The End

Bulldog88 · September 2009

This is such a 'punch in the gut' song. I really like it - but am a little worried about where it came from...it sounds really....real. I'm worried. I keep listeneing to it and the gravity of the song is pulling all kinds of emotion out of me. I don't know what to do with this one. Anybody else feel this way??

UnthoughtShawn · September 2009

I felt the same way when I first heard Bugs! I mean, does Eddie have a house that is infested? What if those Bugs carried diseases and somehow got Eddie sick? And what if one was poisonous and killed him? Damn, he better move. We should take up a collection and get him a new house!!

Sorry to be snarky, but I do not think we can assume it is autobiographical. Otherside didn't mean he was dead. I don't think that The End means anything either. Just an awesome song that I can't stop listening too!!!!

Love this CD!

I_Am_Mike · September 2009

Bulldog88 wrote:

This is such a 'punch in the gut' song. I really like it - but am a little worried about where it came from...it sounds really....real. I'm worried. I keep listeneing to it and the gravity of the song is pulling all kinds of emotion out of me. I don't know what to do with this one. Anybody else feel this way??

yea, i know what you mean. but i tend to think (and hope) that its what makes ed such an amazing songcrafter. he can make it feel so personal and real. in an interview ed said the second verse was written after listening to a phone message from a friend in spain while he was in the middle of writing the song. that said, who knows what the truth is? perhaps ed didn't want to reveal too much in the interview. its hard not to wonder because there are obvious parallels, but in the meantime i'll chalk it up as just an amazing and sad song that pulls you in. but i still continue to wish ed, and all my friends threw away the cancer sticks.

Brisk. · September 2009

Dont get why everyone is taking these lyrics so seriously.. :S

LikeAnOcean · September 2009

Bulldog88 wrote:

This is such a 'punch in the gut' song. I really like it - but am a little worried about where it came from...it sounds really....real. I'm worried. I keep listeneing to it and the gravity of the song is pulling all kinds of emotion out of me. I don't know what to do with this one. Anybody else feel this way??

It really is a good song, but yeah..

I wish they ended the album with a happy song.

DiRtyFranK38 · September 2009

great song. but don't worry. i read an interview with ed and he was saying things like "i don't know where those lyrics came from because im certainly not experiencing it, it's just something that came to me and almost felt real in the process of writing it because it was so intense" that was MAJORLY paraphrased. but ed has said things like this concerning the song.

Bulldog88 · September 2009

Thanks for the insight guys! Helps my perspective

I_Am_Mike · September 2009

Brisk. wrote:

Dont get why everyone is taking these lyrics so seriously.. :S

pretty simple. its a song about dying with unavoidable parallels that could be inferred from the lyrics. while it is true that many or most of the songs are not literal, there are also plenty that likely are. Alive comes to mind right off. its also well known that ed smokes. smoking kills. while i still think it is unlikely, its not inconceivable that ed would write a beautiful song from a first-person perspective of what it feels like to know you will be dying soon. dismiss it if you want, but we're just saying that they subject matter and lyrics are haunting in their potential applicability to a first-person account. we all hope its just because ed has the talent to pull it off and that would be the most logical explanation, but if doesn't make you pause and think for just a second, well...then i guess you must think ed will live forever.

Bulldog88 · September 2009

I_Am_Mike wrote:

pretty simple. its a song about dying with unavoidable parallels that could be inferred from the lyrics. while it is true that many or most of the songs are not literal, there are also plenty that likely are. Alive comes to mind right off. its also well known that ed smokes. smoking kills. while i still think it is unlikely, its not inconceivable that ed would write a beautiful song from a first-person perspective of what it feels like to know you will be dying soon. dismiss it if you want, but we're just saying that they subject matter and lyrics are haunting in their potential applicability to a first-person account. we all hope its just because ed has the talent to pull it off and that would be the most logical explanation, but if doesn't make you pause and think for just a second, well...then i guess you must think ed will live forever.

Yes... you said what I was originally thinking - except you said it way better than I did!

dimitrispearljam · September 2009

I_Am_Mike wrote:

Brisk. wrote:

Dont get why everyone is taking these lyrics so seriously.. :S

pretty simple. its a song about dying with unavoidable parallels that could be inferred from the lyrics. while it is true that many or most of the songs are not literal, there are also plenty that likely are. Alive comes to mind right off. its also well known that ed smokes. smoking kills. while i still think it is unlikely, its not inconceivable that ed would write a beautiful song from a first-person perspective of what it feels like to know you will be dying soon. dismiss it if you want, but we're just saying that they subject matter and lyrics are haunting in their potential applicability to a first-person account. we all hope its just because ed has the talent to pull it off and that would be the most logical explanation, but if doesn't make you pause and think for just a second, well...then i guess you must think ed will live forever.

