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'Immortality' interpretations? Anyone?

MABMAB Posts: 17
edited December 2005 in Words and Music...Communication
I know the general idea of this song... but there are lines that baffle me, ie: "Stripped and sold, mom; auction forearm"... anyone have a good interpretation... I can tell by reading it that there is something there, possibly Ed's best performance?
North is to South what the clock is to time
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  • Ms. HaikuMs. Haiku Posts: 7,265
    There's another thread around here somewhere about this song. I wish I could find it. Anyone find it?
    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
  • MABMAB Posts: 17
    Ms. Haiku wrote:
    There's another thread around here somewhere about this song. I wish I could find it. Anyone find it?

    Sorry 'bout that. I know the Search button method, but I tried typing in "Immortality" and "Immortality Interpretations" but neither worked.
    North is to South what the clock is to time
  • hsewifhsewif Posts: 444
    MAB wrote:
    I know the general idea of this song... but there are lines that baffle me, ie: "Stripped and sold, mom; auction forearm"... anyone have a good interpretation... I can tell by reading it that there is something there, possibly Ed's best performance?



    that's how slaves were sold/auctioned back in the day.
  • EvvoEvvo Posts: 195
    http://www.theskyiscrape.com/song_menu/interp.php?id=82

    great site - interpretations for most PJ songs. spent a good few hours on there
  • CommyCommy Posts: 4,984
    Evvo wrote:
    http://www.theskyiscrape.com/song_menu/interp.php?id=82

    great site - interpretations for most PJ songs. spent a good few hours on there


    awesome site. you could spend days there. thanks for the link man.
  • El_KabongEl_Kabong Posts: 4,141
    Evvo wrote:
    http://www.theskyiscrape.com/song_menu/interp.php?id=82

    great site - interpretations for most PJ songs. spent a good few hours on there

    some interpretations are a bit off...like the one for ghost saying it's a love song!!!

    also the one for immortality, i think, is off. esp how it ties in spin the black circle w/ an ode to kurt 'see my hand, see this needle, drop it down oh so gently' he's talking about the needle on a record player and putting it down gently instead of just dropping it to avoid scratching it!

    i will not go into others b/c interpretations are countless and ed said something many years ago that he wouldn't want to take any away from someone and make the song not so special for someone if they find out it didn't mean what they thought.

    i just disagree w/ some of them
    standin above the crowd
    he had a voice that was strong and loud and
    i swallowed his facade cos i'm so
    eager to identify with
    someone above the crowd
    someone who seemed to feel the same
    someone prepared to lead the way
  • Ms. HaikuMs. Haiku Posts: 7,265
    MAB wrote:
    Sorry 'bout that. I know the Search button method, but I tried typing in "Immortality" and "Immortality Interpretations" but neither worked.
    No need to apologize I wasn't criticizing at all. I was wondering if someone could find it because I think it would add to this discussion. Also, I wrote a lot on that one, and I forgot what I wrote :)
    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
  • dunkmandunkman Posts: 19,646
    hsewif wrote:
    that's how slaves were sold/auctioned back in the day.

    I disagree... the forearm part of the line is in reference to the photo taken of Kurt Cobain as he lay dead.. "Stripped and sold, mom; auction forearm"... photo sold to the highest bidder


    see also:-

    "scrawl dissolved, cigar box on the floor..."

    kurts hand written suicide note lay next to the cigar box he used to keep his drug kit in...


    its definitely about suicide... and it also may have been re-written to include references to Cobain..... is there anyone out there who does a Mark Lewisohn (famous Beatles archivist and writer) thing with Pearl Jam??
    oh scary... 40000 morbidly obese christians wearing fanny packs invading europe is probably the least scariest thing since I watched an edited version of The Care Bears movie in an extremely brightly lit cinema.
  • Ms. HaikuMs. Haiku Posts: 7,265
    Immortality is more about forcing the issue then the discussion of what happens next, eh? I didn't know about the Kurt Cobain references. I would prefer that it was written in a moment when the author waxed philosophical as opposed to waning in sorrow. Oh well.
    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
  • dunkmandunkman Posts: 19,646
    Ms. Haiku wrote:
    Immortality is more about forcing the issue then the discussion of what happens next, eh? I didn't know about the Kurt Cobain references. I would prefer that it was written in a moment when the author waxed philosophical as opposed to waning in sorrow. Oh well.

