The meaning of Last Exit

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  • blondieblue227
    blondieblue227 Va, USA Posts: 4,509
    song kicks ass is all i know.

    my 2 cents: it wasn't about kurt.
    and i always thought Immortally was about Native Americans.
    *~Pearl Jam will be blasted from speakers until morale improves~*

  • norm
    norm Posts: 31,146
    Johnny Sitar wrote:
    EddieLedBetter wrote:
    Why do people attach so many feelings and song meanings to Kurt Kobain. The guy was weak in all aspects of life. The beauty in songs is we translate them to our own meanings. I wouldn’t waste any feeling for a song on a guy who snuffed out his own life, even if Ed did write the song about that.

    I interoperate it as life looked at as compared to the vast amount of time that existed before life. How life can be calm or turbulent like the ocean. Producing high waves with white wash that takes on new forms or can be completely calm and boring on the surface with the power underneath. You can write your name in the sand and the ocean wipes it away in the blink of an eye. This is a song about that wiping of of life. The sun climbs and burns (evaporates) the surface of the ocean away (mask), new lives form old lives die. Three days is usually the amount of time between someone dying and being buried... maybe longer. Shed my worldly flesh... but the spirit lives on. Its a last exit.

    gee, how Christian of you. :roll: and please enlighten us all as to what the hell "interoperate" means. :lol:

    :lol::lol: nice!



    it's about surfing while tripping...and it was a kickass opener last year in san diego! :mrgreen:
  • Gmoney
    Gmoney Posts: 1,618
    Fastrichie wrote:
    Yea I saw them play Last Exit before they knew of Kurt's death (4/6/94). And I'm sure that wasn't the first time they played it.
    this thread has blown my mind. all these yeas i never even thought twice that they weren't about kurt... This song just became very creepy to me...
    Further back and forth a wave will break on me, today...
  • FrankY59
    FrankY59 Posts: 1,052
    blondieblue227 wrote:
    song kicks ass is all i know.

    my 2 cents: it wasn't about kurt.
    and i always thought Immortally was about Native Americans.

    Actually, I think Last Exit is about Native Americans. I vaguely remember reading something when this song came about about how Native Americans when they get old they are sent off to somewhere, "like over the hills" to die off...never really confirmed this with an analysis of the lyrics or if this is actually true in some Native American populations.
  • rival_AK71
    rival_AK71 Posts: 37
    They debuted the song in 1993. Kurt died in 1994.

    Surfing on acid makes me laugh the most, so I'll go with that until the next few times I hear it :mrgreen:
  • LeatherMosquitoMan
    LeatherMosquitoMan Posts: 4,034
    havelock_chi wrote:
    They debuted the song in 1993. Kurt died in 1994.

    Surfing on acid makes me laugh the most, so I'll go with that until the next few times I hear it :mrgreen:

    New Orleans in November if my memory serves me correct? 16th?
    -Chris
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  • Lost In Ohio
    Lost In Ohio Posts: 7,244
    CJMST3K wrote:
    Gmoney wrote:
    Hasn't Eddie stated before that this song was written about Kurt's death? Im 99% sure he said this one and at least Immortality were inspired by Kurt's death


    Immortality I believe is about Kurt, or maybe just the early version from Boston '94 is...

    Last Exit isn't about suicide though.


    Question 2.21 from the various FAQ's:
    http://www.lukin.com/Information/faq_new.html

    In an interview with the LA times in Nov. 1994, Eddie has said that "Immortality" was not about Kurt Cobain. The song did have different lyrics when Pearl Jam started playing it during the spring '94 tour than the final version on Vitalogy. And yes during the Atlanta April 03, 1994 show Eddie did mention that he hoped Kurt was ok. Eddie also dedicated "Go" to Kurt (this was the period after Kurt Cobain's overdose in Rome when he was missing). Sadly enough, Kurt Cobain died a few days after this broadcast.
    Presidential Advice from President-Elect Mike McCready: "Are you getting something out of this all encompassing trip?"
  • Spencer
    Spencer Posts: 867
    LeatherMosquitoMan wrote:
    havelock_chi wrote:
    They debuted the song in 1993. Kurt died in 1994.

    Surfing on acid makes me laugh the most, so I'll go with that until the next few times I hear it :mrgreen:

    New Orleans in November if my memory serves me correct? 16th?
    Yes.

    The Last Exit lyrics have nothing to do with Kurt - they were performing it (with the "three days" reference) almost six months before he died.
  • phungi
    phungi Posts: 641
    For those interested in a very compelling interpretation, check out Dr. Stip's Guided Tour of Vitalogy from the Red Mosquito forum
    37 PJ Shows, 3 EV Shows, 1134 Total Songs, 24 Different Openers, 9 Different Closers, 252 Unique Songs (never enough)
  • erocshifty
    erocshifty Posts: 1,170
    Snoopy Died For Our Sins wrote:
    "under your tongue, I'm like a tab" is an acid reference, not an afterlife reference[/quote

    didn't this song debut in 1993? maybe not the same lyrics, but pretty sure it was 93 or early 94. ed has already said in NUMEROUS interviews that none of the songs on VITALOGY are about kurt. IMMORTALITY has some lines that make me question this, specifically the line "scrawl dissolved, cigar box on the floor". and as someone else posted, the orpheum version. i definitely get the acid reference, cause you put it under your tongue & it's illegal-"you're not supposed to have".
    regardless, my favorite record ever....
    "It's best to live in grace before you're forced to." EV- 10/09/2014 
  • javis el errante
    javis el errante Buenos Aires Posts: 6,144
    surfing... ride a wave in the sun to leave behind, at least for a while, all that is bad...
    ... I am not in the business of being liked anymore ...

  • danny
    danny Posts: 2,283
    vitalogy is a great album!
    danny d
  • javis el errante
    javis el errante Buenos Aires Posts: 6,144
    danny wrote:
    vitalogy is a great album!

    my fav one...
    ... I am not in the business of being liked anymore ...

  • Meg8686
    Meg8686 Posts: 1,234
    I think it's about planning your last exit, he's talking himself into it, like it's the only solution, almost pleaing at the end -let my spirit pass ...
    Sometimes I speak of nothing at all.

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