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What do you think Faithfull is about?

SnakeSnake Posts: 2,605
edited September 2007 in Words and Music...Communication
I just wanted to see some different interpretations, So here you go!!!!!
Pirates had democracy too.

"Its a secret to everybody."
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  • vedderfan10vedderfan10 Posts: 2,497
    This song always had a sarcastic ring to it, for me anyway...just can't figure out what geckos have to do with it though...but yeah, definitely sarcastic.
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  • bega78bega78 Posts: 9
    I think it has a religous feel to it - saying that organised religion is fraught with dangers "Belief in the game controls that keeps us in a box of fear";

    that reliance on God/Allah/Budda etc to somehow give us whatever it is we are lacking instead of getting off our bum and working for it ourselves isn't the best approach "Whatever the notion, we laced in our prayers The man upstairs is used to all of this noise I'm through with screaming"

    And that in the end all we can rely on is our personal relationships with ones we love "And everything is you, Me you, you me, it's all related, What's a boy to do? Just be darling and I will be too ... Faithful to you
  • amitamit Posts: 73
    Ed - "its about belief that everythings gonna be alright"

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  • slightofjeffslightofjeff Posts: 7,762
    It's about how the world is overflowing with different religions -- hence the extra "l" in the title. Faithfull. Faith is another word for religion -- ie the Jewish faith or the Christian faith, etc etc. The world is full of faiths -- not all of which can be correct.

    If the Christian are right, the Buddhists, and Hindus and Muslims and everyone else are going to hell. And if the Muslims are right, everyone else is going to hell, etc etc.

    Which mean the prayers of billions of people are falling on deaf ears -- echoes that nobody hears.

    There's really no way of knowing what set of beliefs is the right set of beliefs. So what's a boy to do?

    Ed's solution seems to be to take the one tenet common to all the world's religions -- love your neighbor, do unto others -- and follow that. "Just be, darling, and I will be too ... faithful to you."

    It's actually a pretty straightforward song, when you think about it. The echoes that nobody hears line gives it away.
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  • AnonAnon Posts: 11,175
    I always thought this song was about why we shouldn't put so much faith in religion, as it will get you nowhere..... instead you should be putting that faith in yourself and those closest to you, as they are the ones who are really their to support you in times of need..... not some supposed god!!!

    And if you check the lyrics in the liner of the album, the line "the man upstairs" is replaced with "who's upstairs?"...

    Very similar to Marker In The Sand, but much more subtle.....

    Is it obvious I'm an atheist???
  • satansbedbugssatansbedbugs Posts: 2,412
    Vedderfan10 wrote:
    This song always had a sarcastic ring to it, for me anyway...just can't figure out what geckos have to do with it though...but yeah, definitely sarcastic.


    Geckos....lol....love the sarcasm
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  • fanch75fanch75 Posts: 3,734
    It's about drinking shitloads of natural light and being faithfull to Natty when people give you shit about drinking it.
    Do you remember Rock & Roll Radio?
  • AnonAnon Posts: 11,175
    fanch75 wrote:
    It's about drinking shitloads of natural light and being faithfull to Natty when people give you shit about drinking it.

    Again with the Natty??? your making me want to import some just to see what all the fuss is about....
  • Pearl Jam and toastPearl Jam and toast Posts: 4,475
    Not really an atheist's anthem.. it's about an individual relationship with God. Like nature.

    The main charecter rejects all possibility of a 'god' in the begining.

    ..The man upstairs is used to all of this noise
    and through with screaming..

    Towards the end he comes around knowing that to believe in God does not mean to follow religion. There's a really eastern kind of direction to it.

    M.Y.T.H. is,
    belief in a game,
    control that keeps you in a box of fear
    we never listen
    voice inside so drowned out,.. drowned you are*
    you are, you are ev-er-y-thing
    and everything is you
    me-you, you-me it's all related
    what's a boy to do?
    Just be, darlin', and I will be too,**
    Faithful,..
    to you.

    *drowned, you are from allowing yourself to be pulled into some kind of religion. Drowned you are for letting yourself forget what it's all supposed to be about.

    **"Just be, darlin', and I will be too, faithful to you." That's Ed's relationship with God. It doesn't matter what religion you follow, in fact it's downright foolish to claim your religion is the 'right' one.

    So Ed says to God : "Just be darlin', and I will be too, faithful to you."

    I always thought of God as nature.
    Come on pilgrim you know he loves you..

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  • CornishManCornishMan Posts: 447
    slightofjeff wrote:
    It's about how the world is overflowing with different religions -- hence the extra "l" in the title. Faithfull. Faith is another word for religion -- ie the Jewish faith or the Christian faith, etc etc. The world is full of faiths -- not all of which can be correct.

