Min första PJ konsert

Oslo Spektrum, 2000-06-29
Pearl Jam hade inte spelat i Skandinavien sedan 1993, och då hade jag inte fått åka på konserten för mamma, så jag var sjukt taggad inför denna spelningen. Pearl Jam var väldigt stora i min umgängeskrets i början och mitten av 90-talet men på slutet så var det många som hade tappat intresset. Det var därför ingen som ville gå på konserten med mig, men det spelade absolut ingen roll. Jag skulle gå. Basta. Så jag gick själv.
Och jag hade "the time of my life"!! :-) Pearl Jam levererar verkligen live, det var en helt fantastisk stämning. Trängde mig nästan längst fram - där det var så trångt att jag mest svävade fastklämd mellan alla andra, utan kontakt med golvet. Lite obehagligt (speciellt med tanke på vad som hände på Roskilde dagen efter denna konserten...) så jag drog mig tillbaka lite igen och stod på högersidan och "bangade". Och njöt. Jag vill tillbaka :-)

Hela konserten kan ses/lyssnas på här:

Life wasted

Från Wikipedia:
The lyrics for "Life Wasted" were reportedly written about the death of Johnny Ramone and about the feelings one has after driving home from a funeral. In an interview with Rolling Stone, Vedder stated:
When you leave that funeral, that drive is as important as any single stretch of road you'll travel on. You've got a renewed appreciation for life. And I think that feeling can last through the day, through the week, but then things start getting back to normal and you start taking this living and breathing and eating thing for granted. I think that song is there to remind you, 'This is that feeling'....The truth is—I'm a little sensitive and this is a close, personal relationship. I'll just say it. Fuck it. Right up front. Half the record is based on the loss of the guy who turned out to be the best friend I ever had on the planet. And that was Johnny Ramone.


Text: Eddie Vedder
Musik: Stone Gossard

You're always saying that there's something wrong...
I'm starting to believe it's your plan all along...

Death came around, forced to hear its song...
And know tomorrow can't be depended on.

I seen the home inside your head,...
All locked doors and unmade beds.
Open sores unattended
Let me say just once that

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

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

Having tasted,... A life wasted,...
I'm never going back again.

The world awaits just up the stairs
Leave the pain for someone else.

Nothing back there for you to find,...
Or was it you, you left behind?

You're always saying you're too weak to be strong...
You're harder on yourself than just about anyone.

Why swim the channel just to get this far?
Halfway there, why would you turn around?

Darkness comes in waves,... tell me,why invite it to stay?

You're warm with negativity,
Yes, comfort is an energy,...
But why let the sad song play?

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

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

Having tasted,... A life wasted,...
I'm never going back again.

Oh I erased it,... A life wasted,...
I'm never going back again.

Daughter

Andra singeln från andra albumet (Vs.). Ååååååååhhhhhh vad jag längtar efter konserten nu!!

Text: Eddie Vedder (hela bandet)
Musik: Stone Gossard (hela bandet)

Alone listless breakfast table in an otherwise empty room
Young girl, violin's center of her own attention
The mother reads aloud, child, tries to understand it
Tries to make her proud
The shades go down, into her head
Painted room, can't deny there's something wrong

Don't call me daughter, not fit to
The picture kept will remind me
Don't call me daughter, not fit to
The picture kept will remind me
Don't call me

She holds the hand that holds her down
She will rise above

Don't call me daughter, not fit to
The picture kept will remind me
Don't call me daughter, not fit to be
The picture kept will remind me

Don't call me daughter, not fit to
The picture kept will remind me
Don't call me daughter, not fit to
The picture kept will remind me
Don't call me

The shades go down
The shades go down
The shades go down
The shades go down

I see a girl of the night
With a baby in her hand
Under an old street light
Oh, next to a garbage can

Now she's put her kid away
She's going to get a hit
She hates her life
And what she's done with it

That's one more kid
That'll never go to school
Never get to fall in love
Never get to be cool

That's one more kid
That'll never go to school
Never get to fall in love
Never get to be cool

