i really hope eddie never tells us

sirjamston

i really hope that eddie and the rest of the band never tell us the meanings to the songs. i love hearing everyone's interpretations and making my own. but if i heard the real meanings i don't think the songs would have as many dimensions as i believe they have now. obviously, songs like 'jeremy' and a few others have given meanings but i really think the music and the lyrics gain from the fact that they can mean any number of things.

anyone with me?

Carlos D

Yeah definitely,although I wish he'd admit the songs on Vitalogy were inspired by Kurt Cobain's death.Who's he trying to fool?

stonesgstring

I think the way the songs have been written, they have a certain element of openess to them, which allows for different interpretations. You take each song and find something within them that you can relate to, or understand.

Jam-fan

i find every time i listen to a pearl jam album all the way through it brings out some new emotion in me or i find some tiny little lyric or riff that makes my heart skip a beat and my hair stand on end. Pearl Jam does this to me more often than any other band i know

The VH1 story tellers thing should be interesting to find out how much they're gonna tell or say. I personally would prefer it if they just left their songs open to each listener's own interpretation.

Sleight-Of-Hand

Yeah, everyone has their own interpratations of the lyrics & i think thats great, people can get so many diffrent stories or whatever from the same song and you hear what someone else thinks and you're like huh?

an example of this for me is Footsteps, when i heard it first i thought it was about a guy who;d split up with his girlfriend because he liked her too much and got scared how he'd cope if she ever went away,,,"if there was a reason, it was you"... and then i read it was about a man in jail who had murdered someone (?) and now i only think of that when i hear it. Great song though

Nami

Sleight-Of-Hand wrote:

Yeah, everyone has their own interpratations of the lyrics & i think thats great, people can get so many diffrent stories or whatever from the same song and you hear what someone else thinks and you're like huh?

an example of this for me is Footsteps, when i heard it first i thought it was about a guy who;d split up with his girlfriend because he liked her too much and got scared how he'd cope if she ever went away,,,"if there was a reason, it was you"... and then i read it was about a man in jail who had murdered someone (?) and now i only think of that when i hear it. Great song though

I thought for sure this song was about a guy with a drug problem (heroin) (Scratchs on his arms) who broke up with his lady and was using drugs as his escape from the pain/loss.

Sleight-Of-Hand

Nami wrote:

I thought for sure this song was about a guy with a drug problem (heroin) (Scratchs on his arms) who broke up with his lady and was using drugs as his escape from the pain/loss.

haha yeah i can totally see what u mean, mine doesnt totally make sense but its just what i interpreted it as when 1st heard it. i totally didnt get the impression he's meant to have killed her or whatever i think that was what eddie/the band sed tis about.

sirjamston

yeah, i heard that it was the last song in the 3-piece "mini opera" i think some people were calling it. the mini opera was supposed to be:

1. alive - a guy finds out the truth about his father, etc
2. once - later he takes out his frustration by going on a killing spree
3. footsteps - the story of him after the killings, in prison.

it makes lots of sense when you inspect the lyrics closely. but i think the way we can interpret them in different ways is great also.

dadowdsta

I'd like to know what Chris Cornell was thinkin' when he originaly wrote the music for it. I can't remember the words for the song but both versions rock!

Saw "Footsteps" live on May 17th in Chicago. Amazing!

Brisk.

Carlos D wrote:

Yeah definitely,although I wish he'd admit the songs on Vitalogy were inspired by Kurt Cobain's death.Who's he trying to fool?

are you serious?

CenterCity

you know what.....for as much as the band loves their predeccessors.....in some ways i don't think they've learned anything from them.....hmmm.

CenterCity

Eddie Vedder is a legend.....and he owns up to it too.

karma defect

twistedmenace wrote:

i really hope that eddie and the rest of the band never tell us the meanings to the songs. i love hearing everyone's interpretations and making my own. but if i heard the real meanings i don't think the songs would have as many dimensions as i believe they have now. obviously, songs like 'jeremy' and a few others have given meanings but i really think the music and the lyrics gain from the fact that they can mean any number of things.

anyone with me?

Mmmh, yes and no. I have books on The Beatles, The Doors and Nirvana that tell a story about each of their songs. It isn't really about the meaning of the song, more about how it came alive. So there is only a hint of what it is about. I'd really love a book like that on all the Pearl jam songs.
But I agree that it can also ruin a good song.
I remember reading an interview with Micheal Stipe about his song writing and that didn’t do my notion about this band any good.

karma defect

Carlos D wrote:

Yeah definitely,although I wish he'd admit the songs on Vitalogy were inspired by Kurt Cobain's death.Who's he trying to fool?

