What does I Got Shit mean?

over bends · November 2007

Who is the person he keeps talking about? Who is the "you?" as this person sounds if he is complete isolation for a rather long period of time. (empty cup drifting in the middle of the sea) Is he reverting back to a time so far gone by? "I've got memories I've Got Shit." Who helped this guy walk the line when they held him in that night? And what's up with the "I've never held you in real life" line? "I'm not ugly and you're looking at me." That line makes no sense to me in context. The song is so eerie and odd.

The verses clearly makes sense to me, but the chorus seems defiant of that, thus making me question the entire song. Is the chorus a memory?

deadnote · November 2007

great mini album by the pearl jammers

they need to release a couple ep's dont they

ReleaseMe... · November 2007

Elaine: It means whatever the hell you want it to mean.

Frank: Are you saying you want a piece of me?

Elaine: I'll drop you like a sack of potatoes.

Frank: You want a piece of me? YOU GOT IT!

SoonForgotten2 · November 2007

I think it makes perfect sense through out. There's isolation,loneliness, sorrow, regret, wistfulness. It's from a consistent point from someone who feels he has missed out and is in a bad way.

Memories are all he has. He has nothing tangible. Nothing but his loneliness and the past.

NewJPage · November 2007

ReleaseMe... wrote:

Elaine: I'll drop you like a sack of potatoes.

i believe the line was, "i could drop you like a bag of dirt." but good reference!

KDH12 · November 2007

I got shit

what else needs to be said

chinobaeza · November 2007

"Use Pampers"

spintheblack37 · November 2007

before - Where Im not ugly and youre lookin at me
he states - So Ill just lie down and wait for the dream

Meaning he is dreaming about this person not thinking of him as ugly, I don't think he means the literal team ugly as in beauty/apperance but instead an ugly personality.

before - I paid the price. Never held you in real life.
He states - Oh, I walked the line when you held me close that night.

Meaning he never got the chance to be with this person again.

over bends · November 2007

spintheblack37 wrote:

before - I paid the price. Never held you in real life.
He states - Oh, I walked the line when you held me close that night.

Meaning he never got the chance to be with this person again.

Is it possible that he's referring to a dream here too? That his dreams are the only thing to hold him together at night, yet he is unable to hold and manifest his dreams in real life?

spintheblack37 · November 2007

over_bends wrote:

Is it possible that he's referring to a dream here too? That his dreams are the only thing to hold him together at night, yet he is unable to hold and manifest his dreams in real life?

Yeah I kinda went back/fourth before writing. I think its more of a memory then a dream, which I mean can overlap but remembering when they were together and hoping it would happen again, but he fucked up and it wont.

RipitLikePujols · November 2007

ReleaseMe... wrote:

Elaine: It means whatever the hell you want it to mean.

Frank: Are you saying you want a piece of me?

Elaine: I'll drop you like a sack of potatoes.

Frank: You want a piece of me? YOU GOT IT!

"What kind of person walks in and steals somebody else's TV Guide???"

InThinAir · November 2007

I always compared this song to "The Sound and the Fury" by William Faulkner. In that book the one character is retarded. His point of view in the book talks about his existence within a totally screwed up family. He has fully functioning thoughts but can't share any of them. The Sound is the constant arguing, abuse, and cover up happening around him and the Fury is that he can't even yell out let alone get out. I equate this to I Got Shit because I think the person in the song is dealing with something similar whether it's a physical or mental I don't know but he can't express deep feelings for someone, most likely a woman he loves from a far. So he's saying I Got Memories I Got Shit because memories aren't enough for him he wants to express himself...

For the longest time I was wrong about a lyric and I was really bummed because I thought it was one of Eddie's best ever. When he says "If just once I could feel loved..." I thought he said "I'd say it like I mean it!!!" but he actually says "oh stare back at me yeah..." I like my misheard one better, so much that it used to give me chills to think about it. Oh well the beauty of PJ is that I can still feel that lyric if I want to.

Them-Bones · November 2007

PEPPER wrote:

I always thought the song was about some person who was to timid to approach a girl because of his lowself esteem. He really likes this girl so he imagined himself with her so "never got to hold you in real life" because he thought himself out of her league "I'm not ugly and you're looking at me" so he never approached her, only imagined being with her...I think a lot of us have been there b4

So basically you have your memories but those are shit compared to the real thing

and by the way...this song is the shit

This is how I always interpreted it

red mos · November 2007

PEPPER wrote:

I always thought the song was about some person who was to timid to approach a girl because of his lowself esteem. He really likes this girl so he imagined himself with her so "never got to hold you in real life" because he thought himself out of her league "I'm not ugly and you're looking at me" so he never approached her, only imagined being with her...I think a lot of us have been there b4

So basically you have your memories but those are shit compared to the real thing

and by the way...this song is the shit

+1

Yeah we have all been there. I love this song because of how real it is. I've basically lived that paragraph you just typed. It's like my head was in the clouds in high school or something. Now that I am out of high school I look back and think why was I so infatuated with her. I just realized that in jr high and in high school (the song came out during those years for me) that I was living in like this enclosed bubble. I was with the majority of the same students for 7 years and then in college we all branch off and life had such a much more deeper and meaningful purpose for me on the whole. Weird thing is: this girl actually looked me up on facebook, and sent me a friend request. That was just realy suprising and yet weird at the same time.

pirljamgirl · November 2007

My lips are shaking, my nails are bit off
Been a month and a day since I heard myself talk
Only advantage this life's got on me
Picture an empty cup in the middle of the sea

And I fight back in my mind
Never lets me be right
I've got memories, I've got shit
So much it don't show

Oh, I walked the line, when you held me in that night
Oh, I walked the line, when you held my hand that night

An empty shell seems so easy to crack
I Got questions, don't know who the fuck I'm ever gonna ask
So I'll just lie alone and wait for a dream
Where I'm not ugly and you're looking at me

And I'll stay in bed
All blue, I've seen hell
If just once I could feel love
Oh, stare back at me

Oh, I walked the line, when you held me in that night
Oh, I walked the line, when you held my hand that night
Oh, I walked the line, when you held me close that night
Oh, I paid the price, never held you in real life

Heather Evers · November 2007

is it "I Got ID" or "I Got Id"......makes more sense to me if its "I Got Id" because id is the unconscious part of each of us....the part that has the most basic needs in our existence.

