Thumbing My Way

Ms. Haiku

I thought this could be about the main character of the song trying to communicate with a dead friend or relative possibly for guidance or comfort. When I read the lyrics I thought of my Grandpa who I never met, and I wished that I had. I'm sure I would have been his favorite grandkid (out of 19) "smiley face"


How do I put a smiley face in here? Anyway to change fonts?

heave

Bibliobella wrote:

How do I put a smiley face in here? Anyway to change fonts?

: )

that's how you do the smiley face... don't know about changing fonts...

crazycommisar

have not been home since you left long ago
i'm thumbing my way back to heaven
counting steps, walking backwards on the road
i'm counting my way back to heaven
i can't be free with what's locked inside of me
if there was a key, you took it in your hand
there's no wrong or right, but i'm sure there's good and bad
the questions linger overhead
no matter how cold the winter, there's a springtime ahead
i'm thumbing my way back to heaven
i wish that i could hold you
i wish that i had
thinking 'bout heaven
i let go of a rope, thinking that's what held me back
and in time i've realized, it's now wrapped around my neck
i can't see what's next, from this lonely overpass
hang my head and count my steps, as another car goes past
all the rusted signs we ignore throughout our lives
choosing the shiny ones instead
i turned my back, now there's no turning back
no matter how cold the winter, there's a springtime ahead
i smile, but who am i kidding?
i'm just walking the miles, every once in a while i'll get a ride
i'm thumbing my way back to heaven
thumbing my way back to heaven
i'm thumbing my way back to heaven...


great song i love it. i agree that it is about the death of a loved one. "all the rusted signs we ingnore thourhgout our lives choosing the shiny ones instead" i take that to be forgetting the day to day lives or the small things that make you remember someone you truly love. "no matter how cold the winter there's a springtime ahead" this is saying, it doent matter how bad it is, it will get better in the future.

DontItMakeYouSmile

Old and rusty does not mean it is any less special than new and shiny - I'll trade you a 2004 SF penny for your 43 copper

Appreciate the things you have, good things appreciate in value the longer you have them, and I'd say more if I had the time

heave

DontItMakeYouSmile wrote:

Old and rusty does not mean it is any less special than new and shiny - I'll trade you a 2004 SF penny for your 43 copper

Appreciate the things you have, good things appreciate in value the longer you have them, and I'd say more if I had the time

well said.

LightYear

I can't get enough of this song. I have been listening to the Benaroya version all the time.

I might have taken this the wrong way, but I didn't get the death thing myself. I felt 'heaven' was a metaphor for the relationship he's without now.

"i let go of a rope, thinking that's what held me back
and in time i've realized, it's now wrapped around my neck"

"i turned my back, now there's no turning back"

Both of these lines are things he did voluntarily. Maybe he had a girlfriend for a while and the newness wore off. He thought she was holding him back so he let her go. Now he's bummed because he's 'choking' without her. He turned his back on her, and he can't go back because it was him that screwed things up.

The off chance that someone actually picks him up along the road is the long shot that she'll actually give him another shot.

I am curious if anyone else went this direction with this song. If I'm crazy that's cool too.

heave

LightYear wrote:

I can't get enough of this song. I have been listening to the Benaroya version all the time.

quote]


the benaroya version is amazing!

VEDHEAD27

This song is absolutely amazing. One of the deepest songs by the band imo. It's sooooo heartfelt. Ed's just pouring his soul out and good lord do you feel that. I love how as sad as it sounds, and as down as some of the lyrics are...the hope here is beautiful.

"no matter how cold the winter, there's a springtime ahead"

Hell yes. So simple but so powerful.

And YES to the Benaroya version. WOW! It may just be my fav. Also, I definitley agree with your interpretation of the song LightYear.

I see it as a relationship that has ended and how this person is trying to move on and pick up the pieces and yes, has regrets. I definitley get the message that in relationships people sometimes end up taking each other for granted, overlooking and underappreicating things. Everything just kind of becomes a habit. You feel choked in the relationship, but once this "habit" ends it hits you that what you had was love, it was something deep...but it faded and became something else and now it's gone for whatever reason...and that makes you feel choked as well. How do you accept something like that? Moving on and dealing with that is what I get out of this song. Coming to terms with things. How it's a struggle, but that it can and will get better. It does seem to me that he is hopeful about moving on, finding this again with someone else and having it work.

This song digs deep. It's one of the many that's very close to my heart and has helped me through so much. You can feel this pain as if it was your own. It's so intense and emotional. A true work of art. How the music picks up at the end too? It's just so hopeful. I love it!

Thank you Pearl Jam.

heave

VEDHEAD27 wrote:

"no matter how cold the winter, there's a springtime ahead"

.

god damn i love that line!

