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]

Corduroy

Åttonde låten från tredje studioalbumet; Vitalogy.

"Q: Is "Corduroy" also about a relationship?
A: It is about a relationship but not between two people. It's more one person's relationship with a million people. In fact, that song's almost a little too obvious for me. That's why instead of a lyric sheet we put in an X-ray of my teeth from last January and they are all in very bad shape, which was analogous to my head at the time." Källa: Five Horizons


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

The waiting drove me mad... you're finally here and I'm a mess
I take your entrance back... can't let you roam inside my head
I don't want to take what you can give...
I would rather starve than eat your bread...
I would rather run but I can't walk...
Guess I'll lie alone just like before...
I'll take the vermin's path... oh, and I must refuse your test
A-push me and I will resist... this behavior's not unique
I don't want to hear from those who know...
They can buy, but can't put on my clothes...
I don't want to limp for them to walk...
Never would have known of me before...
I don't want to be held in your debt...
I'll pay it off in blood, let I be wed...
I'm already cut up and half dead...
I'll end up alone like I began...
Everything has chains... absolutely nothing's changed
"Take my hand, not my picture," spilled my tincture
I don't want to take what you can give...
I would rather starve than eat your bread...
All the things that others want for me...
Can't buy what I want because it's free...
Can't buy what I want because it's free...
Can't be what you want because I'm...
Why ain't it supposed to be just fun
Oh, to live and die, let it be done
I figure I'll be damned, all alone like I began...
It's your move now...
I thought you were a friend, but I guess I, I guess I hate you..

Crazy Mary

Victoria Williams cover.
Galet bra!

Take a bottle, drink it down, pass it around...

 She lived on the curve in the road in an old tar paper shack.
On the south side of the town on the wrong side of the tracks.
Sometimes on the way into town we'd say, "Mama can we stop and give her a ride?"
Sometimes we did but her hands flew from her side.
Wild eyed crazy Mary.
Down a long dirt road past the Parson's place.
That old blue car we used to race.
Little country store with a sign tacked to the side.
Said 'NO L-O-I-T-E-R-I-N-G ALLOWED.'
Underneath that sign always congregated quite a crowd.
Take a bottle drink it down. Pass it around.
Take a bottle drink it down. Drink it... Pass it around. Pass it a...
A-take a bottle drink it down. Pass it... Pass it a... Pass it around.
One night thunder cracked. Mercy backed outside her windowsill.
Dreamed I was flying high above the trees over the hills.
Looked down into the house of Mary.
Bare bulb on Newspaper covered walls. And Mary rising up above it all.
Oh... Oh... Oh...
Next morning on the way into town saw some skid marks and followed them around.
Over the curve, through the fields, into the house of Mary.
That what you fear the most could meet you halfway. (x2)
Take a bottle drink it down. Pass it around.
Take a bottle drink it down. Pass it... Pass it around. Pass it a...
Take a bottle drink it down. Pass it... Pass it a... Pass it around.
Oh, pass it a... Pass it arround. Pass it a... Pass it a... Pass it a...
Oh yeah.

Mind your manners

Andra låten på tionde, och senaste, studioalbumet Lightning Bolt. Denna låten kommer garanterat att spelas på konserten i sommar!
I texten blir organiserade religioner kritiserade för "so many of the things which have come out of those organizations– like the abuse of children and then its cover-up."
Låten är spelad live 34 gånger sedan juli 2013.

Text: Eddie Vedder
Musik: Mike McCready

I've got an unfortunate feelin'
I've been beaten down
I feel I don't believe
And now the truth is coming out
What they've taken is more than a vow
They've taken your innocence
And then they throw them on a burning fire

All along they're sayin'
Mind your manners

I caught myself believin'
That I needed God
And if it's hard for some
We sure could use it now

Try my patience
My patience tried
This world's no longer good enough
That makes me wanna cry

All along they're sayin'
Mind your manners
Silence save him

Self-realized and metaphysically redeemed
May not live another life
May not solve a mystery
Right around the corner
Could be bigger than ourselves
We could will it to the sky
Or we could something else

No longer sayin'
Mind your manners
Always burning

Self-realized and metaphysically redeemed
May not live another life
May not solve a mystery
Right around the corner
Could be bigger than ourselves
We could will it to the sky
Or we could something else

Go to Heaven
That's swell
How do you like it
Livin' Hell
Go to Heaven
That's swell
How do you like it
Livin' Hell
Go to Heaven
That's swell
How do you like it
Livin' Hell

Livin' Hell!

Rockin' in the free world - Neil Young

Pearl Jam spelar nästan alltid minst en coverlåt på sina konserter. Neil Young, Pink Floyd, The Who och Victoria Williams är några av de artister som har fått sina låtar tolkade av Pearl Jam.

Denna fantastiska konsert-avslutningen fick de som såg Pearl Jam på Air Canada Centre i Toronto, Canada den 11 september 2011.

There's colors on the street
Red, white and blue
People shufflin' their feet
People sleepin' in their shoes
But there's a warnin' sign
on the road ahead
There's a lot of people sayin'
we'd be better off dead
Don't feel like Satan,
but I am to them
So I try to forget it,
any way I can.

