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The Meaning Of "Alive"

MakeMeCry43MakeMeCry43 Posts: 355
edited April 2009 in Words and Music...Communication
As many of you, I'm sure all of you love "Alive" and it's such a great kick ass rock song with Mike's sick ass riff! It's a hell of an awesome song and listening to the song, I always interpreted as being a positive message, like Eddie finding out about his biological father's death and finding out about his step-father and such, it's a hard thing to live with for sure, but then the positive part of the song is when he sings "I'm still ALIVE!", it's like saying, yeah, I'm still Alive and you can't break me, which I love, the song made me feel like I could live through anything.....But I just came across this video of Eddie on VH1 storytellers and he says otherwise, I don't know if you guys have seen this before and if you have seen this before, then I guess it's worth seeing twice hehe, and if you guys had that same interpretation of the song that Eddie is talking about, then I apologize for posting something that was already obivious lol, I guess I'm kinda slow :p But here's the video:

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=uxHnvmfikbM
"Does anyone remember laughter?"

"Where's Mike McCready? My god he's been ate!"

"If you're an Elvis fan, there's no explanation necessary; if you're not, there's no explanation possible."

"Sometimes God makes perfect people and Paul Newman was one of them." - RIP Paul Newman
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Comments

  • AmadeusDAmadeusD Posts: 44
    Its stone's riff, but hey..

    I love the Vh1 vid....the only time i've fully enjoyed the track
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  • MakeMeCry43MakeMeCry43 Posts: 355
    Hahah soo sorry! Duh it's Stone's riff! You can obiviously tell I'm a newbie lol... hehe Glad you enjoyed the vid, but I was surprised to hear from Eddie that Alive actually means that he's still alive and living with that curse of the secret he just found out about and it's somehow like he doesn't want to be alive but he is, so I was surprised to hear that but then when he said that after seeing fans respond to it in a positive way, he then felt the curse was lifted and I think that's just beautiful to say.....What a class act he is! Now the song to me actually means so much more...I'm wondering how many fans on here thought same as I did before seeing the vid or already knew what the song really meant.....
    "Does anyone remember laughter?"

    "Where's Mike McCready? My god he's been ate!"

    "If you're an Elvis fan, there's no explanation necessary; if you're not, there's no explanation possible."

    "Sometimes God makes perfect people and Paul Newman was one of them." - RIP Paul Newman
  • SanquiiiSanquiii Posts: 34
    Yeh, actually in the past you could have said that alive was a very sad song... but you hear eddie now... i see alive like a song that makes me wanna live, wanna see, wanna discover... wanna say "hey ! im still alive ! " hahaha so now its a more happy song than before!
    " El concierto de anoche fue uno de los más memorables de nuestra vida, la gente de Argentina ha sido fantásica con nosotros, no nos queremos Ir "
    Eddie 11/26/05 Bs. As Argentina
  • eMMIeMMI Posts: 6,262
    Sanquiii wrote:
    Yeh, actually in the past you could have said that alive was a very sad song... but you hear eddie now... i see alive like a song that makes me wanna live, wanna see, wanna discover... wanna say "hey ! im still alive ! " hahaha so now its a more happy song than before!

    definitely. :)

    when it was written, Alive was indeed a very very very sad and tragic song. but now (and Ed has said it himself) the meaning of the songs has turned around and it is actually a hey-I'm-so-happy-to-be-alive -song. :D
    "Don't be faint-hearted, I have a solution! We shall go and commandeer some small craft, then drift at leisure until we happen upon another ideal place for our waterside supper with riparian entertainments."
  • restlesssoulrestlesssoul Posts: 6,951
    http://www.fivehorizons.com/songs/dec99/index.shtml
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  • dimitrispearljamdimitrispearljam Posts: 139,717
    the meaning of this song is and will be only for makes us happy and stronger!i
    i was in venice last year and 3 hours before the pearl jam live begins a storm broke all and the scene was down,,and the concert canceled!!!,but travel from greece to italy was nothing,,now in monday im traveling from greece to new york only for pearl jam live in msg,,for rock the garden,,,,i make this trip,couse i cant find a better .........band......and for sure couse im still.....ALIVE!!!!!!!!!!!!
    "...Dimitri...He talks to me...'.."The Ghost of Greece..".
    "..That's One Happy Fuckin Ghost.."
    “..That came up on the Pillow Case...This is for the Greek, With Our Apologies.....”
  • MakeMeCry43MakeMeCry43 Posts: 355
    Thank you restlesssoul for that great article, I've read about that somewhere before and I think the mamasan trilogy is genius...But yeah, before I used to think Alive was a positive thing and then it turns out to Ed it was a sad and tragic song as well to many other fans but then it's positive because by the fans reactions and I love that...Really makes the song much sweeter than it already is :D I love how powerful the song is and there's somewhere in the article that said the lack of videos of Pearl Jam helps keep the personal interpretation of their songs and that's really true, I love that fact, what a great band to be a fan of! Really does make the song much more special and you don't have a certain image in mind while hearing one of their songs that doesn't have a video or something, so it's a wonderful gift really....alright, now I'm just rambling lol...sorry :p
    "Does anyone remember laughter?"

