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Corduroy Lyrics

Black Sheep BoyBlack Sheep Boy Posts: 23
edited April 2011 in The Porch
was just reading that In Hiding thread about the (poor) lyrics on this site...what do you all think about Corduroy?

1) everything has changed, absolutely nothing's changed
2) everything has chains, absolutely nothing's changed

I've always thought it was #1 (chains not making much sense)...this site has #2...did some poking around and closest thing I could find to an answer was this EV interview in April '95...the woman interviewing him says #1 and he doesn't correct it...

http://www.fivehorizons.com/archive/art ... 0495.shtml

"LYNN: Sort of like when you say how "everything has changed, but absolutely nothing's changed" (from "Corduroy") - you're still the same people. Well, I don't know how much you've heard about the local scene here...

EDDIE: I heard it was hard getting playing permits.

LYNN: A couple of years ago, a local paper picked up on a Rollins gig, and blew it up. That led to the ban on slamming.

EDDIE: It (the concert) was probably normal and not out of hand. That's why journalists have to be responsible, you or anybody who reports on this stuff, because it's like Walter Cronkite says, if an airplane takes off and lands safetly, it's not news. So it's always going to be negative. But if they blow it out of proportion, they don't realise the consequences that can come out of that, which is no more shows of music any faster than Richard Marx or something. They don't understand that there can be serious consequences. Just from an article they were writing, just because it'd be more exciting if they embellished the fact and make it sound a little worse than it was."

so what do you all think it is?
Post edited by Unknown User on

Comments

  • megatronmegatron Posts: 3,420
    It's definitely chains on the album but I like changed. That's how I sing it. This website doesn't have every lyric right
  • i_lov_iti_lov_it Perth, Western Australia Posts: 4,007
    I can't EVEN 'Understand' Eddie during this song! lol...one of My TOP 5 nontheless...;)
  • WhyGo77WhyGo77 Posts: 113
    ties em off wrote:
    It's definitely chains on the album but I like changed. That's how I sing it. This website doesn't have every lyric right

    I agree - I think it's "changed"

    Great song.
    "I'll ride the wave, where it takes me..."

    "I know I was born and I know that I'll die, the in between is mine..."
  • STT757STT757 Posts: 302
    I have the 4/11/94 Boston Garden Bootleg, they played Corduroy at this show (one of the first times) and it has slightly different lyrics. Afterwards Ed says "with your approval that will be on our next album".
    Randalls Island New York 9/29/96 - Oakland Coliseum Oakland California 11/15/97 - MSG New York New York 09/10/98 - Key Arena Seattle Washington 11/05/00, 11/06/00 - PNC Bank Arts Center Holmdel New Jersey 7/14/03 - Tweeter Center Camden New Jersey 5/28/06, MSG New York New York 06/25/08, Spectrum Arena Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 10/27/09
  • touchme.imdicktouchme.imdick Posts: 90
    Corduroy has been my FAVORITE PJ song for many years, and I have always heard and sang "everything has CHANGED." I personally think it makes more sense than chains, so I'll stick with that. It's an amazing song no matter what the word actually is.
    You will be no one's rival....

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  • youngsteryoungster Boston Posts: 6,576
    STT757 wrote:
    I have the 4/11/94 Boston Garden Bootleg, they played Corduroy at this show (one of the first times) and it has slightly different lyrics. Afterwards Ed says "with your approval that will be on our next album".

    Yup. That was the show when they played Immortality with totally different lyrics.

    04/11/94 – Boston Garden: Boston, MA [120m]
    attendance: 12,000
    support act: Mudhoney
    set: Release, Rearviewmirror, Whipping, Go, Animal, Dissident, State of Love and Trust, Breath, Blood, Daughter/(Hey Hey, My My), Why Go, Hold On improv/Jeremy, Even Flow, Black, Alive, Porch/(Tearing), Rats, Immortality, Corduroy, Garden, Leash
    enc: Rockin’ in the Free World, Happy Trails, Indifference
    notes: ‘Breath’ virtually disappeared from setlists for years after this show. ‘Immortality’ premieres here, featuring very different lyrics than later (or “officially released”) versions. Ed smashes a hole in the stage with the mic stand and exits through it ending ‘Blood.’ Matt Lukin of Mudhoney joins PJ for ‘RitFW’ and returns for a very drunk, a capella ‘Happy Trails,’ intro’ed as a “… song for John Candy, ’cause we all know he was a big, fat bastard. But we love him.”
    He who forgets will be destined to remember.

