the porch in early PJ lyrics

sedrik

Hello my brothers and sisters in the pit,

Since I was an angry young man struggling with identity, childhood's end and all the usual teenage angst that goes with it I spent many hours absorbing the lyrics of PJ's songs; still do actually. A common theme I've noticed in many of the early stuff is the story of the porch; can anyone enlighten me as to what the significance of the porch is in EV's life ?

Here's a few examples from the top of my head, I'm pretty sure there are more, please add them to this post.

Album : 'Ten'
Song : 'Porch'

All the bills go by
And initiatives are taken up
By the middle
There ain't gonna be any middle any more
And the cross I'm bearing home
Ain't indicative of my place
Left the porch
Left the porch

Album : 'Singles (the soundtrack)'
Song : 'Breathe'

All these reaching hands out grabbing things. Grabbing me.
Day in day out accumulating. Ah yeah.
Whoa. I suggest you step out on your porch.
Oh yeah. Huh. huh. Huh huh, yeah.
Run away my son. See it all. Oh see the world.

Album : 'Jeremy B-Side'
Song : 'Yellow Ledbetter'

Can you see them
Out on the porch ?
But they don't wave

Am I onto to something here ? Is enlightenment just a post away ? What is the nature of consciousness ? Has anyone else noticed this and I just didn't do a thorough search ?

GetALife

..the early Springsteen:

'Thunder Road' (Born to run, 1975):
"...like a vision she dances across the porch as the radio plays..."

'Racing in the streets' (Darkness on the edge of town, 1977)
"...she sits on the porch of her daddy's house, and all her pretty dreams are torn..."

For me, as a German for whom porches are not a usual thing at houses, it gets even more metaphorical...the porch as a symbol for a starting point or the visible (or even the non-visible) possibilities of the way the lies ahead, the way you have to go or you're planning to go (in your life, for your life)...but definitely the way with which you are leaving home...

yosi1

I just thought the porch was a metaphor that Ed was using to say, "try and look at things from another perspective" or "leave your perspective behind", or "leave what you're used to". Something along the lines of not staying in the same place.

"I suggest you step on, your porch" - don't stay cooped up in your "house", i.e. don't stay closed up, experience things, look at the world differently.

"Left the porch" - I don't believe what I used to. I'm not over "there" anymore"

The last one, is a little trickier.

sedrik

Yes thank you gents.

For me the porch was always symbolic of a 'comfort zone'. The place where things are familiar and easy. As you say yosi, leaving the porch is to go beyond the comfort zone of everyday life.

Is there another place where Ed has referenced this from do you think ? His own life experiences or the lyrics of another song [like Springstein] or a poem or a story ?

tie-dye lady

sedrik wrote:

Yes thank you gents.

For me the porch was always symbolic of a 'comfort zone'. The place where things are familiar and easy. As you say yosi, leaving the porch is to go beyond the comfort zone of everyday life.

I feel the same way but to take it further...I see a porch as a place to simply observe instead of participate - watch the world go by and comment on it instead of being part of the action.

Also a great place to sit back and relax to ponder the day/life events...watch the stars...

sedrik

Thank you tyedye,

Clearly the porch can have a multilayered meaning.