the think is that everybody think the band or Eddie about this,,usally smoke dont put sickness in the bones..and Ed said:
“I got a phone call from a friend, from Spain. I couldn’t pick up the phone because I was recording the guitar part. I had written half the song’s lyrics. When I checked his message, he had said something that enabled me to write the second verse, and in 20 minutes, it was done. That’s how it happened on this record. It was writing the quick ones – there was no room for the other stuff. We’ll see how long approaching it like this goes. But it’s the right way for us to do it right now.”
http://www.twofeetthick.com/2009/09/ed- ... -by-track/

so think positive..

NoOne'sRival · September 2009

IMO The end is the second best tune. While I'm loving the punky jam vibe of the whole record, the best tune for me is JUST BREATHE - I simply cannot stop listening to it. While everyone had their opinions regarding the album, you can't say these two songs don't reach inside and pull out the raw emotion I've become accustomed to PJ doing... They made it happen, yet again, for me and I thank you Pearl Jam.

PearlJamPatriotGirl · September 2009

I get goosebumps everytime I hear "The End". Such a beautiful song...the lyrics, the music, Eddie's voice...it's just plain magical!

slightofjeff · September 2009

To me, I think Ed is envisioning a man on his deathbed -- perhaps flashing forward in his own life, perhaps not -- looking back on his life and asking for redemption, or at least forgiveness, for his faults.

I don't think Ed is predicting his own demise.

justam · September 2009

Maybe it's supposed to be the end of something else? (In the same way that the person is not actually stuck in a well but the well represents that he feels as if he's been left alone, way down, and in the dark.)

pjamaholic · September 2009

DiRtyFranK38 wrote:

great song. but don't worry. i read an interview with ed and he was saying things like "i don't know where those lyrics came from because im certainly not experiencing it, it's just something that came to me and almost felt real in the process of writing it because it was so intense" that was MAJORLY paraphrased. but ed has said things like this concerning the song.

Well it'll be interesting to find out who Eddie is singing about (if he is indeed singing about anyone he knows) but rest assured, it won't be him! If he had the big "c", for instance he wouldn't be well enough to tour. A friend of my husband's and mine smoked weed and cigarettes every day and he got lung cancer, dying within 6 months, it was really quick. Eddie may look somewhat older in recent photos, but he's not looking sick!

elwayvedder · September 2009

sorry if there is another thread for this as i looked...but do you think "The End" has any ties with "Nothingman"? As in maybe it's written about the same "man".

In Nothingman: "one's left inside the well..."
and in "The End": "Looking up from inside of the bottom of a well, it’s hell,
I yell"....

Maybe I am going to deep here but maybe The End is from "Nothingman's" perspective?

doompony · September 2009

yeah. gotta say.. i'm only guessing of course but since he has 2 young kids, dya think he'd be pissfarting around with tours and stuff if he was seriously unwell, or dya think he'd be spending time with his family?

TenDays · January 31

The first time I heard The End was a couple weeks ago in 2026, and I knew the song was from 2009 and I knew that Eddie was still alive, but it still gave me a gut punch like something had happened to him. He is so talented at making everything sound so real. I feel for you guys worrying about him back in 2009! 💗

Lost In Ohio · February 1

It is a gut-punch indeed, especially the end when he's still "singing" (more like talking), but check this one out:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JPOILC6KesE

It was leaked around 2004/2005 which began a rumor it was on the Japanese version of Lost Dogs in place of 4/20/02, but this rumor never came true.

I also heard it was recorded around the time of No Code, which is probably more true, given similarities to I'm Open.

TenDays · February 1

Lost In Ohio said:

but check this one out:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JPOILC6KesE

I found this one just a few days in to my PJ fandom, when I had listened to Black so many times in a row that I was starting to be depressed. I was at a stoplight and googled "Pearl Jam's happiest song." And this is what I got 🤣🤣

Certainly not what I was expecting, but it *is* a very happy song because Ed is still here!

And I am one of those people who would listen to Eddie's voice reading the phone book, so I absolutely love just being able to hear him talk.

I'm so glad you sent it, because whereas I was listening in the car I didn't get the chance to save/favorite it, and then forgot about it.

trees · February 2

Bulldog88 said:

This is such a 'punch in the gut' song. I really like it - but am a little worried about where it came from...it sounds really....real. I'm worried. I keep listeneing to it and the gravity of the song is pulling all kinds of emotion out of me. I don't know what to do with this one. Anybody else feel this way??

I heard this song live for one of his first times singing it .
Its intense .
And surreal.

The End

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