PJ fans in 12 step Recovery

mickeyrat · August 2008

fairly new to the board and I was wondering how many like me are out there.Doesn't matter to which fellowship you may be a part of.Curious to know how certain songs or lyrics aid in your recovery.and while certianly fictional what lessons do you get from PJ's work.

Piper At The Gates · August 2008

There are so many PJ tunes that I find apply but I think the best is," Saw things so much clearer, in my Rearviewmirror". Stay clean and sober, it's well worth it as time goes on.

Keiran · August 2008

Congrats on taking the 12 step journey!!!! I've never been there but I have seen a 12 step program revolutionize my mother in law's life. And therefore increase the quality of the lives of everyone around her. Best of luck and hang on for the ride - it's worth it.

Damn Piper - I was gonna say "RVM"! Every time I hear "I gathered speed from you fucking with me" I hold up a gigantic middle finger to the person who emotionally abused me for 45 years. Music = Freedom
Peace

norm · August 2008

Underneath this smile lies everything
all my hopes, anger, pride and shame

make yourself a pact, not to shut doors on the past
just for today,... I am free

I will not lose my faith
It's an inside job today

I know this one thing well,...

I used to try and kill love, it was the highest sin
breathing insecurity out and in

Searching hope, I'm shown the way to run straight
pursuing the greater way for all,... human light.

How I choose to feel,... Is how I am.
How I choose to feel,... Is how I am.

I will not lose my faith
It's an inside job today

Holding on, the light of night
On my knees to rise and fix my broken soul

Again.

Let me run into the rain
To be a human light again

Let me run into the rain
To shine a human light today

Life comes from within your heart and desire
Life comes from within my heart and desire
Life comes from within your heart and desire

oldfannewposter · August 2008

Rearview seems to be looking back on the shit... but when you begin your journey after being in a booze/drug haze for a long time it's more like...

My lips are shakin
My nails are bit off
Its been a month since Ive heard myself talk
All this advantage this lifes got on me
Picture a coffin in the middle of the sea

The 12 steps can really be simplified to taking care of your business, and everything else will take care of itself.

saw that new post too... inside job is a great one as well.

mickeyrat · August 2008

should have clarified.I'm new to the pit.I've been the rooms for awhile now and my life is incredibly better. It's just even when still using I interpreted certain songs that way(recovery).Like EWBCIAST that song just killed me.WAAAAAY back early nineties, Wash floored me enough that I tossed the tape.Couldn't let go.And then , when I was ready Wash still meant the same thing to me.Lost Dogs has a bunch of stuff The Dogs disc first 6 or 7 songs.Strange Tribe spoke to me about my new recovery family (line about angled light i.e. new perspective). From the Seattle "scene" Alice in Chains always seemed to be about the problem and PJ spoke massively of hope in a despairing kinda way.and the last disc "avocado" yeah definately Inside Job and Life Wasted speaks directly about what I left behind.

locked · August 2008

so spooky because I had the exact same thought of starting a thread like this..

Have been in recovery for about 3 years now..

I read portions of the lyrics to "Thumbing My Way" and "Inside Job" to my AA group after I got my one year chip..

I use Mike McCready as my inspiration...

You can be sober and a head-banging rocker as well!

Lots of recovery themes in PJ songs...

welcome to the "Inside Job"-site thread, I guess?!

Piper At The Gates · August 2008

You all have it so right with Inside Job and I Got Shit. It does come from inside. We have to draw strength from within to keep putting days of sobriety together. to have that resolve to say that no matter what, I will not lose my faith in myself, every day.

mickeyrat · August 2008

imagine dvd Mike saying "to say I'm obsessed is an understatement...."
i was like YEAHHH!So many more songs that I've often wondered if ed and the boys have read the Big Book and used those themes in writing.seems like so many themes of songs correspond with with whats written. BUt those are times I need to remember that I'm bodily and mentally different from my fellows and that generally "normies" think and act , well , normally.Any way I do draw inspiration from just about all their stuff.

potluck · August 2008

inside job is definately about what goes on during the road to recovery.

The 12 steps are a great way to get your life back on track but dont work for everyone. Good luck and hang in there. I hope the steps continue to do what they are suppose to for you.

Find yourself and the rest is easy.

kidrock9904 · August 2008

I been coming around awhile now. I often wonder about alot of their songs and sobriety. Its fun to listen to good music sober. Whole new meanings.

