Parachutes

pearljamfan11
pearljamfan11 Posts: 50
edited May 2006 in Words and Music...Communication
I've listened to the new album a lot, and the song I'm having the most trouble understanding is Parachutes, so I thought I'd turn to you guys and see if you had any opinions on what it's about.
He who forgets will be destined to remember.
Post edited by Unknown User on

Comments

  • pearljamfan11
    pearljamfan11 Posts: 50
    Nobody has an opinion??? I find that hard to believe!
    He who forgets will be destined to remember.
  • tarotvixen
    tarotvixen Posts: 62
    to me it sounds like getting over the divorce from Beth and how happy Eddie is with his life and Jill but I often screw these things up
    2003 Bris 8 &9, Syd 11 &13, Melb 18, 19 &20
    2006 Vegas, San Diego, LA 9 & 10, San Francisco 15 &16, The Gorge 22 & 23, Syd 7 &8, Melb 13, 14 &16 Melb 20 2009, Buffalo Oct 12; Brooklyn Oct 18 & 19; Hartford Oct 25 2013
  • RadioYam
    RadioYam Posts: 102
    tarotvixen wrote:
    to me it sounds like getting over the divorce from Beth and how happy Eddie is with his life and Jill but I often screw these things up


    yeah, something like that...
  • Ms. Haiku
    Ms. Haiku Washington DC Posts: 7,389
    I guess a question to ask is if this is not about Ed what would it be about? I think this is the angle I have to start from because in an interview Ed mentioned he's trying more story-telling. For me, the first thing I think about is "Who would this be about if I passed this person on the street?"

    Also, I don't think it's all that happy. I think it's about appreciating the good from the past to appreciate the bad from the past, and how we learn from the past to appreciate what is current. However, I just don't sense happiness here at all. The protagonist mentions love in the last line, but this isn't the only song on this album where I think it's a throw-away sentiment. It doesn't work with the rest of the lyric. The rest of the lyric is much more powerful.
    There is no such thing as leftover pizza. There is now pizza and later pizza. - anonymous
    The risk I took was calculated, but man, am I bad at math - The Mincing Mockingbird
  • pearljamfan11
    pearljamfan11 Posts: 50
    I think the divorce theory is closest, even if it's not about Ed. I think this one will be a mystery for me, maybe they'll give a little nugget away in an interview someday...
    He who forgets will be destined to remember.
  • 1wrdistillbelieve
    1wrdistillbelieve Posts: 51
    I think it's about finding a new kind of love only having a baby can bring to you, plus his relationship now and them....maybe....
    "The answers are fatal..."

    "My lips are shakin'....

    "And Love,...Wish the world would go again with Love
    One can't seem to have enough."

    www.myspace.com/jenlovespearljam
  • Ms. Haiku
    Ms. Haiku Washington DC Posts: 7,389
    Why deny
    All the troubles when combined
    With the missing links
    It don't feel like
    Home now,...

    That you're gone
    All the troubles
    suddenly explained infinitum
    You're always wishing and
    Never here at
    Home

    You
    All the dreams we shared and
    Lights we turned on
    But the house is getting dark

    And I don't want to know your past
    But together share the dawn
    And I won't need

    Nothing else
    Cause when we're dead
    We would've had it all

    And died
    I would've fallen from the sky
    Til you
    Parachutes have opened now

    Heaven knows if there's a ceiling
    come so low with the kneeling
    Please know that
    I got

    All the friends I'm needing
    Before my light goes out
    As the doors are closing now

    And far away will be my home
    And to grasp this, I don't know
    And I don't need

    Further back and forth, a wave will break on me today
    And love,... Wish the world could go again with love
    One cant seem to have enough
    And war,.... Break the sky and tell me what it's for
    I'll travel there on my own
    And love,.... What a different life
    Had I not found this love with you

    Are you sure it's not about a one-night stand? I was reviewing these words, and this just popped out at me:

    And I don't want to know your past
    But together share the dawn

    When looked at as a one-night stand after a break-up it looks a little different. Sentiment is all over the place though, and it is harder to understand the more I read it. Also, I just don't think this is a love song to anyone because of the line about having friends that are needed. Friends are needed during breakups that's for sure. Home is far away, maybe with an ex-partner, even though when the partner was around the house was dark. ?????
    There is no such thing as leftover pizza. There is now pizza and later pizza. - anonymous
    The risk I took was calculated, but man, am I bad at math - The Mincing Mockingbird
  • 1wrdistillbelieve
    1wrdistillbelieve Posts: 51
    Ms. Haiku wrote:
    Why deny
    All the troubles when combined
    With the missing links
    It don't feel like
    Home now,...

    That you're gone
    All the troubles
    suddenly explained infinitum
    You're always wishing and
    Never here at
    Home

    You
    All the dreams we shared and
    Lights we turned on
    But the house is getting dark

    And I don't want to know your past
    But together share the dawn
    And I won't need

    Nothing else
    Cause when we're dead
    We would've had it all

    And died
    I would've fallen from the sky
    Til you
    Parachutes have opened now

    Heaven knows if there's a ceiling
    come so low with the kneeling
    Please know that
    I got

    All the friends I'm needing
    Before my light goes out
    As the doors are closing now

    And far away will be my home
    And to grasp this, I don't know
    And I don't need

    Further back and forth, a wave will break on me today
    And love,... Wish the world could go again with love
    One cant seem to have enough
    And war,.... Break the sky and tell me what it's for
    I'll travel there on my own
    And love,.... What a different life
    Had I not found this love with you

    Are you sure it's not about a one-night stand? I was reviewing these words, and this just popped out at me:

    And I don't want to know your past
    But together share the dawn

    When looked at as a one-night stand after a break-up it looks a little different. Sentiment is all over the place though, and it is harder to understand the more I read it. Also, I just don't think this is a love song to anyone because of the line about having friends that are needed. Friends are needed during breakups that's for sure. Home is far away, maybe with an ex-partner, even though when the partner was around the house was dark. ?????

    Metaphorically speaking...don't want to know your past
    But together share the dawn---Let's start anew and move forward.
    "The answers are fatal..."

    "My lips are shakin'....

    "And Love,...Wish the world would go again with Love
    One can't seem to have enough."

    www.myspace.com/jenlovespearljam
  • Ms. Haiku
    Ms. Haiku Washington DC Posts: 7,389
    1wrdistillbelieve wrote:
    Metaphorically speaking...don't want to know your past
    But together share the dawn---Let's start anew and move forward.
    It's such a concrete one-night-stand reference, but I can see how it can be a metaphor. Just that line though. The rest is still not hopeful, or rather if it's suppose to illustrate a grounded love, I don't see it. I see a break-up.
    There is no such thing as leftover pizza. There is now pizza and later pizza. - anonymous
    The risk I took was calculated, but man, am I bad at math - The Mincing Mockingbird

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