Ledbetter confusion...

salubrious

I was wondering if anyone could explain to me what the lyrics of Yellow Ledbetter mean? I have some extreme confusion but love the song and would love to better understand the meaning of it....

loveboatcaptain_blak

im sure some1 could give a better description about the details but basically its about (a wife i think) that has a husband in the war and the chorus it talking about the government or wtvr coming to tell her that her husband has died and how sad it is(listen to the chorus and youll understand). and im pretty sure its basically kinda just a war protest song.

thats the overall jist...but im sure some1 could give you it in better detail

a country doctor

This question comes up again and again...

In the rime of the ancient mariner...um.. the time of the first gulf war a "yellow bedletter"(yes, it is spelled this way), was a letter that the family of a killed soldier received

That Yellow Ledbetter is a, quite strange, anti war song, is quite sure, but what the lyrics exactly mean is hard to say, but an official or something statement from theskyiscrape.com:
This song was written around the time of the Gulf War and contains anti-patriotic themes.

but now back to the lyrics interretation

ahhh, I'm tired
I will respond tomorrow if still necessary

CMoon

Down here in Brazil we have a forum, it’s called Restless Souls. It has a section where people discuss and put their views and interp on PJ songs. I searched and read a lot about YLB and I recommend a Five Horizons’ article as a good source to get some info about the song. http://www.fivehorizons.com/songs/apr99/index.shtml

Besides the lyrics everybody knows as “official”, you can find the words EV improvised during the Demo session and the words of the 43 versions of YLB played on 2000 tour at this site http://members.tripod.com/~partingways/indexyellow.html

Ma

DarkStar

of course, everyone's allowed their own interpretation...here's mine...

this is the video i submitted for the 10C contest #23. it's 10 minutes and 57 seconds...it's fairly literal, yet not so literal.

http://pearljamlive.com/pj-video/pj_contest_23/darkstar.asx

ds

armanHammer

DarkStar wrote:

of course, everyone's allowed their own interpretation...here's mine...

this is the video i submitted for the 10C contest #23. it's 10 minutes and 57 seconds...it's fairly literal, yet not so literal.

http://pearljamlive.com/pj-video/pj_contest_23/darkstar.asx

ds

Dig

_______

DarkStar

armanHammer wrote:

Dig

_______

thanks!

ds

murphyJammer

DarkStar wrote:

of course, everyone's allowed their own interpretation...here's mine...

this is the video i submitted for the 10C contest #23. it's 10 minutes and 57 seconds...it's fairly literal, yet not so literal.

http://pearljamlive.com/pj-video/pj_contest_23/darkstar.asx

ds

That was great. congratulations on a great entry...good luck

Pappas

heres my interpretation:
the songs really called yellow bedwetter and its about how stone used to piss himself in bed when he was a baby, an how his parents didnt know whether to make him use a box or a bag to piss in. here's the unreleased film clip:

http://homepage.mac.com/jeffgarden/ledbetter.swf

a country doctor

Pappas wrote:

heres my interpretation:
the songs really called yellow bedwetter and its about how stone used to piss himself in bed when he was a baby, an how his parents didnt know whether to make him use a box or a bag to piss in. here's the unreleased film clip:

http://homepage.mac.com/jeffgarden/ledbetter.swf

Thanks

that made me smile!

you are my hero of the day!

naughtydogsinc

I read somewhere, i think in 5 against one, that it dosent mean anything. If you listen to the live concerts and the version on Lost Dogs, the lyrics are different, EV just says what ever he feels like when hes up there. Also some of the members were friends with a guy whos name was Ledbetter and they named the song in tribute or something. Check out the book and see for yourself.

naughtydogsinc

I just dug out Five Against One and here is what it says.

"There would be countless interpritations of 'yellow ledbetter' batterd around over the years, and Pearl Jams fan orginization, the Ten Club, would regulerly recieve pleding letters from fans who wanted the 'real lyrics.' In fact, there were never any real lyrics. Eddie had simply improvised them during a one-take session, singing whatever phrases poped into his head*. The odd title was a joke, in honor of a Chicago friend of Eddie's named Tim Ledbetter.
*In concert, Eddie has outfitted "Yellow Ledbetter with countless different sets of lyrics over the years, further thwarting fans' attempts to sniff out the elusive "real" meaning to the song."

DarkStar

naughtydogsinc wrote:

I read somewhere, i think in 5 against one, that it dosent mean anything. If you listen to the live concerts and the version on Lost Dogs, the lyrics are different, EV just says what ever he feels like when hes up there. Also some of the members were friends with a guy whos name was Ledbetter and they named the song in tribute or something. Check out the book and see for yourself.

cause we should believe everything that book has to say? the song definitely has meaning. i think what you might mean to say is that it has no particularly stated meaning...which isn't exactly true either.

Echo of Pearl Jam's First Online Chat at Lycos, May 15, 2000

this chat already in progress

AskPearlJam: steviewonder99-guest says: What was your inspiration, if you are willing to discuss, for "Yellow Ledbetter." I've heard many interpretations by other 'Pearl Jam experts,' but I wanted to hear it from the source.
Eddie: It's too long of an answer for this chat. I'm sorry. It was written right around the time of the Gulf War. That's about as far as I can get into it. It's an anti-patriotic song, actually.

http://www.sonymusic.com/artists/PearlJam/echoes/echoes9.html

that being said, there's nothing wrong with having your own interpretation of the song.


ds

armanHammer

DarkStar wrote:

cause we should believe everything that book has to say? the song definitely has meaning. i think what you might mean to say is that it has no particularly stated meaning...which isn't exactly true either.

Echo of Pearl Jam's First Online Chat at Lycos, May 15, 2000

this chat already in progress

AskPearlJam: steviewonder99-guest says: What was your inspiration, if you are willing to discuss, for "Yellow Ledbetter." I've heard many interpretations by other 'Pearl Jam experts,' but I wanted to hear it from the source.
Eddie: It's too long of an answer for this chat. I'm sorry. It was written right around the time of the Gulf War. That's about as far as I can get into it. It's an anti-patriotic song, actually.

http://www.sonymusic.com/artists/PearlJam/echoes/echoes9.html

that being said, there's nothing wrong with having your own interpretation of the song.


ds

AskPearlJam: Beatles333-guest says: What's in your CD player right now?
Stone: The new Elliot Smith is in mine.
Mike: the new Blink and Social Distortion

uhm is mike talking about blink 182? :O

Myolympicdream

i guess no one can ever put a finger on this song...its different all the time...i feel it as a personal song for everyone to interpret however with all the different lyrics! peace and love eV~