    If the Christian are right, the Buddhists, and Hindus and Muslims and everyone else are going to hell. And if the Muslims are right, everyone else is going to hell, etc etc.

    Which mean the prayers of billions of people are falling on deaf ears -- echoes that nobody hears.

    There's really no way of knowing what set of beliefs is the right set of beliefs. So what's a boy to do?

    Ed's solution seems to be to take the one tenet common to all the world's religions -- love your neighbor, do unto others -- and follow that. "Just be, darling, and I will be too ... faithful to you."

    It's actually a pretty straightforward song, when you think about it. The echoes that nobody hears line gives it away.

    Yes thats just about how I've always interpreted it. Nice explanation!
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  • SnakeSnake Posts: 2,605
    Pearl Jam and toast wrote:
    Not really an atheist's anthem.. it's about an individual relationship with God. Like nature.

    The main charecter rejects all possibility of a 'god' in the begining.

    ..The man upstairs is used to all of this noise
    and through with screaming..

    Towards the end he comes around knowing that to believe in God does not mean to follow religion. There's a really eastern kind of direction to it.

    M.Y.T.H. is,
    belief in a game,
    control that keeps you in a box of fear
    we never listen
    voice inside so drowned out,.. drowned you are*
    you are, you are ev-er-y-thing
    and everything is you
    me-you, you-me it's all related
    what's a boy to do?
    Just be, darlin', and I will be too,**
    Faithful,..
    to you.

    *drowned, you are from allowing yourself to be pulled into some kind of religion. Drowned you are for letting yourself forget what it's all supposed to be about.

    **"Just be, darlin', and I will be too, faithful to you." That's Ed's relationship with God. It doesn't matter what religion you follow, in fact it's downright foolish to claim your religion is the 'right' one.

    So Ed says to God : "Just be darlin', and I will be too, faithful to you."

    I always thought of God as nature.

    Thats pretty good. I always thought of the part "voice inside so drowned out, drowned you are" is kinda like saying not hearing the voice inside you, as in the voice is being drowned out possibly by disbelief that it exists or by confusion of what to believe because of distortion by some modern religion (and not only in christianity). sorry im not very good at discribing things lol.

    and also it acctually goes "Drowned you are, you are, you are a furry thing
    And everything is you".
    Pirates had democracy too.

    "Its a secret to everybody."
  • slightofjeffslightofjeff Posts: 7,762
    I always thought of the part "voice inside so drowned out, drowned you are" is kinda like saying not hearing the voice inside you, as in the voice is being drowned out possibly by disbelief that it exists or by confusion of what to believe because of distortion by some modern religion (and not only in christianity).

    Exactly.

    The voice inside -- which some might say actually IS the voice of God -- is drowned out my modern religion and its practitioners telling you what to think.

    Again, we are overwhelmed and engulfed by religion.

    ps -- and I've never really understood the "furry thing" bit. Ed's got me there.
    everybody wants the most they can possibly get
    for the least they could possibly do
  • justamjustam Posts: 21,410
    slightofjeff wrote:
    Exactly.

    The voice inside -- which some might say actually IS the voice of God -- is drowned out my modern religion and its practitioners telling you what to think.

    Again, we are overwhelmed and engulfed by religion.

    ps -- and I've never really understood the "furry thing" bit. Ed's got me there.

    I'll comment on the sentence in blue^^

    I think a furry thing is put in for "everything" because it sounds the same. Sometimes it's interesting to replace one thing with another if it sounds the same when it is sung.
    &&&&&&&&&&&&&&
  • slightofjeffslightofjeff Posts: 7,762
    justam wrote:
    I'll comment on the sentence in blue^^

    I think a furry thing is put in for "everything" because it sounds the same. Sometimes it's interesting to replace one thing with another if it sounds the same when it is sung.

    No, he's definitely singing "furry thing." I'd just like to know what it means.
    everybody wants the most they can possibly get
    for the least they could possibly do
  • journeymanjourneyman Posts: 135
    How could anything be like Geckos. I guess maybe the Ptychozoon. It's a flying one. It was given to fly.
  • SnakeSnake Posts: 2,605
    it means he's furry duh lol jk. but honestly I dont know what it means either
    Pirates had democracy too.

    "Its a secret to everybody."
  • Glorified Irish GuyGlorified Irish Guy Posts: 350
    I understand most of the song but what the hell does the first verse mean??


