I love Pearl Jam. But it is a weird love that involves a complete inability to listen to most of their music without weeping, so I don't listen to them unless I'm prepared and fortified or else am free to cry. I love Pearl Jam. But it is a weird love that involves a complete
inability to listen to most of their music without weeping, so I don't
listen to them unless I'm prepared and fortified or else am free to
cry. And if you knew me, this would surprise you. I'm not the
sentimental type except secretly, in the same way as everyone else who
takes a detached, ironic view of life.
It's partly because Eddie Vedder has that sort of voice and the songs are those sorts of songs. The lyrics to the songs Eddie Vedder writes are deep or at least give that impression (like poetry by Dylan Thomas, say). There's also that aspect of Vedder's singing that involves sometimes seriously mangling the lyrics, no doubt intentionally---which would matter more if I understood the lyrics. There again, maybe I don't want to understand them. Their meaning for me is---and remains---private.
One of my favorite Pearl Jam songs is "Yellow Ledbetter." It's one of those songs I carefully avoided learning anything about. Then one day I succumbed to temptation and looked up the lyrics on the internet. But it was okay, because I totally didn't understand them even after I looked them up. And I don't want to know anymore than I know about them now---it might ruin the deep private significance of this song for me, which has a very particular and very special meaning that's all to do with grief.
On the other hand, I love "misheard lyrics guy" for this one. "What's wrong with you?" Nick asked in alarm. "I thought I heard you laughing? Why are you crying?" I wasn't, exactly. I was giggling, and sniffling, and wiping tears off my face. "Potato wave" started me off, but "Make me fries" just about finished me. I wish "Misheard Lyrics Guy" had done more work in the same line, though I can see it would probably take days to do this:
Misheard lyrics guy writes:
The quintessential misheard lyrics song! A true 90's classic, this may be one of those rare songs that NOBODY has ever really heard the true lyrics!!! It may even be a mystery to the band
Bonus: RodgertheTodger (heh) posted this live version. It's much rougher and to that extent, all the more tear-jerking.
I really want to see "Into the Wild"---I remember a tear-jerking, heart-straining Millennium episode (Luminary) that explored this theme---but I don't know how I will cope with the Vedder soundtrack to the Christopher McCandless story(though at the same time I am longing to hear it). Seems like something I'll only be able to watch/hear only in segments and on Netflix.
Shortly after Pearl Jam released Ten, a disillusioned twenty-something named Christopher McCandless dropped out of society, hitched cross-country and perished in the Alaskan wilderness. Now Eddie Vedder tells the young man's story on the soundtrack to Sean Penn's Into the Wild, tossing his weighty baritone onto earthy, folky tracks that temper the romance of absolute freedom with an eerie foreboding. Vedder strikes a cinematic tone on the jangly opener, “Setting Forth,” and ten more sketches that evoke days spent contemplating a vast skyline. Sleater-Kinney's Corin Tucker adds alluring harmonies to a rollicking cover of Indio's “Hard Sun,” and Vedder, free from the noise (and outrage) of his day job, disappears into the sublime beauty of the simple, banjo-plucked “No Ceiling.” (Rolling Stone)
I'm sitting here crying NOW, just remembering that Millennium episode and the awe-inspiring, thrilling, heart-breaking final words. What will an entire film---with Vedder's soundtrack---do to me?
REVIEW OF "INTO THE WILD"
- New York Times
- Time Magazine
- Sunday Times
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