.....then again, maybe i'm thinking about it too hard :rolleyes:

over bends · November 2007

It's Id, as in id, ego, super ego.

kj1nyr · December 2007

pirljamgirl wrote:

My lips are shaking, my nails are bit off
Been a month and a day since I heard myself talk
Only advantage this life's got on me
Picture an empty cup in the middle of the sea

And I fight back in my mind
Never lets me be right
I've got memories, I've got shit
So much it don't show

Oh, I walked the line, when you held me in that night
Oh, I walked the line, when you held my hand that night

An empty shell seems so easy to crack
I Got questions, don't know who the fuck I'm ever gonna ask
So I'll just lie alone and wait for a dream
Where I'm not ugly and you're looking at me

And I'll stay in bed
All blue, I've seen hell
If just once I could feel love
Oh, stare back at me

Oh, I walked the line, when you held me in that night
Oh, I walked the line, when you held my hand that night
Oh, I walked the line, when you held me close that night
Oh, I paid the price, never held you in real life

We all know how Ed likes to change lyrics around. I don't remember which show (been to about 35 of 'em) but I was in the front row just a hair to Ed's left and I'm pretty sure he sang something like:

And I'll stare you back
Oh blue eyed sea, yeah
If just once I could feel love
Oh, stare back at me

I've always liked that and sang it that way ever since.

WindNoSail · December 2007

Ok I will play

id from wickipedia

Id

The term id (inner desire) is a Latinised derivation from Groddeck's das Es.[2] It stands in direct opposition to the super-ego. It is dominated by the pleasure principle.
The id is the unconscious part of the brain that is the center of controlling all unknown pleasures or desires. These desires one may or may not be aware of, however, according to Freud, one will never be capable of understanding all desires. The sexual desire, firstly, may be prevalent in one's mind, although, if one were focused on understanding all of the sexual desires, one would be very disturbed to discover what actual sexual desires one may harbor in one's subconscious. Secondly, the id is the part of the mind that controls all religious and spiritual beliefs.
The mind of a newborn child is regarded as being completely "id-ridden", in the sense that it is a mass of instinctive drives and impulses, and demands immediate satisfaction. This view equates a newborn child with an id-ridden individual - often humorously - with this analogy: an alimentary tract with no sense of responsibility at either end.
The id is responsible for our basic drives such as food, sex, and aggressive impulses. It is amoral and egocentric, ruled by the pleasure–pain principle; it is without a sense of time, completely illogical, primarily sexual, infantile in its emotional development, and will not take "no" for an answer. It is regarded as the reservoir of the libido or "love energy".
A popular interpretation of the id is not that it "convinces" the mind to ignore social norms, but rather in itself just does not take social norms into account. The id is the primal, or beast-like, part of the brain, determined to pursue actions that are pleasurable, such as eating and copulation. The prime motivation of the id is self-survival, pursuing whatever is necessary to accomplish that goal.

My lips are shaking, my nails are bit off
Been a month and a day since I heard myself talk
Only advantage this life's got on me
Picture an empty cup in the middle of the sea

He is enclosed, in his own world. The visual of the empty cup is one of nearly being swallowed up , but he is afloat yet his cup is empty while in a sea of water noting abundance surrounds him but he does not have.

And I fight back in my mind
Never lets me be right
I've got memories, I've got shit
So much it don't show

The id does not show, but it is there and he is fighting it, struggling against it.

Oh, I walked the line, when you held me in that night
Oh, I walked the line, when you held my hand that night

Walked the line, is this a reference to Johny Cash 'Walk the line'? That song is about being right and doing right to keep the relationship you are committed to. So maybe he did walk the line when had was close to the person of his infatuation.

An empty shell seems so easy to crack
I Got questions, don't know who the fuck I'm ever gonna ask
So I'll just lie alone and wait for a dream
Where I'm not ugly and you're looking at me

Another reference to the loneliness of being enclosed and seperated from others. Then finally knowing he may not be the attractive one he dreams of her wanting him.

And I'll stay in bed
All blue, I've seen hell
If just once I could feel love
Oh, stare back at me

Great reference to the feel of love being returned to him but it wasn't hasn't - didn't stare back at him so it was only a wish or hope.

Oh, I walked the line, when you held me in that night
Oh, I walked the line, when you held my hand that night
Oh, I walked the line, when you held me close that night
Oh, I paid the price, never held you in real life

His short time with her was not real enough to last. Maybe it was just a dream. He paid the price, walked the line but never held in real life.

The id experience is not the real experience.

Hell I don't know but I gave it a shot.

Lukin_oz · December 2007

Its an awesome song.
I guess Ive always listened and interpreted it together with Long Road.
They were released on the same single and Ive always assumed they were linked, as if from the same persons perspective. They were tied in with the Dead Man Walking Soundtrack and I guess Ive always considered Long Road to be about the death row inmate contemplating their own fate beyond the execution and I Got Shit to be them considering their life, memories and all they've left behind.

igotid88 · July 2015

bump

What does I Got Shit mean?

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