Just listened to Backspacer...

Backspacer?

I actually thought it sounded very free as well. Like ed was just putting it out there without rethinking what he wanted to say over and over before he decided on a final version. I think it has some of the most amazing really vulnerable lyrics I have ever heard!

Maybe I'm just freaking out and making up stuff but:

Gonna see my friend

"I'm going to shake this thing
I'm wanna shake this pain before I retire"

And retire has always been a synonym for death.

And of course the "Buona Sera".

The Fixer
The whole song is all about how he is going to fix things. Very classic boy makes things right for girl. And the last stanzas are about staying by her side, "Find us a way to make a light" and "I'll dig your grave" - thus implying he'll be there for her when she dies.

Just Breathe
"Yes I understand that every life must end
As we sit alone, I know somday we must go"
"Stay with me
Let's just breathe"
Then there are three stanzas of essentially saying "did I ever tell you how much I love you" and it ends with
"Hold me till I die...
Meet you on the other side"

Amonst the Waves
The entire song continues this theme of "did I ever tell you how much I love you"
and then ends with "gotta say it now
Better loud
than too late"

Unthought Known
This song, from narrator to 'you' discusses the great expanse of the sky and notes
"see the path cut by the moon... for you to walk on"
and later notes "see the waves on distant shores... for you to walk on"
Both the path to heaven concept and the distant shores metaphor symbolizes heaven or an afterlife.

Speed of Sound
If this is not the song of man contemplating his own mortality while his wife sleeps beside him, I don't know what it is.

"Yesterdays, how quick they change
All lost and long gone now"

And then the refrain of battling despair and clinging to hope:
"And yet I'm still holding tight
to this dream of distant light
and that somehow I'll survive

But this night as been a long one
waiting on the sun... that just don't come"

I believe we mean 'survive' quite literally.

Force of Nature

"One man stands the edge of the ocean
a beacon on dry land
eyes upon the horizon
in the dark before the dawn"

While I can certainly see this being a literal moment as well, it is also quite metaphorical. The ocean and the horizon both being symbols of journey and death, and the solitary man facing this journey in the dark sounds a whole lot like a man who is facing death.

"All the strength you might think would disappear"
doesn't make sense in the literal sense of a man standing on a beach, but it does make sense if we are talking about a man facing his own death.

"Makes me ache... makes me shake
Is it so wrong to think that love can keep us safe?"

The End
"What were all those dreams we shared
those many years ago?
What were all those plans we made
Now left beside the road?
Behind us in the road"

"I wanted to grow old
Just want to grow old"

"Don't leave me so cold
or buried beneath the stones" .... headstones.

"Sickness in my bones .... a bit of a leap, but leukemia came to mind.
How it pains to leave you here
with the kids on your own
Just don't let me go"
--I don't think he means divorce.

"Before I disappear
whisper in my ear
give me something to echo
in my unknown future's ear"

"My dear
the end
comes near
I'm here
But not much longer"

Thoughts?

I don't know, it seems to me to be more about a feeling of weakness or being a vulnerable human. The lyrics are really honest and sometimes maybe a little off putting. But I am thinking of it more as a show of inner emotion. does that make sense? After a couple times through, I think you can really tell that Ed did not go back and re edit the songs, maybe making them less personal or sometimes second guessing lines that may have in the past been taken out because they reveal a kind of self disapointment or longing. some of the songs on this album remind of of bineural in the way that they give a distinct feeling or emotion but maybe not a simple narrative, but others remind me more of ten or no code, songs told more as a story, ok now I am just rambling, I just love it all so much!

My thoughts exactly, yes there are some sad lyrics, but this is an very uplifting record!!! I'm 45 years old, been a fan since the beginning and this record gives me goosebumps (not saying it's my favorite, but it's fresh and pure)

this is a pretty nice explanation from the man himself:
http://capitolhillseattle.com/links/2009/09/18/eddie-vedder-and-me-on-pearl-jams-backspacer