    "plaque on the wall says that no one's slept here
    it's rare to come upon a bridge
    that has not been around or been stepped on"
  • justamjustam Posts: 21,410
    Glorified Irish Guy wrote:
    I understand most of the song but what the hell does the first verse mean??


    "plaque on the wall says that no one's slept here
    it's rare to come upon a bridge
    that has not been around or been stepped on"

    It's about finding someone who hasn't been damaged or is innocent.
    &&&&&&&&&&&&&&
  • spendingitallspendingitall Posts: 3
    I think that perhaps he's saying "a furry thing" and implying "everything" - a nice play on words and it does go along quite well with the notion that the higher power exists in each of us as individuals as well as in the form of a collective unconscious. We are all just members of another species of furry thing. "God" or whatever exists in all creatures and in the Earth itself, not just humans, and certainly not just in members of one organized religion.
    This is a very interesting thread!
  • SwiftySwifty Posts: 21
    I am Christian and I dont think Muslisms, Buddhists etc. are going to hell, neither does a majority of the religion, so that post was dumb and ignorant.

    I think it is about finding god in your own way, not in an organized religion.
  • justamjustam Posts: 21,410
    spendingitall wrote:
    I think that perhaps he's saying "a furry thing" and implying "everything" - a nice play on words and it does go along quite well with the notion that the higher power exists in each of us as individuals as well as in the form of a collective unconscious. We are all just members of another species of furry thing. "God" or whatever exists in all creatures and in the Earth itself, not just humans, and certainly not just in members of one organized religion.
    This is a very interesting thread!

    This is interesting! :)
    &&&&&&&&&&&&&&
  • vedderfan10vedderfan10 Posts: 2,497
    Isn't it about having faith in yourself, your loved ones, your spouse, humanity, and geckos?

    On the surface to me, it sounds like although tempted, he won't cross the bridge to be unfaithful...the plaque on the wall could be referring to an obvious sign that he was not unfaithful...

    However, it still sounds like it's very sarcastic. The man upstairs can hear everyone yelling and screaming (praying) yet bad shit still happens, so all we can do is accept it....so yeah, that last line, VERY sarcastic...
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  • SnakeSnake Posts: 2,605
    Yea the key is to watch Ed when they play this song.
    Pirates had democracy too.

    "Its a secret to everybody."
  • Ms. HaikuMs. Haiku Posts: 7,265
    I've disliked this song for a long time. The music was grating on my nerves.

    However . . . it's starting to get under my skin. After reading what it could be about, and just listening listening listening to it as I'm listening to Yield more, I'm starting to like it.

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  • pearldiverpearldiver Posts: 3
    I belive they got some ideas for this song from the book entitled Ishmael. Read it. It's good.
  • JeanwahJeanwah Posts: 6,363
    I believe it's about what others mentioned...that we shouldn't place such faith in a higher power, that we need to believe in ourselves, and we wouldn't need the myth of a God in the sky dictating our lives. Life is all in our own hands. It's up to us being faithful in each other and ourselves.
  • InHiding19InHiding19 Posts: 2,385
    bega78 wrote:
    I think it has a religous feel to it - saying that organised religion is fraught with dangers "Belief in the game controls that keeps us in a box of fear";

    that reliance on God/Allah/Budda etc to somehow give us whatever it is we are lacking instead of getting off our bum and working for it ourselves isn't the best approach "Whatever the notion, we laced in our prayers The man upstairs is used to all of this noise I'm through with screaming"

    And that in the end all we can rely on is our personal relationships with ones we love "And everything is you, Me you, you me, it's all related, What's a boy to do? Just be darling and I will be too ... Faithful to you

    To me the entire album kind of has this theme, but thats just me.
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  • TVVNCYBRAPJTVVNCYBRAPJ Posts: 84
    fanch75 wrote:
    It's about drinking shitloads of natural light and being faithfull to Natty when people give you shit about drinking it.


    Hell yeah, I get that all the time
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  • Carlos DCarlos D Posts: 638
    I've always thought it to be about believing in God in spite of there being no physical evidence.The 'echo' being the fact that people are left to figure out for themselves whether or not God exists rather than getting a definite answer.I've always thought the 'We all believe' was a positive thing,suggesting that people believe in God no matter what happens to them in life and that belief is essentially a good thing.

    I know most other people don't share that interpretation but that's the way I've always seen it.
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  • Kevin DavisKevin Davis Posts: 70
    Huh.

    I always thought the words were: "You are, you are, a furry thing."

    Kind of makes sense, this being a song about man and God, and us being mammals and all.

    Huh.

    Kind of like the pelican in "Glorified G," isn't it?

    Learn somethin' new everyday.
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