Parachutes

pearljamfan11

I've listened to the new album a lot, and the song I'm having the most trouble understanding is Parachutes, so I thought I'd turn to you guys and see if you had any opinions on what it's about.

pearljamfan11

Nobody has an opinion??? I find that hard to believe!

tarotvixen

to me it sounds like getting over the divorce from Beth and how happy Eddie is with his life and Jill but I often screw these things up

RadioYam

tarotvixen wrote:

to me it sounds like getting over the divorce from Beth and how happy Eddie is with his life and Jill but I often screw these things up

yeah, something like that...

Ms. Haiku

I guess a question to ask is if this is not about Ed what would it be about? I think this is the angle I have to start from because in an interview Ed mentioned he's trying more story-telling. For me, the first thing I think about is "Who would this be about if I passed this person on the street?"

Also, I don't think it's all that happy. I think it's about appreciating the good from the past to appreciate the bad from the past, and how we learn from the past to appreciate what is current. However, I just don't sense happiness here at all. The protagonist mentions love in the last line, but this isn't the only song on this album where I think it's a throw-away sentiment. It doesn't work with the rest of the lyric. The rest of the lyric is much more powerful.

pearljamfan11

I think the divorce theory is closest, even if it's not about Ed. I think this one will be a mystery for me, maybe they'll give a little nugget away in an interview someday...

1wrdistillbelieve

I think it's about finding a new kind of love only having a baby can bring to you, plus his relationship now and them....maybe....

Ms. Haiku

Why deny
All the troubles when combined
With the missing links
It don't feel like
Home now,...

That you're gone
All the troubles
suddenly explained infinitum
You're always wishing and
Never here at
Home

You
All the dreams we shared and
Lights we turned on
But the house is getting dark

And I don't want to know your past
But together share the dawn
And I won't need

Nothing else
Cause when we're dead
We would've had it all

And died
I would've fallen from the sky
Til you
Parachutes have opened now

Heaven knows if there's a ceiling
come so low with the kneeling
Please know that
I got

All the friends I'm needing
Before my light goes out
As the doors are closing now

And far away will be my home
And to grasp this, I don't know
And I don't need

Further back and forth, a wave will break on me today
And love,... Wish the world could go again with love
One cant seem to have enough
And war,.... Break the sky and tell me what it's for
I'll travel there on my own
And love,.... What a different life
Had I not found this love with you

Are you sure it's not about a one-night stand? I was reviewing these words, and this just popped out at me:

And I don't want to know your past
But together share the dawn

When looked at as a one-night stand after a break-up it looks a little different. Sentiment is all over the place though, and it is harder to understand the more I read it. Also, I just don't think this is a love song to anyone because of the line about having friends that are needed. Friends are needed during breakups that's for sure. Home is far away, maybe with an ex-partner, even though when the partner was around the house was dark. ?????

1wrdistillbelieve

Ms. Haiku wrote:

Why deny
All the troubles when combined
With the missing links
It don't feel like
Home now,...

That you're gone
All the troubles
suddenly explained infinitum
You're always wishing and
Never here at
Home

You
All the dreams we shared and
Lights we turned on
But the house is getting dark

And I don't want to know your past
But together share the dawn
And I won't need

Nothing else
Cause when we're dead
We would've had it all

And died
I would've fallen from the sky
Til you
Parachutes have opened now

Heaven knows if there's a ceiling
come so low with the kneeling
Please know that
I got

All the friends I'm needing
Before my light goes out
As the doors are closing now

And far away will be my home
And to grasp this, I don't know
And I don't need

Further back and forth, a wave will break on me today
And love,... Wish the world could go again with love
One cant seem to have enough
And war,.... Break the sky and tell me what it's for
I'll travel there on my own
And love,.... What a different life
Had I not found this love with you

Are you sure it's not about a one-night stand? I was reviewing these words, and this just popped out at me:

And I don't want to know your past
But together share the dawn

When looked at as a one-night stand after a break-up it looks a little different. Sentiment is all over the place though, and it is harder to understand the more I read it. Also, I just don't think this is a love song to anyone because of the line about having friends that are needed. Friends are needed during breakups that's for sure. Home is far away, maybe with an ex-partner, even though when the partner was around the house was dark. ?????

Metaphorically speaking...don't want to know your past
But together share the dawn---Let's start anew and move forward.

Ms. Haiku

1wrdistillbelieve wrote:

Metaphorically speaking...don't want to know your past
But together share the dawn---Let's start anew and move forward.

It's such a concrete one-night-stand reference, but I can see how it can be a metaphor. Just that line though. The rest is still not hopeful, or rather if it's suppose to illustrate a grounded love, I don't see it. I see a break-up.