Edistheman

I think the basis of this song my have to do with the relationship with his father..." if there was a key you took it in your hand..." The lyrics are amazing and I am completely in love with this song, the passion and the soul is pours into his writing is beautiful.

"No matter how cold the winter, there's a springtime ahead..."

AHH I LOVE YOU EDDIE VEDDER!

Pretty Noose

DontItMakeYouSmile wrote:

Old and rusty does not mean it is any less special than new and shiny - I'll trade you a 2004 SF penny for your 43 copper

Appreciate the things you have, good things appreciate in value the longer you have them, and I'd say more if I had the time

haha..good one!!

Righteous Jammer

This song describes soo many things in my life..Its hard to even say or type.

meme

LightYear wrote:

I can't get enough of this song. I have been listening to the Benaroya version all the time.

I might have taken this the wrong way, but I didn't get the death thing myself. I felt 'heaven' was a metaphor for the relationship he's without now.

"i let go of a rope, thinking that's what held me back
and in time i've realized, it's now wrapped around my neck"

"i turned my back, now there's no turning back"

Both of these lines are things he did voluntarily. Maybe he had a girlfriend for a while and the newness wore off. He thought she was holding him back so he let her go. Now he's bummed because he's 'choking' without her. He turned his back on her, and he can't go back because it was him that screwed things up.

The off chance that someone actually picks him up along the road is the long shot that she'll actually give him another shot.

I am curious if anyone else went this direction with this song. If I'm crazy that's cool too.

That is exactly how I interpreted the song

keyinmyhand

LightYear wrote:

I can't get enough of this song. I have been listening to the Benaroya version all the time.

I might have taken this the wrong way, but I didn't get the death thing myself. I felt 'heaven' was a metaphor for the relationship he's without now.

"i let go of a rope, thinking that's what held me back
and in time i've realized, it's now wrapped around my neck"

"i turned my back, now there's no turning back"

Both of these lines are things he did voluntarily. Maybe he had a girlfriend for a while and the newness wore off. He thought she was holding him back so he let her go. Now he's bummed because he's 'choking' without her. He turned his back on her, and he can't go back because it was him that screwed things up.

The off chance that someone actually picks him up along the road is the long shot that she'll actually give him another shot.

I am curious if anyone else went this direction with this song. If I'm crazy that's cool too.

I felt the same way when I first hears this song! So, no. You are not crazy! I just felt that she may have not been the most glamorous choice for him, but she was the "one". He just didn't know it then, but he knows it now. Maybe it's to late.

Mad Mohab

interesting to see someone that likes this song, Ill give it some more thought.

Cropduster84

crazycommisar wrote:

i smile, but who am i kidding?
i'm just walking the miles, every once in a while i'll get a ride

Just beautiful. It seems like a lost relationship, one the narrator screwed up or let go, theres been girls since, but none like the one he's lost...

chiquimonkey

VEDHEAD27 wrote:

This song is absolutely amazing. One of the deepest songs by the band imo. It's sooooo heartfelt. Ed's just pouring his soul out and good lord do you feel that. I love how as sad as it sounds, and as down as some of the lyrics are...the hope here is beautiful.

"no matter how cold the winter, there's a springtime ahead"

as usual lydia, you express yourself beautifully - amen on all that

this song gets me ALL the time, and the benaroya version is sheer perfection.

VEDHEAD27

BEAUTY BUMP!

chiquimonkey wrote:

this song gets me ALL the time, and the benaroya version is sheer perfection.

Amen B! I had to come BUMP this sucker up ! Sitting here at work & the MIGHTY Benaroya version just came on my Itunes. ABSOLUTE PERFECTION indeed! Good god. All the beauty, hope, power & emotion pushed to another level. Wow! Needless to say, sitting here at work this one made the PJ cry baby come out something fierce. Sooo gorgeous. This song gets me every damn time too. It's uncontrollable - just attacks my heart & soul (tear-ducts too obviously) . INTENSE!


Those that somehow don't feel it, comment & question...#1 sorry for ya, #2..HOW IN THE?!?! Do you have hearts?! LOL! Seriously though....how can you not feel ALL this fuckin emotion?!?! Shit is deep as hell!!


~**~THANKS AGAIN PJ & ED FOR SHARING YOUR SOUL~**~


*hugs Thumbing My way*

One that deeefinitely does not get enough love!

darthvedder88

Personally, I always thought the song was about Eddie and his ex-wife Beth. Because I know that they divorced over some stupid rumor during the Binaural tour in 2000, and I figured he was reflecting on all the pain he went through because of it. At least that's what I always thought it was about, from the minute I first heard it.