Off He Goes - Greatest song of "our" generation?

mca47 · July 2010

Nothing short of Pearl Jam's greatest creation ever.

Such a brilliant song!!!

I have friends who listen to this song and nobody's interpretation of it is ever the same.

A great Off He Goes story!!
Long story short that was posted years and years ago...

When I was in college I worked in research at a VA hospital in Iowa. Fridays were very lax, so I wore my Riot Act tee shirt to work one day (when I wasn't seeing patients).
I get into the elevator with a coworker and this old guy gets in, probably pushing 85-90. We hit "L" from the 8th floor.
He takes a look at my shirt and I expected some "old man comment", but to my surprise he said this...
"Pearl Jam huh? My grandson is a big fan. He played some songs for me one day and that "Off it Goes" really stuck with me."
I was shocked at the fact at this guy know ANY PJ song, let alone my alltime favorite!!!
I asked him what he thought of the song and he said that everytime he heard it, it reminded him of a buddy he was in the war with (WW2). They became good friends but after the war he became mentally unstable and would come and go...in and out of "the now" and would constantly be on the move.

I always knew this song could be taken a number of ways, but that day...hearing that old timer talk about his buddy from the war and how he became a fan of "Off He Goes", almost floored me.

I say it again - Brilliant song and (IMO) PJ's best ever created.

markin ball · July 2010

Great story. The song is one of my favs, too. I remember listening to No Code through headphones about ten minutes after midnight on the day it came out and was blown away by that song and the mix of it.

mysameoldfriend · July 2010

It is always at the top of my "top five" list.

KM43590 · July 2010

One of the best songs in PJ's acoustic arsenal and one of my personal favorites. It always makes me think of my father who past away nearly 11 years ago. Music is one of the greatest things my father could have ever shared with me in life, and he also appreciated Pearl Jam for their talent, his favorite song was "Wishlist." But since his passing, "Off He Goes" always brings him to mind because I just imagine he's off experiencing life on his own terms, because things got to be a bit too hard for him here. I have recurring dreams where he returns to me, and we spend a few moments together, but he must always leave abruptly as he did in life.

jubilairesjl · July 2010

I use to not like it that much, but now I think I can relate to it a bit more now, and maybe that is why I like it.

mca47 · July 2010

KM43590 wrote:

One of the best songs in PJ's acoustic arsenal and one of my personal favorites. It always makes me think of my father who past away nearly 11 years ago. Music is one of the greatest things my father could have ever shared with me in life, and he also appreciated Pearl Jam for their talent, his favorite song was "Wishlist." But since his passing, "Off He Goes" always brings him to mind because I just imagine he's off experiencing life on his own terms, because things got to be a bit too hard for him here. I have recurring dreams where he returns to me, and we spent a few moments together, but he must always leave abruptly as he did in life. The one thing that comforts me from my dreams is that he is always fine and so am I and we're never too far away from each other, even when he leaves me again. It's an understanding we have on another plain of existence I suppose, and it's all I have, so I'll take it!

Great story KM43590!!!!
It's just amazing how a song can effect someone.
PJ has an incredible gift of doing just that...really hitting home with their lyrics and their music.

When my grandpa died, Man of the Hour couldn't even be played without me completely losing it. I'm not really one to sob over death as I work in cancer research, but on the way to his funeral it came on in the car and I seriously had to pull over.

Man of the Hour is also right up there. F'n amazing tune!!! To this day, the Benaroya version still chokes me up.

thefin190 · July 2010

I think the answer is yes. If not my all-time favorite, definitely my favorite off No Code, which tough to say because No Code has alot of beautiful songs on it. It personally brings me back to my middle school/early high school days, and I think about my best friend at the time who ended up becoming a drug dealer after I moved from Florida to Seattle. I usually think of myself in the POV of the person who is the subject of the song.

It's such a good acoustic song. I do like the live electric renditions they do, but now that the guys are doing acoustic sets during their first encore it seems for every show, they should integrate an acoustic version of the song while they have the acoustic instruments and the strings out. Maybe even get Boom's organ somewhere in there. It makes more sense to have it in this song than all over the place during "Porch". If I had to choose, it would be the album version, although its a tough call.

Dark Energy · July 2010

This song always makes me think of my buddy. He was in the Air Force and the worked for private contractors all over the Middle East. He has seen things that would make you shudder. Any way, I told him one day that this song always made me think of him. He's a PJ fan, though not an obsessive one like me, so he didn't immediately register the song. The next day he came to see me on the verge of tears (and this is not the most emotional guy). He told me that after to listening to this song 10 or 12 times he thanked me and told me that that was the coolest thing anyone had ever told him.

My favorite part is "nothing's changed but the surrounding bullshit, that has grown"

Johnny Abruzzo · July 2010

Lots of beautiful stories.

I don't have any special story about it, but it's easily in my top 10 PJ songs. Just so beautiful and poignant.

Thoughts_Arrive · July 2010

One of my favourite songs, would have loved to have heard it live.

81 · March 2013

great song

dimitrispearljam · March 2013

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wZAW4fr9d6M

whofeelslikeadrank · March 2013

81 wrote:

great song

thank you brother, for digging deep

RedMosquito02 · March 2013

Terrific song (and fucking stellar song writing, lyrically and musically), but far from the bands best, let alone "our" generation...but I appreciate you enthusiasm!

It's actually been really hard for me to listen to Off He Goes since December of '99 as it was played at one of my best friends funeral. He was killed in a motorbike accident while studying abroad in New Zealand...I still (and always will) tear up every time I hear it at a show

BrianEngel · March 2013

i have a son who turns 8 early April. when his mum and i divorced in 2007, she insisted i was alcoholic. and the only way i could see my son was to be sober (8 months of random ua's) so i joined aa. i bought No Code on cassette and would walk to meetings playing that tape in a Walkman for nealry 2 years. The whole record struck me as a gift from the universe. it felt written for me to listen to daily those few years. altho i never walked away from my son, i felt i could strongly relate to the character in Off He Goes, as from the experience of my son who had a dad (me) who seemed to be always in and out of his life.
So many PJ songs draw super strong emotions for me for a world of different experiences. This song, and the album on a whole were strong allies to me in that very tender period.

Dr. Delight · March 2013

In my Top 3. It is definitely their greatest acoustic song, and it may very well be their best song, period.

Big Bank Hank · March 2013

my favorite version, Eddie talks about his brothers, before dedicating it to them
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GrTNxsNtNnY

MG79478 · March 2013

It's not even the best song on no code, in fact it's in the bottom half of no code songs. If it was on Binural it might be the best song on that album... But no code is just too good.