dont see how it relates...could you explain what you mean?

StillAlive in '05

Well first off, its a beautifully written song all around and definately one of my favs.....

The first couple of times I heard it , I immediately thought about a very close family member of mine....This particular person is always happy to see you and enjoy your company....he has flashes where he is living in the moment and having a great time...But beneath the smile, is a very stressed out and possibly depressed man......As much as he wants to stay and have a good time with everyone else, he needs time on his own to recluse....thats "off he goes"....I don't see any connection to drugs, but its a possibility....But I just saw 'off he goes' --as a man escaping to his own private area---a man filled w/ anxiety/stress but deals with all his problems internally and thus appears to be a very complex person

up in my tree...

Droevig wrote:

I've always thought of off he goes as a kind of father issue.

as for save you, I dont see how it relates...could you explain what you mean?

I think that in both the songs he's just talking to himself. In off he goes eddie's quite passive, he doesn't do anything to help himself (or the person he's talking to), he's just a passive observer, but in save you he's much more determined to do something for him, not to let him go.
Any other interpretations?

Leti

I think it's about both. Himself. A friend. Others that escape.
In his writing, Ed has taken a couple of stories before and made it into one. Look at Jeremy.

genevieve

DarkStar wrote:

hmmm...well, everyone is encouraged to have their own interpretations with PJ songs...for me, I hear 'off he goes' as ed's story of himself...told by ed to ed...

ds

I belive i read a spin online article where ed says he wrote it about himself

Flannel Shirt

Pearl Jam and toast wrote:

from the skyiscrape.com. It's exactly what i thought the song stood for but in better words than i could make.

This is an incredible song and it appears that my interpretation is very different than everyone elses. To me, this song is a reflection of Eddie during the times he struggled with instant Stardom and the ill affects from it. Eddie wrote this song in the 3rd person from Beth's perspective. Here is the breakdown:

"there he goes with his perfectly unkept clothes" -- This descibes Ed pretty accurately.

"but i've seen his picture / it doesn't look the same up on the rack" -- At one point, Ed was in every magazine around, but Beth sees and knows a different person.

"we go way back / i wonder about his insides / its like his thoughts are too big for his size" -- Ed & Beth go way back to Ed's gas attendant days in San Diego...and Ed's lyrics and thoughts are pretty intense. He is a deeply emotional person and the affects of stardom definitely affected his insides.

"nothing's changed, but the surrounding bullshit that has grown / and now he's home / and we're laughing like we always did my same old, same old friend" -- Ed has commented several times that he has not changed, but everything and everyone else around him has since Ten. When things got too wierd, Ed would take his truck and just disappear. I've read countless times that Ed just disappears for days when things get too intense for him. This "escaping" is focus of the song Off He Goes.

"until a quarter-to-ten / i saw the strain creep in / he seems distracted and i know just what is gonna happen next" -- This does not refer to time, but instead the album Ten. The huge success of that album is the cause of all the negative changes in Ed's life. When it gets wierd... Ed gets upset and then He's Off Again...

--John Carreno

I completely agree. A song about Ed by Ed.

St. Nick

I've read many theories about this one and to me they could all be true. It's either about himself, a friend, Neil Young, Layne Staley or even something different. Pick one you like

I think it is about himself, but I like the Staley theory best.

Pearl Jam and toast

St. Nick wrote:

I've read many theories about this one and to me they could all be true. It's either about himself, a friend, Neil Young, Layne Staley or even something different. Pick one you like

I think it is about himself, but I like the Staley theory best.

i actually wouldnt be surprised if ed thought about layne writing this..

written in 95-96..

VEDHEAD27

AWESOME and dead on for me as well. Although I never thought of the Beth comparison before...the Ed SHE knows and the Ed "up on the rack", Always saw it more as the Ed HE knows and those close to him...but the specific Beth thing definitely works.

Gotta throw out right away that I LOVE this song with every inch of my being!!!! CANNOT praise it enough. It really gets me like no other and a huge part of that IS indeed because it's Ed completely pouring his soul out. The emotion here is just unmatched! I've definitely always felt it to be about loosing yourself and finding yourself all within the same long journey that is life. I think the main focus is Ed's journey but yeah...I wouldn't be surprised like Leti if others played a part as well.


This part especially always made me feel that it was of course a song by Ed about Ed....

"He's yet to come back but I see his picture.
It doesn't look the same up on the rack"



Totally gets me. As I explained in another post... I see him looking around and seeing his face everywhere, seeing this image, this creation that is just beyond him. At a glance, he knows that it's him, yet from a distance, from the outside looking in, the views others have of him..what they think him to be, it's totally someone else. It becomes confusing. Like you suddenly have mutiple personalities. There is the "real" you, and then this other person, ya know? It's very powerful and very moving. Ah the power and the mighty beauty that is OFF HE GOES.


*bows down*


Thanks for letting it all out and creating a masterpiece Ed. Pure gold and again...the emotion here?!


Also THANK YOU Pearl Jam and toast for sharing this awesome interpretation.

wolfamongwolves

MrSmith wrote:

i remember him saying it was about being friends with an asshole.

He said this, and then pointed at himself.

Since the first time I heard the song, it's always been ed playing up to the frequent references in the mythmaking press to his schizoid nature (manic/moody) - hence the references to the face up on the rack (magazine rack,torture rack... his public persona - what the press present him as). He once famously said that when he saw his face on magazines, he got to a point where he hated "that guy". I think OHG is a song of reconciliation with that guy - the Eddie the public sees, and the Eddie that he himself feels he is. Because of this I think it's the definitive song of No Code, the album that saw Pearl Jam become much more focused and comfortable with themselves after the turmoil of the previous few years - eddie's difficulties with celebrity, KC, and the ticketmaster fiasco.

E.Bloom

wolfamongwolves wrote:

He said this, and then pointed at himself.

Since the first time I heard the song, it's always been ed playing up to the frequent references in the mythmaking press to his schizoid nature (manic/moody) - hence the references to the face up on the rack (magazine rack,torture rack... his public persona - what the press present him as). He once famously said that when he saw his face on magazines, he got to a point where he hated "that guy". I think OHG is a song of reconciliation with that guy - the Eddie the public sees, and the Eddie that he himself feels he is. Because of this I think it's the definitive song of No Code, the album that saw Pearl Jam become much more focused and comfortable with themselves after the turmoil of the previous few years - eddie's difficulties with celebrity, KC, and the ticketmaster fiasco.

I couldn`t agree more..

Boomer

its about Eds Cat......

wolfamongwolves

Boomer wrote:

its about Eds Cat......

Actually, I've changed my mind! This sounds far more plausible

RVM86

This thread came up about two months ago and we all agreed that it was more than likely about Ed looking at himself from the outside in or in third person.

darthvedder88

I think we all pretty much agree it's Eddie writing about himself in the 3rd person. But I can pretty much see the other interpretations as well.

murphyJammer

Always loved this one...was at the 8/3/00 VA beach show, first one after Poland and they played this and dedicated it to one of the people who was killed (I believe his name was Anthony) Ed befriended his sister and it was his favorite so they played it for him...I don't think there was a dry eye in the house after that