Which songs by Pearl Jam get your blood pumping. Which songs get that pedal to metal? Which songs make you want to rip the head off your sister/brothers barbie? Which songs make you want to destroy the neighbors flower bed with your bike? Which song makes you want to bite the recess ladies breast?

My little brother committed suicide last week. He was 40yo and successful and married with kids and had all the things, on paper. We were both big pearl jam fans and saw many shows together over the years. We had a really wonderful, memorable night in 2024 seeing the Dark Matter tour. I am trying to pick a song I’d like played at his funeral. I am really leaning towards Setting Sun. I have listened to all the ‘funeral’ songs but this one really resonates with me. I am very sensitive to songs that are too literal and will upset his wife or our parents… his death was suicide in a violent way. Should I worry about this and the particular lyrics in this song or do what feels close to my heart? We didn’t connect over this song particularly but it is one of my favourites from the album. Love you my favourite brother ….

Suddenly lost this beautiful person.

Release me.

Oh, it's a fragile thing, this life we lead
If I think too much, I can get over-Whelmed by the grace, by which we live our lives With death over our shoulders

I really think Dark Matter is the best Pearl Jam album of all time

The lyrics are better. I can say that, at most times, they are perfect. And extremely cohesive. Only time and experience can build up a lyricist of this level.

If you really think about the lyrics, they are emotional and superb.

The melodies are fascinating and strinking.

The arrangement is outstanding and they are playing like it was the last time they played. The solos... amazing.

A grown up, intense and catchy collection of songs, full of emotional charge.

Full of energy, full of rock and roll desire to move people.

And, if you don't like Something Special, I must say you never learned some of the most important things in life. This is a superb song. A true father knows what it is about. Makes a grown man cry.

Well, sorry for the honesty.

I hope I can find someone here that thinks like me.

Mine is from Rats from Vs… “lick the dirt off Olajuwon’s feet” as in Hakeem Olajuwon. I can’t unhear it, and it’s been that way since Vs. came out.

For my Dad. Absolutely love it. The Dad is my Dad’s handwriting. Wanted to share with the group

“I study your face 
the fear goes away”

I was 33 with this song came out. Thought it was good. I was too young to understand it and feel it. Now, 46, married to the same amazing woman for 23 years with 3 kids and friends and loved ones that have lost good health or worse…this song hits so hard. It’s brought me to tears a few times recently…”if I think too much I can get overwhelmed by the grace…

By which we live our lives 
With death over our shoulder

Want you to know
That should I go I always loved you
Held you high above, true”

So heavy and just a bunch of beautiful lyrics. Love the harmonizing on the heaviest lyrics too.

Love this band so much!

The Avocado album has grown on me some since it first came out in 2006. I loved “Life Wasted” and “Unemployable” immediately, but a lot of the album just did not hit me like Riot Act before it or Backspacer afterwards. “Come Back” seemed very simplistic and “Last Kiss”-y, and I usually skipped it.

In recent years, however, it would come up on Pandora or Spotify and I gave it a deeper listen. Ed’s lyrics, as usual, were profound…and I was struck by how a song with only 4 chords could seem to have so many changes (the structure of the song, when you play it, is actually really interesting in how it uses those 4 simple chords).

When I lost my soul dog Ruby last year, “Come Back” became yet another example of how heavily these guys can hammer a song into your heart. Almost 20 years after it came out, “Come Back” became a channel for my grief and I can’t tell you how many times I’ve played it on repeat, crying, singing along, and strumming F/C/Bb/Am along to it on my guitar.

I had the same experience when I was 14, going through some shit and listening to “Release.” I love that this band continues to have this effect on not just me, but the majority of its loyal fanbase who have followed them throughout the years. We all have a Pearl Jam song that’s done this to us…or multiple songs, for some of us.

Pearl Jam fans know this catharsis, and it’s what makes us Jamily.

Thanks, Ed. Once again…

I had Vitology in middle school but didn't really listen to it much. I was so excited to rediscover them recently. And so much great music to listen to.

My new favorite song is Just Breathe. The lyrics remind me of how I feel and think when I'm in a good place and it's a reminder to stay in the right headspace.

So, what song speaks for you?

…when I realized Eddie was saying “don’t know if I’m the boxer or the bag” in yellow Ledbetter and I think I have a new favorite PJ line.