    9/29/04 Boston, 6/28/08 Mansfield, 8/23/09 Chicago, 5/15/10 Hartford
    5/17/10 Boston, 10/15/13 Worcester, 10/16/13 Worcester, 10/25/13 Hartford
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  • DeLukinDeLukin Posts: 2,757
    I like "CHAINS." The song is railing against the trappings of fame and poking holes in the illusion that most have that money and fame solves all of our problems. Everything has chains (even after success, riches, fame, etc), so he hasn't changed. He's just as disillusioned as ever, do don't treat him like he doesn't have problems and he's above you - take his hand and join the fight, not his picture and put him on a pedestal, etc.
    I smile, but who am I kidding...
  • jets521jets521 Posts: 804
    DeLukin wrote:
    I like "CHAINS." The song is railing against the trappings of fame and poking holes in the illusion that most have that money and fame solves all of our problems. Everything has chains (even after success, riches, fame, etc), so he hasn't changed. He's just as disillusioned as ever, do don't treat him like he doesn't have problems and he's above you - take his hand and join the fight, not his picture and put him on a pedestal, etc.

    It's def chains. you nailed the explanation perfectly
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  • Black Sheep BoyBlack Sheep Boy Posts: 23
    DeLukin wrote:
    I like "CHAINS." The song is railing against the trappings of fame and poking holes in the illusion that most have that money and fame solves all of our problems. Everything has chains (even after success, riches, fame, etc), so he hasn't changed. He's just as disillusioned as ever, do don't treat him like he doesn't have problems and he's above you - take his hand and join the fight, not his picture and put him on a pedestal, etc.


    I think it's "changed" but because of your same exact explanation...

    everything has changed (the band now has the money and fame and notoriety instead of being unknown and hidden)

    absolutely nothing's changed (like you said they actually haven't changed as people)
  • Diggy381Diggy381 Posts: 165
    I always thought "chains" because . . . "everything has chains" would mean nothing is free/there is always some sort of condition attached to promises, etc. and that is nothing new to him so "absolutely nothings changed."

    Just my opinion. . .
  • slingsling Posts: 169
    I originally thought "Everything has changed" for a while when hearing the song, but when I saw the lyrics written down somewhere as "Everything has chains" I felt like that made more sense - & made for much better lyrics. The "take my hand" part I never thought of as joining the fight; I thought of it more as being his friend; appreciating him as a person rather than as a rock star on a pedestal.
  • KloddzKloddz Posts: 2,573
    I've always tended towards "chains", although both make sense IMO.
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  • glorified_jglorified_j Posts: 183
    There is also the part toward the end...the original album eddie sings "to live and die let it be done" or something like that. In every live version I've heard it's "never to be tried or be a judge" something along those lines.

    I always wondered why
  • Tuolumne MamaTuolumne Mama Posts: 1,210
    If I recall correctly, the original live versions and lp Ed sang chains.
    He's changed up so many lyrics the last ten yrs either is possible. I'm sticking with chains since that's how I believe it was written.
    ======================================================================
    "What we do for ourselves dies with us. What we do for others and the world remains and is immortal." Albert Pine.


  • Father HubbardFather Hubbard Chicago Posts: 1,643
    ah i knew thered be a thread about this in here somewhere, i didnt see it in the pages of vs/vitalogy reissue threads so i apologize in advance. anyway, i too always thought it was "changed" not "chains." In looking at the notebook in the super deluxe vs/vitalogy, theres a page about 20 from the back (opposite the page with the golden gate park notice to concert goers) that looks like eds writing with notes about each song. i noticed next to corduroy it says something then "everything has changed." not exactly definitive, but makes me feel better about all of these years...
  • NorthShoreBluesNorthShoreBlues Posts: 181
    I'm not sure what it exactly is . . . could be either, some of you guys offer some great explanations and interpretations of Vedder's mindset, but for me as is the case for most of the songs from our beloved band, its all about me, the listener, and how I interpret the song ;)

    I have to admit, however, I always thought it was "changed". I grew up with that and sort of always understood it to be a cynical view of where you are in life and what station of life you are in, which is always changing but everything is basically the same within your own mind (whether good or bad). . .

    I first heard the song in college (everything has changed, absolutely nothings changed- "My enviornment has drascically changed but I still have the same damn issues within myself"); out in the workforce (a change but still the same); relationship wise (a change but still the same), in that our enviornments change but inside we still have to deal with our own ever present demons . . .

    Vedder could have meant that the success of the band didn't really bring him peace of mind within, maybe he achieved that a little later . . .


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  • LaterDaysLaterDays Posts: 142
    I've wondered about this for some time. I can see it both ways, but I have noticed him clearly sing 'changed' at a couple of shows. Plus it does kinda remind me of the Elderly Woman line, "I changed by not changing at all..."

    But yeah, the lyrics on this site are, like, comically wrong in places. The website organizers had to have just cut-and-pasted from random fan sites when they added the feature.
    "You are everything, and everything is you. Me, you... you, me -- it's all related."
  • PJMEMamaPJMEMama Posts: 99
    I think can be either or both, whatever works for you in that moment, I like that it can be one way one day, and one way another, keeps it fresh...
    But having said that, I like it as "chains", as was said earlier, everything has things that tie you, restrictions, limits, and we keep pulling against them.
    The lyrics in this song are for me more like fragments of something beautiful than a story of some whole thing.
  • MoonTurtleMoonTurtle Posts: 752
    I think
    everything has chains, absolutely nothing's changed.

    It makes sense
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