One Became Five · August 2008

after I got my one year chip..

congratulations on that milestone!

i was a week away from my year chip and slipped.

mickeyrat · August 2008

one became five,

before my wife and I got married, she went out to celebrate graduating a summer paralegal program on her ten month day.now realizes she shouldn't have gone because she was uncomfortable to begin with. We both learned a valuable lesson from that. For me , I'm to work my own program and for her she will never not need the rooms and everything that goes with them.At that time a good friend eased her mind over this by telling her she really didn't lose anything.his analogy was if i'm walking to the store and fall down half way there I don't get up and start from the beginning , I get up and keep going.

I hope you took from that experience of yours somme lessons you can apply.We did annd we're stronger individually and as a couple.

mrbako · August 2008

I am not involved with aa anymore, but it was defintely helpful for me early in sobriety. Anyway, present tense.......

jmurray · August 2008

I have faced it,... A life wasted,...
I'm never going back again.

Reminds me of the bottom and not wanting back there again.

pauly-p · August 2008

Oh...the lights of this city.....they only look good when I'm speeding......ohhhh...this time I'm gone, so long, this time I'm gone....I'm gone!

locked · August 2008

Chris Cornell is in recovery and his lyrics to "Cochise" from Audioslave seem to be 12 step themed:

Well I been watchin’
While you been coughin
I’ve been drinking life
While you been nausous
And so I drink to health
While you kill yourself
And I got just one thing
That I can offer

Go and save yourself
Take it out on me
Go and and save yourself
Take it out on me yea

Well I’m not a martyr
I’m not a prophet
And I won’t preach to you
But heres a caution
You better understand
That I won’t hold your hand
But if it helps you mend
Then I won’t stop it
*********************

I also see imagery of steps one and four in "Burden in my Hand"(Soundgarden)..to me its about the days when my disease controlled me..with selfishness and wallowing in my own dirt..
I imagine Chris was probably going through the same things when he wrote it..

Follow me into the desert
As thirsty as you are
Crack a smile and cut your mouth
And drown in alcohol
cause down below the truth is lying
Beneath the riverbed
So quench yourself and drink the water
That flows below her head

I shot my love today
would you cry for me?
I lost my head again
would you lie for me?
I left her in the sand
just a burden in my hand
I lost my head again
would you cry for me?

Close your eyes
and bow your head
I need a little sympathy
cause fear is strong
and loves for everyone
Who isnt me
So kill your health
and kill yourself
And kill everything you love
And if you live
you can fall to pieces
And suffer with my ghost
Just a burden in my hand
Just an anchor on my heart
Just a tumor in my head
And Im in the dark

So follow me into the desert
As desperate as you are
Where the moon is glued
to a picture of heaven
And all the little pigs have god

mickeyrat · August 2008

well hell , almost the whole audioslave disc "out of exile " speaks to recovery for me.even alot of soundgarden speaks to recovery in a weird way.

pearlfanjam · August 2008

Struggle
1 : to make strenuous or violent efforts in the face of difficulties or opposition <struggling with the problem>
2 : to proceed with difficulty or with great effort <struggled through the high grass> <struggling to make a living>
this lyric is from Indifference

I'll swallow poison till I grow Immune (Disturbing)

mickeyrat · August 2008

another good line from indifference is "I'll keep taking punches til their will grows tired."

the things I seem to struggle with are the day to day mundane things. so far the desire to be and stay sober are far stronger than any desire or fleeting thought to get messed up.Fortunately I've got a good sponser and an awesome home group.meets 7 days a week.

ChadsStillAlive · August 2008

Awesome thread. I have always thought about starting one like this, but just never have. Thanks for getting this discussion going. The whole PJ experience is a spiritual one for me, so therefore just about everything within it relates to my recovery. When I saw PJ at MSG this year, I was very, very emotional, particularly on Night 1. The song "Down," (played at that show) is one that comes to mind immediately. I actually quoted it Tuesday night in my meeting: "If hope can grow from dirt like me, it can be done," i.e. if I can do it, so can you - Miracles Happen.

Pearl Jam and McCready's story are all about hope and the strength of faith, trust and love to bring us into the light and ensure us that life is a gift and everything will work out in the end. So it turns out for me that PJ is another extension or appendage of my recovery, Higher Power and the 12 Steps.

PJ fans in 12 step Recovery

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