JFC I’ve been listening to this song for 30 fucking years 😅

https://faroutmagazine.co.uk/in-1991-eddie-vedder-couldnt-finish-the-lyrics-to-a-pearl-jam-song-it-has-now-been-streamed-over-410000000-times/

For me it's "Like pilate I have a dog!" From pilate on yield.

Bruce with “Streets of Minneapolis” names names. No innuendos, no high brow sarcasm, just straight calling a spade a spade. This is what Pearl Jam used to be, I just don’t understand why they don’t.

.

My dad passed on Friday after a long battle with cancer. He was a great father, and these lyrics speak to me greatly.

There’s no shortage of PJ songs that touch on dark subjects and soundscapes. Out of all of them, I think it’s between Footsteps and Indifference.

Footsteps has a fuller sound that makes it not quite as eerie, but Indifference has a sparseness to it that really drives home how utterly bleak the narrator’s point of view is.

There’s also something really uneasy about Tremor Christ.

I’m not counting Stupid Mop because it’s more an abstract collection of noise as opposed to an actual song.

I’ve had Upper Hand on repeat all afternoon. I love everything about it. It really is one of the best in my opinion. Also, congratulations to everyone who experienced the Ohana festival. I’ve been watching the videos and wishing I’d have gone. Maybe next year.

I had a mildly horrifying realization this week.

I don’t really process song lyrics.

I mean, I HEAR them. I know the words. I can sing along to songs I’ve loved for years. But apparently my brain has been treating lyrics more like another musical instrument than…you know…actual words with meaning.

I’ve always wondered why someone could explain what a song was about and I’d think, “Holy shit. THAT’S what that means?”

I guess that’s part of why I love Pearl Jam so much. I hear Eddie’s voice as an instrument. But at the same time I know his lyrics are amazing.

And apparently I realize new things every day.

I’ve loved “Future Days” for years. I’ve also loved “Smile” for years. And somehow, I never put together the lyrical connection between the two.

Smile:
“Three crooked hearts with swirls all around.”

Future Days:
“All the missing crooked hearts
They may die, but in us they live on.”

Hell, my brother made a tribute to my mom after she passed using “Smile.”

And I somehow missed this connection.
For 13 years.
THIRTEEN.

Now that I finally understand it, I’m completely blown away by it.
Which is great.

Except I’m also sitting here thinking, “How the hell did I not hear this?”

And what else am I missing?
“Hey dumbass, this person is actually saying something here.”

So yeah. Fifty-four years old and I’ve apparently been listening to music on lyrics: optional mode.
Honestly, this explains a LOT.

I guess that’s the point of this whole thing. I know Pearl Jam. I’ve listened to them for decades. I’ve seen them 16 times.

And I’m still learning new shit every day.

It’s a gift that keeps on giving.

Feel free to mock me. I deserve it.

Hello, I have been listening to live PJ and noticed that often times when Eddie makes something up on the spot during the line “I’m not the first mammal to make plans yeah”, I can’t understand what he ad-libs in. Is there any transcription of live recordings anywhere or something like that? I believe the Hershey PA 7/12/03 was the one I listened to today I couldn’t tell but it has been multiple

Getaway is a great opening track, and aged plus 10 years this album kind of stands the test of time

Title track from DM feeling pretty fucking relevant right now. Living at bottom of the world and wondering if we will have fuel next month because someone else felt the urge to do some war stuff.

Unsure why but this part absolutely stimulates my brain clit in the best way possible. I’ve been listening to it for years almost every day.

Anyone else just get totally emotionally destroyed listening to the lyrics of Sleight of Hand? Hadn’t listened to Binaural in a while and put on driving last night. Maybe it’s because I’m nearing 50 and getting older that it hits harder.

It’s been one of my favorites for as long as I can remember. I always kind of viewed as my generation’s (all of my teen years in the 90s) “Cat's in the Cradle” - interpreting it as a father watching his son go out on his own & be a man of his own & questioning if he had been a good enough father to prepare his son for adulthood. I never really thought to look into the meaning beyond that. Recently discovering that Eddie wrote it about himself being a “piece of shit friend”. I guess that’s the beauty of music. We can all have our own interpretations. Curious about other’s thoughts.