Keep on rockin' in the free world,
Keep on rockin' in the free world
Keep on rockin' in the free world,
Keep on rockin' in the free world.

I see a woman in the night
With a baby in her hand
Under an old street light
Near a garbage can
Now she puts the kid away,
and she's gone to get a hit
She hates her life,
and what she's done to it
There's one more kid
that will never go to school
Never get to fall in love,
never get to be cool.

Keep on rockin' in the free world,
Keep on rockin' in the free world
Keep on rockin' in the free world,
Keep on rockin' in the free world.

We got a thousand points of light
For the homeless man
We got a kinder, gentler,
Machine gun hand
We got department stores
and toilet paper
Got styrofoam boxes
for the ozone layer
Got a man of the people,
says keep hope alive
Got fuel to burn,
got roads to drive.

Keep on rockin' in the free world,
Keep on rockin' in the free world
Keep on rockin' in the free world,
Keep on rockin' in the free world.

Just Breathe

Jag var bortrest förra fredagen, så veckans låt blev bortglömd. Men kommer nu istället!

Den omedelbara favoritlåten från förra plattan, Backspacer, blev "Just Breathe". Enligt setlist.fm har Pearl Jam spelat låten live 86 gånger sedan september 2009, och Eddie Vedder solo har spelat den live 65 gånger. En vacker och finstämd start på veckan eller hur?

Text: Eddie Vedder
Musik: Eddie Vedder

Förra gången de var i Oslo lät det så här:

Yes, I understand that every life must end, uh-huh
As we sit alone, I know someday we must go, uh-huh
Oh I'm a lucky man, to count on both hands the ones I love
Some folks just have one, yeah, others, they've got none

Stay with me...
Let's just breathe...

Practiced all my sins, never gonna let me win, uh-huh
Under everything, just another human being, uh-huh
I don't wanna hurt, there's so much in this world to make me bleed

Stay with me
You're all I see...

Did I say that I need you?
Did I say that I want you?
Oh, if I didn't I'm a fool you see
No one knows this more than me

As I come clean...
I wonder everyday, as I look upon your face, uh-huh
Everything you gave
And nothing you would save, oh no

Nothing you would take
Everything you gave...

Did I say that I need you?
Oh, did I say that I want you?
Oh, if I didn't I'm a fool you see
No one knows this more than me
And I come clean, ah...

Nothing you would take
Everything you gave
Hold me til I die
Meet you on the other side...

Once

Spelad live 326 gånger sedan 1990.

Text: Eddie Vedder
Musik: Stone Gossard

Här är en riktigt tidig version (och dålig läppsynk får man på köpet...).
En ung, arg och energisk Eddie Vedder!

Ungefär 20 år senare är det inte riktigt lika skrikigt, men fortfarande sabla bra! :)

I admit it...what's to say...yeah...
I'll relive it...without pain...mmm...
Backstreet lover on the side of the road
I got a bomb in my temple that is gonna explode
I got a sixteen gauge buried under my clothes, I play...
Once upon a time I could control myself
Ooh, once upon a time I could lose myself, yeah...
Oh, try and mimic what's insane...ooh, yeah...
I am in it...where do I stand?
Oh, Indian summer and I hate the heat
I got a backstreet lover on the passenger seat
I got my hand in my pocket, so determined, discreet...I pray...
Once upon a time I could control myself
Ooh, once upon a time I could lose myself, yeah, yeah...
You think I got my eyes closed
But I'm lookin' at you the whole fuckin' time...
Ooh, once upon a time I could control myself, yeah...
Once upon a time I could lose myself, yeah, yeah, yeah...
Once, upon a time I could love myself, yeah...
Once upon a time I could love you, yeah, yeah, yeah...
Once [4x]
Yeah...once, once...yeah, yeah...
Yeah...yeah, yeah...yeah, yeah...oww...

Society

Eddie Vedder och Johnny Depp = Eyecandy*2 :-)

Society är låt nummer åtta på Eddie Vedders första soloalbum Into the Wild, som också var soundtracket till filmen med samma namn. (Har du inte sett filmen? Se den!!)
Pearl Jam har aldrig spelat låten på konsert, så man får gå på en Eddie Vedder solo-konsert för att eventuellt få höra den live... 

Text: Jerry Hannan
Musik: Jerry Hannan

It's a mystery to me

We have a greed with which we have agreed

And you think you have to want more than you need

Until you have it all, you won't be free

Society, you're a crazy breed

I hope you're not lonely without me

When you want more than you have, you think you need

And when you think more than you want, your thoughts begin to bleed

I think I need to find a bigger place

Cause when you have more than you think, you need more space

Society, you're a crazy breed

I hope you're not lonely without me

Society, crazy indeed

Hope you're not lonely without me

There's those thinking more or less, less is more

But if less is more, how you keepin score?

