Which song don't you get?

Strutter · January 2007

Eddie Vedder about "Daughter":

The child in that song obviously has a learning difficulty. And it's only in the last few years that they've actually been able to diagnose these learning disabilities that before were looked at as misbehaviour, as just outright fucking rebelliousness. But no one knew what it was. And these kids, because they seemed unable or reluctant to learn, they'd end up getting the shit beaten outta them. The songs ends, you know, with this idea of the shades going down--so that the neighbours can't see what happens next. What hurts about shit like that is that it ends up defining peoples' lives. They have to live with that abuse for the rest of their lives. Good, creative people are just fucking destroyed

-hope that helps you all with the interpretation :-)

Shapur · January 2007

I don't get a few lines of Immortality.

Lifted · January 2007

DOSW wrote:

Yep. But I think the "the picture kept will remind me" line makes no sense.

i don't understand the confusion about the "daughter" lyrics. i could be wrong but to me it all makes perfect sense. don't call me daughter, not fit to be is just saying that don't call me your daughter, cause you fucked up and you're not a fit parent....the picture kept will remind me is just saying i know where i come from and always will but i will never respect you as a father. the girl could be talking about her mother too, but i think both parents are mentioned in this song, and i think its more about a father/daughter relationship. the father abuses the daughter and the mother turns the other cheek. that's just my interpretation. SHE HOLDS THE HAND THAT HOLDS HER DOWN

Flannel Shirt · January 2007

Ms. Haiku wrote:

Parachutes seems to flip flop between sentiments. I don't know if it is a song about staying together, just meeting, or about to leave.

thought it was similiar to cant keep

I have trouble with Hail Hail.

ycckk · June 2007

i have "Present Tense" playing.......any thoughts....i love this love version...from philly....just dont' get the message.

korby · June 2007

what does that mean ?

wavescamecrashing · June 2007

black.

JOKE

slightofjeff · June 2007

Double post. Deleted. See below.

slightofjeff · June 2007

catefrances wrote:

neh. the mother has too many expectations on the girl that she can't live up to. no matter how hard she tries she can't be what her mother wants. the mother resents her for it, just as the daughter 'hates' the mother for those unreal expectations. why can't she love her daughter for who she is, not what she wants her to be.
this is my opinion anyway.

I think that's part of daughter. but I also think it's much, much darker than that.

"The shades go down ... " to me, in an ominous line. No one knows what's going on behind those drawn shades. And what's going on, in my view, is the Daughter is being sexually molested.

It's not just that she's a bad mother, or he's a bad father. It's that they've done the one thing that completely nullifies the father-daughter relationship. They've crossed a line and there's no going back. A father can't do this to his daughter and still be a father. A mother can't let it happen and still be a mother. The protagonist is saying, "Don't call me daughter if you're going to treat me like your whore."

And notice, the lyrics in the chorus switch back and forth.

Don't call me daughter, not fit to
Don't call me daughter, not fit to be

There's a difference.

Here, the daughter switches back and forth between blaming her parents for what they've done to her, and blaming herself.

It's, "Don't call me daughter, because you're not fit to call me that." and "Don't call me daughter, because I'm not fit to be your daughter."

It's sick, and twisted. Psychologically, this is a phenomenon common with sexually molested children. They think somehow it's their fault, that they've led their parents to do this to them.

And of course, the last line of the last chorus ends with "Don't call me." Period. To me, it suggests the daughter has gotten out. Maybe she's grown up and moved on and begun to come to terms with what happened to her. And she's left. Moved out. Moved on. Started over. She's cut all ties with her family, and has no desire to stay in touch with her horrific past. Don't call me.

Daughter is just a fascinating, fascinating study for me. I think if people really knew what it was about, it might not have ever been a "radio hit."

slightofjeff · June 2007

Brez wrote:

Two songs... Lowlight and Off He Goes. I love quite a few of the lines from both songs, but the overall meaning of those songs just zip right over my head. I'm sure there are plenty of you who know.

Ah, you better stop me before I begin ... Off He Goes is one of my favorite songs.

Specifically, the song is about ed getting famous, becoming a rock star, becoming this scowling guy on the cover of Time magazine. And it's written from the perspective of someone who knew ed way back when, before all this fame, fortune and surrounding bullshit happened.

The "man" in "know a man ... " is Ed, basically.

Imagine, for moment, that you knew Ed in high school. He was basically a normal guy. Maybe you sat behind him in Algebra class. He was friendly. He seemed happy. You hung out with him at parties on the weekend. He was normal. Just an average joe.