    I actually see quite a few Cobain references in there

    "vacate is the word...vengeance has no place on me or her"
    fairly obvious... reference to Courtney Love also

    "cannot find the comfort in this world
    artificial tear...vessel stabbed...next up, volunteers"

    heroin injection = vessel stabed... claimed to be in discomfort all his life

    "victims in demand for public show"
    famously Kurt was sick of displaying himself for public consumption

    "scrawl dissolved, cigar box on the floor..."
    fairly obvious again...

    "a truant finds home...and a wish to hold on too...
    he saw the trapdoor in the sun...
    immortality...
    i cannot stop the thought...i'm running in the dark...
    coming up a which way sign...all good truants must decide...
    oh, stripped and sold, mom...auctioned forearm...
    and whiskers in the sink...
    truants move on...cannot stay long
    some die just to live...
    ohh..."

    again the auctioned forearm part to me was always the photo of Kurts body and the prominence of the arm in it... also it could be auctioned as in that he was willing to give up his arm to the drugs...selling it off so to speak

    also with truants... truants is a running theme in the song... Kurt had been missing for a week or so before his death and had a habit of playing truant or disappearing when things were bad..... which way sign...its a choice!!

    "some die just to live"... life was too much and death was the only way out


    :confused: just my thoughts on it!!!
    oh scary... 40000 morbidly obese christians wearing fanny packs invading europe is probably the least scariest thing since I watched an edited version of The Care Bears movie in an extremely brightly lit cinema.
  • hsewifhsewif Posts: 444
    dunkman1974 wrote:
    I disagree... the forearm part of the line is in reference to the photo taken of Kurt Cobain as he lay dead.. "Stripped and sold, mom; auction forearm"... photo sold to the highest bidder


    see also:-

    "scrawl dissolved, cigar box on the floor..."

    kurts hand written suicide note lay next to the cigar box he used to keep his drug kit in...


    its definitely about suicide... and it also may have been re-written to include references to Cobain..... is there anyone out there who does a Mark Lewishon (famous Beatles archivist and writer) thing with Pearl Jam??

    Eh....maybe, maybe not. SOme parts might directly relate to his suicide but I don't think the entire song is about it. Like the 'stripped and sold' line...I don't think its about Curt.....more about the music industry...signing a contract and essentially becoming a slave to them. (doesn't everyone sign with the highest bidder? The company that offers the best package?). A few years had passed since their signing...the honeymoon phase was over. The reality of what you owe 'the man' is starting to sink in. Etc, etc., etc...

    If you take curt out of it...it could be about addiction, overdose with or without death, or just having suicidal thoughts.

    Other misc thoughts:

    Scrawl dissolved--a scrawler is an illegal graffiti artist. Cigar box--in the 70's, everyone kept things in cigar boxes.

    http://www.theskyiscrape.com/song_menu/info.php?id=82
  • Ms. HaikuMs. Haiku Posts: 7,265
    Sometimes I wonder how Eddie Vedder gets his inspiration. This isn't facetious or sarcastic, just wonder laced a little with "oh, so that's it."
    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
  • dunkmandunkman Posts: 19,646
    hsewif wrote:
    Eh....maybe, maybe not. SOme parts might directly relate to his suicide but I don't think the entire song is about it.

    I dont think the whole song is either... just about suicide and desperation as a whole... but i think there is definite Cobain references... even the title of the song might suggest Kurt as by dying in this way he becomes Immortal... a la Morrison, Presley, Hendrix, et al...

    i think ive read somewhere that Ed admitted that the cigar box line is a reference to Cobain... i'll need to double check on that though. :)
    oh scary... 40000 morbidly obese christians wearing fanny packs invading europe is probably the least scariest thing since I watched an edited version of The Care Bears movie in an extremely brightly lit cinema.
  • oil alternativeoil alternative Posts: 192
    http://www.songfacts.com/detail.php?id=3803
    www.myspace.com/rockmastergeneral

    To break down borders and realise that we are one species and then the true patriotism comes from pride and love of the human race, not from the tribes of which we currently are divided, open your eyes your mind will see! - ME
  • U-RU-R Posts: 223
    i'm inclined to think it's about cobain, same as most people i think
    if you love somebody, set them free. if somebody loves you, don't fuck up
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