He won the lottery
When he was born
A big hand slapped
The white male American

Do no wrong
So clean cut
Dirties his hands
It comes right off
Police man, police man

In hiding

Jag låter bandet själva berätta om hur denna låten kom till:

Text: Eddie Vedder

Musik: Stone Gossard

I shut and locked the front door
No way in or out
I turned and walked the hallway
And pulled the curtains down
I knelt and emptied the mouth of every club around
But nothing's sound, nothing's sound

I'd stay but my last cab left me
Ignored all my rounds
Soon I was seeing visions and cracks along the walls
They were upside down

I swallow my words to keep from lying
I swallow my face just to keep from biting, I, I..
I swallowed my breath and went deep, I was diving, diving
I surfaced when all of my being was enlightened.

I'm in hiding
I'm in hiding
I'm in hiding
I'm in hiding

It's been about three days now
Since I've been aground
No longer overwhelmed and it seems so simple now
It's funny when things change so much
It's all state of mind

I swallowed my words to keep from lying
I swallowed my face just to keep from biting, I, I
I swallowed my breath and went deep, I was diving, I was diving
I surfaced and all around my being was enlightened

Now I'm in hiding
I'm in hiding
I'm in hiding
Oh, I'm in hiding
I'm in hiding
I'm in hiding
I'm in hiding
I'm in hiding

Om hur Eddie Vedder blev Pearl Jams sångare.

Jeff och Stone spelade in några instrumentala låtar, och via Red Hot Chili Peppers trummis Jack Irons så hamnade den kassetten i händerna på Eddie Vedder. Han "klottrar ihop" texter och spelar in dem samma dag - och skickar tillbaka kassetten till Jeff och Stone.
Resultatet blev Alive, Once, Footsteps - och så småningom PEARL JAM. Jag bockar och bugar och tackar högre makter för alla dessa lyckliga omständigheter, som man kan läsa om i detalj här.
Dessa tre låtar har senare kallats "The Mamasan" eller The Momma-Son", eftersom de alla är del av en trilogi/mini-opera som omhandlar förhållandet mellan en mor och en son; om födsel, incest och död. I Alive får sonen veta att mannen han har trott är hans far i själva verket är hans styvfar - hans biologiska far är död. I Once går sonen berserk och blir serie-mördare och i Footsteps sitter han i fängelse, dömd till döden, och ser tillbaka på livet. Historien har element av Eddies självbiografi i sig, men är till stor del uppdiktad.

Alla tre låtarna från "The Momma-Son demo":

Black

Texten har betytt så otroligt mycket för mig, och speciellt efter pojkvännens självmord 1996 blev denna låten "min". Jag kan fortfarande inte höra låten utan att börja gråta. Det blir för starkt. "How quick the sun can drop away".
Låten är spelad live av Pearl Jam 512 gånger sedan oktober 1990.

Text: Eddie Vedder
Musik: Stone Gossard

Hey... oooh...

Sheets of empty canvas, untouched sheets of clay

Were laid spread out before me as her body once did.

All five horizons revolved around her soul

As the earth to the sun

Now the air I tasted and breathed has taken a turn

Ooh, and all I taught her was everything

Ooh, I know she gave me all that she wore

And now my bitter hands chafe beneath the clouds

Of what was everything.

Oh, the pictures have all been washed in black, tattooed everything...

I take a walk outside

I'm surrounded by some kids at play

I can feel their laughter, so why do I sear?

Oh, and twisted thoughts that spin round my head

I'm spinning, oh, I'm spinning

How quick the sun can drop away

And now my bitter hands cradle broken glass

Of what was everything?

All the pictures have all been washed in black, tattooed everything...

All the love gone bad turned my world to black

Tattooed all I see, all that I am, all I'll be... yeah...

Uh huh... uh huh... ooh...

I know someday you'll have a beautiful life,

I know you'll be a sun in somebody else's sky, but why

Why, why can't it be, why can't it be mine

Aah... uuh..

Too doo doo too, too doo doo [many times until fade]