Now, let's say you both graduate, move on, and lose touch. And five years later, here's that guy, the normal guy who sat in front of you in Algebra, and now he's the biggest rock star in the world. And, what's more, he seemed really, really pissed off about it. You see his face on the cover of a magazine at your supermarket. And the face looks angry.

"But I seen his picture ... it doesn't look the same upon the rack." The rack, in that line, is a magazine rack.

The song, specifically, is about people in ed's past trying to reconcile what has become of their old friend.

Universally, however, I think this song is about something we all can relate to ... growing up, getting older, trying to hold on to our past even as we become more and more disconnected from it.

Since leaving college and what not, I've had hundreds of "Off He Goes" moments. You go back home to a party or something, and reconnect with all these old friends you haven't seen in years. And you start to talking. And laughing. And swapping tales from the old days. "Like we always did, my same old friend."

Nothing's changed but the surrounding bullshit, as it were.

But then the night starts to wear on. And you start to check your watch. And you remember you've got to be at work early the next day. And you've got to get that power-point presentation finished before bed tonight .... yada yada yada. It's like you mentally check out of the reunion before it's over. Real life comes back at you.

And before your first step, you are off again.

It's really a kind of sad song, and one ed must had to have been pretty self-aware to write. He basically wrote, in the third person, a song about himself being a shitty friend.

And this song convicts me every time I hear it. Just a brilliant piece of songwriting.

slightofjeff · June 2007

Coming back to life wrote:

Hail Hail. Is it about not wanting to be together? Wanting to be together?

It's about wanting to be together ... but the person you want to be with is driving you up a fucking wall, basically.

It's probably the most sarcastic "love song" of all-time, a hipper version of "Love Stinks."

"If you're the only one then I'll never be enough ..." That line right there is the thesis of the song.

Someone else can translate the bit about being woman enough to be my man, though. Haven't wrapped my yet around that one.

ChrisD · June 2007

slightofjeff wrote:

Ah, you better stop me before I begin ... Off He Goes is one of my favorite songs.

Specifically, the song is about ed getting famous, becoming a rock star, becoming this scowling guy on the cover of Time magazine. And it's written from the perspective of someone who knew ed way back when, before all this fame, fortune and surrounding bullshit happened.

The "man" in "know a man ... " is Ed, basically.

Imagine, for moment, that you knew Ed in high school. He was basically a normal guy. Maybe you sat behind him in Algebra class. He was friendly. He seemed happy. You hung out with him at parties on the weekend. He was normal. Just an average joe.

Now, let's say you both graduate, move on, and lose touch. And five years later, here's that guy, the normal guy who sat in front of you in Algebra, and now he's the biggest rock star in the world. And, what's more, he seemed really, really pissed off about it. You see his face on the cover of a magazine at your supermarket. And the face looks angry.

"But I seen his picture ... it doesn't look the same upon the rack." The rack, in that line, is a magazine rack.

The song, specifically, is about people in ed's past trying to reconcile what has become of their old friend.

Universally, however, I think this song is about something we all can relate to ... growing up, getting older, trying to hold on to our past even as we become more and more disconnected from it.

Since leaving college and what not, I've had hundreds of "Off He Goes" moments. You go back home to a party or something, and reconnect with all these old friends you haven't seen in years. And you start to talking. And laughing. And swapping tales from the old days. "Like we always did, my same old friend."

Nothing's changed but the surrounding bullshit, as it were.

But then the night starts to wear on. And you start to check your watch. And you remember you've got to be at work early the next day. And you've got to get that power-point presentation finished before bed tonight .... yada yada yada. It's like you mentally check out of the reunion before it's over. Real life comes back at you.

And before your first step, you are off again.

It's really a kind of sad song, and one ed must had to have been pretty self-aware to write. He basically wrote, in the third person, a song about himself being a shitty friend.

And this song convicts me every time I hear it. Just a brilliant piece of songwriting.

I agree with your explanation but i do have a question about one line.

"Before his first step he's off again"

if it was "before our first step..." i could get into the friendship idea but "his first step" implies that that person appearantly needs to take a first step at something. That one line really led me to think about drug abuse of some sort. The "strain" coming back perhaps meaning the addiction kicks in again and the persons thoughts drift away.

Another explanation could be that it is infact Ed and the mentioned "strain" is the strong political, moral need to fight for justice which Ed may be (in a way) suffering from. This is a little more farfetched but aligns better with the idea that it is about Ed.

Other than that I can totally go with your version.

wavescamecrashing · June 2007

i thought off he goes was about jack irons...

and that 'woman enough to be my man' is my fave line in that song.

i think its to do with trust, like bringing her into his point of view directly, empathy as opposed to understanding.