I tought they were about me. See now you ruied it for me, hahahahaha.

Oobah

my dog is called dexter

Pearl Jam and toast

Carlos D wrote:

Yeah definitely,although I wish he'd admit the songs on Vitalogy were inspired by Kurt Cobain's death.Who's he trying to fool?

i doubt it.

Most of Vitalogy was probably written way before that April..

A lot of it certainly relates, but it was a tumultuous time period for the band in general.

Most of the songs are about himself and his own band anyway.

*given*to*fly*

stonesgstring wrote:

I think the way the songs have been written, they have a certain element of openess to them, which allows for different interpretations. You take each song and find something within them that you can relate to, or understand.

this is exactly why i will never love another band as much as pearl jam
every song just fits somewhere

Ms. Haiku

I like it when I learn the meanings or the inspiration for the songs. At Boston II I finally found out what Garden was about. I thought it was just a stone garden in the backyard. Now, it has deeper meaning since my grandpa is buried in a "Garden of Stone." Also, someone posted the meaning of "Dissident" and it FINALLY made sense. I just like a little direction so I can be on the same page as the lyricist.

Eliot Rosewater

twistedmenace wrote:

i really hope that eddie and the rest of the band never tell us the meanings to the songs. i love hearing everyone's interpretations and making my own. but if i heard the real meanings i don't think the songs would have as many dimensions as i believe they have now. obviously, songs like 'jeremy' and a few others have given meanings but i really think the music and the lyrics gain from the fact that they can mean any number of things.

anyone with me?

You might not want to watch Storytellers then....

Carlos D

Pearl Jam and toast wrote:

i doubt it.

Most of Vitalogy was probably written way before that April..

A lot of it certainly relates, but it was a tumultuous time period for the band in general.

Most of the songs are about himself and his own band anyway.

In Immortality he says:
''Scrawl dissolve,cigar box on the floor.'' Kurt Cobain was found with a cigar box beside him with all his drugs in it.

In Last Exit he says:
''three days, and maybe longer
won't ever find me here
let the ocean dissolve 'way my past
four days, and not much longer...'' Kurt Cobain's body wasn't found until four days or so after he died.

And there are loads more I can't think of at the moment.I know a lot of the songs were written before he died but still..

edvedder913

I keep picturing Storytellers:

"This one um, is about ummm, well umm, personal safety" - I am Mine
"this next one, um, is about ummm being scared ummm alive" - Unemployable

I can't wait to see this! I love when Ed talks......wish I could have won tickets : (

sirjamston

i didn't actually know about storytellers... when is it aired? how about in the uk? can i download it? i am quite curious now. i mean i would definitely watch it and just hope that ed doesn't spoil anything. i like a little insight into the songs, just not so that it becomes one-dimensional. a trap i don't think pearl jam will ever fall into.

eekamouse

I would love to hear what the songs "mean" to them. I have my own pictures of what they are about. I have had my own pictures for every song I have ever listened to.

Ever watched the Bruce Springsteen Storytellers? Awesome. Even though he changed what I thought the songs "meant", they still felt the same for me, with just some more images.

Isn't talking about how the songs came about and what they mean, what Storytellers is all about?

/shrug

Jam-fan

i intend on watching the pearl jam storytellers. Learning the origin or meaning of the song will never replace what that particular song means to me. Pearl Jam's lyrics just relate to me like no other band's and they have been the source of immense inspiration and support for me. I will never stop loving this band.

Pearl Jam and toast

Carlos D wrote:

In Immortality he says:
''Scrawl dissolve,cigar box on the floor.'' Kurt Cobain was found with a cigar box beside him with all his drugs in it.

In Last Exit he says:
''three days, and maybe longer
won't ever find me here
let the ocean dissolve 'way my past
four days, and not much longer...'' Kurt Cobain's body wasn't found until four days or so after he died.

And there are loads more I can't think of at the moment.I know a lot of the songs were written before he died but still..

yeah i know all of what you're saying but i maintain that he pulled Kurt into themes already running through the blood .. that's what i meant.

so much of the same thing was going on.. Ed said he saw a lot of himself in Kurt and he "always thought he'd go first"... i'm sure we all knew that though

Riot_Rain

edvedder913 wrote:

"This one um, is about ummm, well umm, personal safety" - I am Mine
"this next one, um, is about ummm being scared ummm alive" - Unemployable

Hehehe, you made that moment come alive for me

I wonder what it'll be like... Maybe they'll say more about where they were artistically, than what the lyrics mean literally if you see what i mean.

Can you believe I've never seen Storytellers before? Something to do with the fact that I've never had VH1 I guess