Play EVACUATION

Stephen Flow wrote:

Please rename this thread to "Play NO WAY You Pricks"

fucken A. right after they play strangest tribe.

i dont mind the song... but i mean seriosuly.. give us sme more fucking Binuaral! seriously, there are some songs on there that are excellent. i think i only need to name drop one.... OF THE GIRL.... yeah amazing!

Evacuation is DEEPLY underrated by people in the pit...ITS A GOOD SONG!!!

"Evacuation" is genius, plain and simple. Putting it on Binaural was a ballsy move, especially considering that songs like "Sad," "Education," and "Fatal" were left off. But to include something like "Evacuation" shows Pearl Jam's faith in their fans, that they're up to the challenge of embracing something a little more off-kilter than, say, "Education," which for all intents and purposes could well have been a FM rock-radio singalong staple. The lyrics in the bridges are pure poetry, and the wailing chorus is powerfully urgent and immediate. Its detractors baffle me.

Well, I still hardly ever listen to Evacuation, and I still list it as one of the PJ songs I hate (Help Help and Come Back being the others). but I always have to admit that when they played it at MSG in 2003...it rocked my balls off. I remember when they started playing it my buddy and I looked at each other like "of all the songs they have, do they really have to play this lame one?" but low and behold, it actually was really, really good live. still probably would skip it if I was listening to the MSG boot, but for about 4 minutes of my life, I was an Evacuation fan.

Not sure if anyone cares, but I dragged this up from alt.music.pearl-jam (I can't believe it was that easy). It was my interpretation of the lyrics of evacuation. My memory had somehow made this seem better than it actually is, but what the hell. Someone might get something out of this (if you don't mind reading completely unstructured ramblings!):

"Okay, even though a lot of you folks don't seem to like this song, i am
going to try to get you to at least appreciate the lyrics...

okay, the way i see this song is that it is kind of a continuation of
the whole daniel quinn-faithfull/do the evolution story...don't stop
reading yet , give me a minute here...the main message of daniel's
books, and of this song is that we are obviously headed down the wrong
path as a society, and the only way we are going to get off this
destructive path is to completely abandon the materialistic and
corporate values that we have all bought in to...in other words, we must
evacuate the burning building of capitalism because it is about to be
torched to the ground...not only do i think that this theory fits with
the lyrics of the song, but i think it fits with some of the other songs
off of binaural as well (grievance, insignificance)...


let's take it from the top: "the sirens scream wanton attention",
obviously the sirens represent all of the warning signs that can be seen
everywhere in the united states and elsewhere every day: school
shootings, restaurant massacres, office shootings, murders, suicides,
etc etc etc and an overall lack of empathy and compassion for our fellow
man...these are the sirens that are telling us to evacuate...something
is obviously inherently wrong with our system....it is time to "take
heed" of these things and change the direction of where we are
collectively headed...
now, more than ever, it is time to take stock of our lives and make
omissions...in other words, get rid of the things in that are causing
harm to the environment and to other beings-such as, buying clothes from
nike, living vicariously through our televisions and our computers,
driving s.u.vs, destroying rainforests for hamburgers, showing no
regard for the care of animals...etc etc etc...omit all unnecessary
distractions...


next verse: time to take leave all formal functions--in other words,
stop doing the things that we feel we have to do, going to the office
every morning for a job we hate...
(also reminds me of 'In Hiding'-ignored all my rounds)
anything that we are forced to do or feel obligated to do but don't want
to do, should be abandoned...
"time to plant seeds of reconstruction"--it's time to start over again
and become active in rebuilding a society in which people aren't
willing to walk all over one another for a product.
"no time this time to feign reluctance"-too many people in this world
know that there are problems, yet they feel/pretend (feign reluctance)
that there is nothing that they can do...the roof is starting to cave
in, but yet the vast majority of people are still passively waiting for
someone else to make the difference...there is no more time for this
reluctance because things are getting so near the breaking point.

we are all waiting for a diamond shore to wash our way, waiting for
things to be handed to us, waiting for things to get better on their
own...when in reality, for the majority of us, it is never going to
happen...

'bets put aside, you're evil...let's crawl into your face'--can anyone
help me here? this is where my lovely little theory begins to fall
apart a bit.


"a frightful wake you up" is the event that is finally going to push
things over the edge....the critical mass will have been reached and
things will either have to change drastically, or end in some sort of
fiery conclusion.


"there was a solemn man who watched his twilight dissapear"
in other words this guy (who i have no idea) knew what was really going
on in the world, he saw the suffering etc, so he refused to buy into the
system that was the cause of so many negative consequences...he could
have been somewhat comfortable in his old age (his twilight), but a
fallen eagle, a warning sign gave him a 'frightful wake you up', and he
sensed that 'worry must be strength'...he knew that his intuition was
telling him something....so he had to make a difference....he developed
a plan and realized that we all have to get out of this burning house
before it burns to the ground.


it's time for evacuation.


hopefully, this made some sense...i would love to hear what you think
about this interpretation... "

i agree with ya, love the song live even tho most ppl don't. Seen it 2x wish i could see it more.

but as seeing they arent gonna tour for a while... im not going to say it.

And im not pulling anything out, not yet anyways.

Tremendous Upside wrote:

OK, I pulled it out, now what...

Wait...

Why is everyone in my office looking at me?

JWBusher wrote:

Most PJ fans don't like it because you can't put your lighter in the air, hug your girlfriend, and sing along at the top of your lungs to it. It has unconventional guitar riffs and breakdowns and meter changes. Most PJ fans are basically cock rockers who don't know shit about good music. Why else would Come Back be most loved song and Evacuation the most hated?

Beautifully said. Evacuation is on my all underrated/hated because it rocks too hard/too progressive for the average PJ fan list.


1.)Evacuation
2.)Pilate
3.)Help,Help
4.)Big Wave (not progressive, but kicks too much ass)
5.)Happy When I'm Cryin'

I listen to these 5 often.