Means for every point you make your level drops

Kinda like you're startin' from the top

And you can't do that

Society, you're a crazy breed

I hope you're not lonely without me

Society, crazy indeed

I hope you're not lonely without me

Society, have mercy on me

I hope you're not angry if I disagree

Society, you're crazy indeed

I hope you're not lonely without me

Wishlist

Låt nummer fem från femte studioalbumet Yield 1998.
Spelad live 212 gånger sedan 1997.

Text: Eddie Vedder
Musik: Eddie Vedder

I wish I was a neutron bomb, for once I could go off
I wish I was a sacrifice but somehow still lived on
I wish I was a sentimental ornament you hung on
The Christmas tree, I wish I was the star that went on top
I wish I was the evidence, I wish I was the grounds
For 50 million hands upraised and open toward the sky

I wish I was a sailor with someone who waited for me
I wish I was as fortunate, as fortunate as me
I wish I was a messenger and all the news was good
I wish I was the full moon shining off a Camaro's hood

I wish I was an alien at home behind the sun
I wish I was the souvenir you kept your house key on
I wish I was the pedal brake that you depended on
I wish I was the verb 'to trust' and never let you down

I wish I was a radio song, the one that you turned up
I wish...
I wish...

Red Mosquito

Ooops, jag glömde visst "veckans låt" förra fredagen... :) Så då kommer den nu istället!
Med Ben Harper! Äääälskar denna live-versionen!
Red Mosquitio är spelad live 77 gånger sedan 1995.

Text: Eddie Vedder
Musik: Hela bandet

Watched from the window, with a red mosquito
I was not allowed to leave the room
I saw the sun go down, and now it's coming up
Somewhere in the time between

I was bitten, must have been the devil
He was just paying me...
A little visit, reminding me of his presence
Letting me know, he's a-waiting... oh

Red man's your neighbor, call it behavior
While you're climbing up slippery hills
Two steps ahead of him, punctures in your neck
Hovering just above your bed
Hovering just above your bed

I was bitten, must have been the devil
He was just paying me...
A little visit, reminding me of his presence
And letting me know, he's a'waiting, he's a'waiting...
Ooh....

If I had known then what I know now...
If I had known then what I know now...
If I had known then what I know now...
If I had known then what I know now...

Yellow Ledbetter - misheard lyrics

Hahaha, en del texter är svårare att höra än andra... :D

Not for you

Från tredje studioalbumet Vitalogy. Spelad live 220 gånger sedan 1994.

Eddie Vedder om musikindustrin:
"It's not that we want to take credit. That's fine. I don't care. I don't want credit, it's not like I'm trying to claim that. But when they start acting like they own you that they are the reason... that's something that's not true. These attitudes out there that the music is theirs that it's the industry's music... And it's not. It's mine. And it's yours. Whoever's listening to it. It's mine and it's yours. And everybody in between, they're the distributors. I think that something like a music channel can be very powerful. Sometimes they think they're the ones who decide what's heard. I think that's a dangerous situation. And, I think, what's more dangerous is that they think it belongs to them. That's probably what Not For You is about." Citat från denna intervjun.

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

restless soul, enjoy your youth
like muhammad hits the truth
can't escape from the common rule
if you hate something, don't you do it too...too...
small my table, a sits just two
got so crowded, i can't make room
oh, where did they come from? stormed my room!
and you dare say it belongs to you...to you...
this is not for you
this is not for you
this is not for you
oh, not for you...ah, you...
...scream...my friends...don't call me...
...friends, no they don't scream...
...my friends don't call...my friends don't...
all that's sacred comes from youth
dedication, naive and true
with no power, nothing to do
i still remember, why don't you...don't you...
this is not for you
this is not for you
this is not for you
oh, never was for you...fuck you...
this is not for you...
oh, this is not for you...yeah, you...
this is not for you...
oh, not for you...
oh, you...

Soon forget

Näst sista låten på sjätte studioalbumet Binaural. Eddie och en ukulele - what more can you ask for? :-)
Spelad live av Pearl Jam endast 55 gånger sedan år 2000.

Text: Eddie Vedder
Musik: Eddie Vedder

sorry is the fool who trades his soul for a corvette
thinks he'll get the girl, he'll only get the mechanic
what's missing? he's living a day he'll soon forget
that's one more time around, the sun is going down
the moon is out, but he's drunk and shouting, putting people down
he's pissing, he's living a day he'll soon forget
counts his money every morning
the only thing that keeps him horny
locked in a giant house, that's alarming
the townsfolk, they all laugh
sorry is the fool who trades his love for high-rise rent
seems the more you make, equals the loneliness you get
and it's fitting, he's barely living, a day he'll soon forget
that's one more time around, there is not a sound
he's lying dead clutching benjamins, never put the money down
he's stiffening, we're all whistling
a man we'll soon forget

I was just nowhere near your neighborhood...

Herregud, vilka flashbacks jag får... Min favoritfilm genom hela 90-talet :-D Jag kan den i stort sett utantill. Och Matt Dillon var ju sååååå snygg :-) Filmen är äkta feelgood, man kan ju inte annat än le genom hela. Och så är ju Stone Gossard, Jeff Ament och Eddie Vedder med i filmen!