MrFadedGlory · June 2007

acutejam wrote:

Love Boat Captain -- Oh I understand it well enough, i just don't GET it...

quote]

gotta love LBC...my take is that it is about the fact that love is the most important thing to embrace in life and unfortunately many never seem to get it and if they do it always takes a long time going through life "wanting"before you realize love is in fact the most important...I don't know virtue I guess. In addition there are so many terrible things that happen in life that it makes you question your faith. I also believe the captain to be God or your own personal belief system which should encompass love as the foundation for perseverance and happiness.
I don't get in the song "saying no" why he sings "keep quiet like they taught us"; he talking about him or her; because she is saying "no", which is not exactly keeping quiet...maybe he is talking about other weaker individuals; I just don't know.

ChrisD · June 2007

clairenordon wrote:

i thought off he goes was about jack irons...

and that 'woman enough to be my man' is my fave line in that song.

i think its to do with trust, like bringing her into his point of view directly, empathy as opposed to understanding.

I think you're confusing Off he goes with the song Hail, Hail.

Hitch-Hiker · June 2007

Last Exit, Spin the Black Circle, Whipping.
I don't see the attraction at all. I can't understand why so many people think Vitalogy is the best album. Doesn't make any sense.

slightofjeff · June 2007

ChrisD wrote:

if it was "before our first step..." i could get into the friendship idea but "his first step" implies that that person appearantly needs to take a first step at something.

Actually, the line is before HIS first step. And I don't really agree with the "addiction" interpretation, because it doesn't really fit with the rest of the song, or anything ed has said about the song while introducing it in concert.

"This song is about friendship," ed says, "It's about being friends with an asshole."

What the "his first step" line means is this:

This guy is checking out of the friendship again before the night's even over. It's like I said before, you've got these friends that are reuniting, and everything is exactly as it was back in the day, everybody is having a good time reconnecting, sharing stories about the good old days ... and then this guy starts to drift back into the present. In the back of his mind, he's starting to think about getting going. Before the night is over, he's already back in his own little world.

He seems distracted and I know just what is going to happen next ... before his first step, he's off again.

It has nothing to do with addiction, unless by addiction you mean a job, a life, responsibilities ... anything that would draw one away from the friendship.

It means that before he's even out the door, he's gone.

Another explanation could be that it is infact Ed and the mentioned "strain" is the strong political, moral need to fight for justice which Ed may be (in a way) suffering from.

The "strain" ed writes about is everything he was going through personally and professionally at the time. Remember when this song was written. It was one of the most turbulent times in the band's history. They were fighting with the record company, fighting with the press, fighting Ticketmaster, barely touring and barely speaking to one another. The strain is all of that.

And what this song is about is someone from ed's past watching all this from afar and going, "I used to know that guy. But now I don't even fucking recognize him."

Then they do get together again, reunite, and to everyone's surprise, it is just like the good old days ... but only for a moment ... then those strains begin to creep back in, distracting him, and Ed is gone, out the door, off again -- if not physically, the emotionally.

Dustin51 · June 2007

TrixieCat wrote:

I remember reading somewhere that Daughter used to be son or brother or something in the male sense. That was how he used to sing it live before recording it. Can anyone back this up?
Also I think Off He Goes is about Ed. I think I heard that too. Makes sense to me. You loose sight of your true self when so many people are pulling from you emotionally every night. But even when he comes back down, the same old shit is going on and nothing has changed. It's all good.

I believe he refers to "daughter" as "brother" on the new years 1992 cd. I always assumed that daughter was ed's own personal experience with his step brothers maybe. I know he has a good relationship with them now but it always made sense to me that he was singing dont call me brother because in truth he wasn't a full member of his family. He was sort of a bastard child in his eyes. And lets be honest Ed was maybe a little sefl absorbed back in those days.

I have no idea if any of this post is true mind you. This is all in my own head so....

Dustin51 · June 2007

Dustin51 wrote:

I believe he refers to "daughter" as "brother" on the new years 1992 cd. I always assumed that daughter was ed's own personal experience with his step brothers maybe. I know he has a good relationship with them now but it always made sense to me that he was singing dont call me brother because in truth he wasn't a full member of his family. He was sort of a bastard child in his eyes. And lets be honest Ed was maybe a little sefl absorbed back in those days.

I have no idea if any of this post is true mind you. This is all in my own head so....

Oh and the picture kept maybe its the one picture of his real father that he has or something.

Dustin51 · June 2007

Anyone explained Low Light yet?

By the way...I pretty much have my own meaning for just about every song and I don't really know the lyrics for very many of them. I just kind of make them up as I sing along.

Which song don't you get?

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