Meanings

GhostChile said:

KV4053 said:

kmcmanus said:

Um there’s lots of politics here, it just isn’t hitting us over the head with it

That is my interpretation also.

wich songs do you think are about politics?

I don't normally spend a lot of time analyzing the lyrics. I let it evolve over time. However, the lyrics of individual songs and the collection as a whole is thematic in my mind. That's why I believe it is a concept album which uses a relationship, an individual in many songs, to symbolize broader relationships. Broader relationships with whom? I believe it is the divided country or at least the extremes of this divided country. Something Special is the exception to what I'm thinking.

To answer your question specifically, give me a few days to absorb the album more. I'm five full listens in, but I definitely need a few more spins. With this album, for some reason I am only listening to it as a whole rather than individual songs.

kmcmanus said:

You think “arrested the press, no one knows what happened next” (just for 1 example) is about relationships rather than about say Putin?

That's clearly about Trump

"Following the release of Pearl Jam‘s new album “Dark Matter,” frontman Eddie Vedder has revealed the rationale behind political song “Wreckage.”

Speaking to the U.K.’s Sunday Times, Vedder said of the song: “There is a guy in the United States who is still saying he didn’t lose an election, and people are reverberating and amplifying that message as if it is true. Trump is desperate. I don’t think there has ever been a candidate more desperate to win, just to keep himself out of prison and to avoid bankruptcy. It is all on the line, and he’s out there playing the victim — at least they’re doing this to me, because if not they would be doing it to you — but you haven’t falsified your tax records. You don’t have classified information in your basement. So the song is saying, let’s not be driven apart by one person, especially not a person without any worthy causes.”

In light of this nugget -- which, I still don't hear Wreckage as a political song -- what if every lyric that feels like it's about divorce or a breakup is about breaking up with your country? What if it's using the idea of trying to save a marriage as an allegory for trying to save our country or way of life?

I'm just spitballing and mostly taken aback by the quote above.

slightofjeff said:

"Following the release of Pearl Jam‘s new album “Dark Matter,” frontman Eddie Vedder has revealed the rationale behind political song “Wreckage.”

Speaking to the U.K.’s Sunday Times, Vedder said of the song: “There is a guy in the United States who is still saying he didn’t lose an election, and people are reverberating and amplifying that message as if it is true. Trump is desperate. I don’t think there has ever been a candidate more desperate to win, just to keep himself out of prison and to avoid bankruptcy. It is all on the line, and he’s out there playing the victim — at least they’re doing this to me, because if not they would be doing it to you — but you haven’t falsified your tax records. You don’t have classified information in your basement. So the song is saying, let’s not be driven apart by one person, especially not a person without any worthy causes.”

In light of this nugget -- which, I still don't hear Wreckage as a political song -- what if every lyric that feels like it's about divorce or a breakup is about breaking up with your country? What if it's using the idea of trying to save a marriage as an allegory for trying to save our country or way of life?

I'm just spitballing and mostly taken aback by the quote above.

This is interesting. I saw this and looked at the lyrics again and still not really understanding the connection to Donald Trump. I was picking up on a lot of societal themes throughout the album, but not so much with this track.

slightofjeff said:

Lifted said:

slightofjeff said:

"Following the release of Pearl Jam‘s new album “Dark Matter,” frontman Eddie Vedder has revealed the rationale behind political song “Wreckage.”

Speaking to the U.K.’s Sunday Times, Vedder said of the song: “There is a guy in the United States who is still saying he didn’t lose an election, and people are reverberating and amplifying that message as if it is true. Trump is desperate. I don’t think there has ever been a candidate more desperate to win, just to keep himself out of prison and to avoid bankruptcy. It is all on the line, and he’s out there playing the victim — at least they’re doing this to me, because if not they would be doing it to you — but you haven’t falsified your tax records. You don’t have classified information in your basement. So the song is saying, let’s not be driven apart by one person, especially not a person without any worthy causes.”

In light of this nugget -- which, I still don't hear Wreckage as a political song -- what if every lyric that feels like it's about divorce or a breakup is about breaking up with your country? What if it's using the idea of trying to save a marriage as an allegory for trying to save our country or way of life?

I'm just spitballing and mostly taken aback by the quote above.

This is interesting. I saw this and looked at the lyrics again and still not really understanding the connection to Donald Trump. I was picking up on a lot of societal themes throughout the album, but not so much with this track.

There's a part of me that believes the writer of that piece has the song title wrong and Ed is talking about a different one, most likely the title track. But interesting nonetheless.

I dont know, there's a few publications that said the same thing, but the title track would certainly make more obvious sense.

From my perspective, the album can be about our relationships with our fellow Americans and not be about Orangeman. However, I do believe there are some indirect references.