    "Where's Mike McCready? My god he's been ate!"

    "If you're an Elvis fan, there's no explanation necessary; if you're not, there's no explanation possible."

    "Sometimes God makes perfect people and Paul Newman was one of them." - RIP Paul Newman
  • SanquiiiSanquiii Posts: 34
    i think alive is just one of thats songs, that grow with the years, just growing and growing, overpassing Pearl Jam. I mean, i just such a beautiful song! un himno!
    " El concierto de anoche fue uno de los más memorables de nuestra vida, la gente de Argentina ha sido fantásica con nosotros, no nos queremos Ir "
    Eddie 11/26/05 Bs. As Argentina
  • AnonAnon Posts: 11,175
    what an amazing song!! one of my favorites by far! so much energy in it, must be great to hear that live in concert! also is a fun song to play on guitar!
  • FahkaFahka Posts: 3,187
    Very cool story...
    I'm so happy ed decided to go the music route...
    We all have so much to share with each other and so much to help one another heal...
  • MakeMeCry43MakeMeCry43 Posts: 355
    Very well put LeatherMandi! Honestly it would be a shame and a loss if Eddie and Stone, Mike and Jeff and Dave never took the music route, I'm so glad they found each other and created this awesome band that's just so much more than just loud music that's just noise...it's much more than that. And it's beautiful really how that song has healed people and in return it converted the true message of Alive and gave them something great, so it's somehow like a give and take process and that's what so beautiful about PJ's music....Because we all do need each other...
    "Does anyone remember laughter?"

    "Where's Mike McCready? My god he's been ate!"

    "If you're an Elvis fan, there's no explanation necessary; if you're not, there's no explanation possible."

    "Sometimes God makes perfect people and Paul Newman was one of them." - RIP Paul Newman
  • dimitrispearljamdimitrispearljam Posts: 139,717
    MakeMeCry43 wrote:
    As many of you, I'm sure all of you love "Alive" and it's such a great kick ass rock song with Mike's sick ass riff! It's a hell of an awesome song and listening to the song, I always interpreted as being a positive message, like Eddie finding out about his biological father's death and finding out about his step-father and such, it's a hard thing to live with for sure, but then the positive part of the song is when he sings "I'm still ALIVE!", it's like saying, yeah, I'm still Alive and you can't break me, which I love, the song made me feel like I could live through anything.....But I just came across this video of Eddie on VH1 storytellers and he says otherwise, I don't know if you guys have seen this before and if you have seen this before, then I guess it's worth seeing twice hehe, and if you guys had that same interpretation of the song that Eddie is talking about, then I apologize for posting something that was already obivious lol, I guess I'm kinda slow :p But here's the video:

    http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=uxHnvmfikbM
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0o99VuR0Qz8
    "...Dimitri...He talks to me...'.."The Ghost of Greece..".
    "..That's One Happy Fuckin Ghost.."
    “..That came up on the Pillow Case...This is for the Greek, With Our Apologies.....”
  • dcfaithfuldcfaithful Posts: 13,076
    AmadeusD wrote:
    Its stone's riff, but hey..

    I love the Vh1 vid....the only time i've fully enjoyed the track

    I was going to say, I think that' s a Stone riff...in any case, it still is a classic.
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  • Thoughts_ArriveThoughts_Arrive Posts: 15,165
    dimitrispearljam wrote:
    MakeMeCry43 wrote:
    As many of you, I'm sure all of you love "Alive" and it's such a great kick ass rock song with Mike's sick ass riff! It's a hell of an awesome song and listening to the song, I always interpreted as being a positive message, like Eddie finding out about his biological father's death and finding out about his step-father and such, it's a hard thing to live with for sure, but then the positive part of the song is when he sings "I'm still ALIVE!", it's like saying, yeah, I'm still Alive and you can't break me, which I love, the song made me feel like I could live through anything.....But I just came across this video of Eddie on VH1 storytellers and he says otherwise, I don't know if you guys have seen this before and if you have seen this before, then I guess it's worth seeing twice hehe, and if you guys had that same interpretation of the song that Eddie is talking about, then I apologize for posting something that was already obivious lol, I guess I'm kinda slow :p But here's the video:

    http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=uxHnvmfikbM
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0o99VuR0Qz8

    That is so cool, thanks for posting.
    Amazing hearing just the vocals, wish there is more of these somewhere out on youtube.
    lol @ the girl at the start of the storytellers video, she looks like she lusts Eddie so bad hahaha
    Adelaide 17/11/2009, Melbourne 20/11/2009, Sydney 22/11/2009, Melbourne (Big Day Out Festival) 24/01/2014
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