For twenty plus years, Eddie Vedder’s quivering baritone has been the voice of a generation. Whether he’s singing about social or political issues, love, or death, Vedder and his Pearl Jam band of brothers- including founding members Stone Gossard, Mike McCready, and Jeff Ament- have provided the soundtrack to our lives. They have inspired us, given us hope, made us think, and grown older with us, and while other bands have come and gone, they have always managed to hold on to their spot.
This September, Pearl Jam will headline the first ever Made In America festival in Philadelphia, along with its curator, Jay-Z. It’s a long way from the Seattle grunge scene they started in, and a testament to how widespread their reach has become. In a lot of ways, Pearl Jam is a lot like Jay-Z. They came from a small scene and ended up representing a whole genre. As that genre evolved, so did they.
To gear up for Made In America and celebrate Pearl Jam’s catalog, we’ve compiled a collection of their 50 Best Songs. It’s a list we’ve been building since before they were announced as headliners with Hova, and a daunting task we have not taken lightly. Nevertheless, we’ve enjoyed every moment of putting this together, and are happy to present it to you as the summer starts.
Written by Daniel Isenberg
Hit next or click the pictures to read on…
Related: The Best Songs of 2014 (So Far)
Related: The Best Albums of 2014 (So Far)
50. “Spin The Black Circle” (1994)
Album: Vitalogy
Label: Epic
Of all the songs in Pearl Jam’s catalog, this is the only one to every win a Grammy. Bizarre, right? Even Eddie Vedder was unsure of how to react when it won Best Hard Rock Performance in 1996, saying, “I don’t know what this means. I don’t think it means anything.”
The song itself wasn’t really a favorite of band members at the time of its release as the first single off Vitalogy. Bassist Jeff Ament didn’t like the punk rock direction it took, saying, “I really didn’t want to make music like that at that time.” Interestingly enough, Stone Gossard’s original guitar riff was much slower, but Eddie Vedder requested that it be sped up. It should also be noted that although there is a needle reference in the lyrics, the song is not about drugs, but rather old records.
49. “I Got Id” (1995)
Album: Merkin Ball (EP)
Label: Epic
Pearl Jam collaborated with the legendary Neil Young on his album Mirror Ball, and the Merkin Ball EP was made up of leftovers from that project. Vedder wasn’t around much for the sessions, but he lent vocals to “I Got Id,” which is also known as “I Got Shit.” Vedder explained before an ’06 live performance of the song in Toronto that the chorus melody of “I Got Id” was actually subconsciously inspired by Young’s “Cinnamon Girl” verse melody, though he didn’t realize it out until years after the song was recorded. And though he doesn’t sing on the song, that’s Neil Young on lead guitar, blending in beautifully with the band.
48. “I Am Mine” 2002
Album: Riot Act
Label: Epic
This song about personal freedom was the first single released on Riot Act. It was written by Vedder the day after the Roskilde Festival tragedy of 2000 in Denmark, when 9 festival goers were killed as the crowd rushed the stage for Pearl Jam’s performance. Vedder described the song before performing it at Madison Square Garden in 2003, saying, “This song’s about personal safety, and the feeling of being secure, and even free.” It ended up being the most successful cut off Riot Act, and for good reason.
47. “Last Kiss” (1999)
Album: No Boundaries: A Benefit for the Kosovar Refugees
Label: Epic
Eddie Vedder found an old record of J. Franklin and the Cavaliers original 1964 version of “Last Kiss” at the Fremont Antique Mall in Seattle, and stayed up all night listening to it. Shortly after, he convinced the band to give the song a try, and they ended up performing it during their 1998 tour. They eventually recorded it during soundcheck before a gig at Constitution Hall in Washington D.C. and put it out exclusively for their fan club as a Christmas single.
The cover song got picked up by radio stations across the country pretty quickly, and became very popular, so Pearl Jam released it as an official single with the all proceeds going to the aid of refugees of the Kosovo War. It was also released on the charity compilation No Boundaries: A Benefit for the Kosovar Refugees, and helped earn roughly 10 million dollars for Kosovo relief.
That all being said, if you ask Pearl Jam purists, they’ll tell you they hate “Last Kiss.” We know because we did. But we think it’s a pretty cool departure, so we’re including it on our list.
46. “Unthought Known” (2009)
Album: Backspacer
Label: Monkeywrench
This song was inspired by a good old fashioned rock star night on the road, getting a little too wasted and staying up late talking with an Academy Award nominated actress. As Vedder explained, “It’s about a conversation with Catherine Keener, and a book – I think it might have even been called Unthought Known. I got back late to my hotel in New York, and I pushed it that extra hour. I pushed the limits of how much you can drink and smoke, and this song came out of it. I think the thought of the song is that there are things that you know, and they’re in us, but we just haven’t thought of them. But they’re there, and we base decisions on them.” We’re glad you pushed it, Eddie.
45. “Big Wave” (2006)
Album: Pearl Jam
Label: J Records
The aggressive guitar riff on “Big Wave” well represents the excitement of catching one, as Eddie Vedder, who is a big time surfer, belts out, “I got me a big wave, ride me a big wave, got me a big wave!” The song appears in the computer-animated mockumentary Surf’s Up, which is a fun, family friendly take on surf docs like The Endless Summer and Riding Giants. It’s fairly straight-forward, but powerful enough to crash into our Best 50.
44. “Man Of The Hour” (2003)
Album: Big Fish (Soundtrack)
Label: Sony Classical
Director Tim Burton reached out to Eddie Vedder about having Pearl Jam contribute an original song to Big Fish. Burton invited the band to a screening of an early print of the film, and Vedder was so moved by what he saw that the next day, he had a demo for “Man Of The Hour” in the can. It was recorded by the band a few days later. Guitarist Mike McCready said of the early viewing of Big Fish, “Eddie and I were standing around talking about it afterwards and were teary-eyed. We were so emotionally charged and moved by the imagination and humanity that we felt because of the movie.”
The song is essentially about a young man saying goodbye as his father is about to pass away, as Vedder sings, “The man of the hour has taken his final bow, goodbye for now.” It’s heart-wrenching to say the least. The song was even nominated for a Golden Globe in 2004, but lost out to Annie Lennox’s “Into The West” from The Lord Of The Rings: The Return of the King.
43. “Alone” (1993)
Album: “Go”/”Elderly Woman Behind the Counter in a Small Town” (acoustic)/”Alone” (Single)
Label: Epic
“Alone” was recorded during the Ten sessions, and certainly sounds like it could’ve had a spot on the album. It’s uncertain why it was left off, but the band obviously liked the song, because it was released on the B-Side to “Go,” their first single off their sophomore album Vs. An alternate version eventually ended up on their rarities collection Lost Dogs as well. But regardless of placement, it’s vintage PJ all the way.
42. “Hard To Imagine” (1993)
Album: Lost Dogs
Label: Epic
This song was originally recorded during the Vs. sessions, but was cut from the album because the band felt they already had enough mellow songs for it. It was recorded again during the Vitalogy sessions, and that version found its way onto the soundtrack for the fairly unknown movie Chicago Cab, while the version recorded for Vs. ended up on Lost Dogs. It’s a chilled out tune for sure, and one we felt needed some recognition.
41. “Animal” (1993)
Album: Vs.
Label: Epic
The original title for Vs. was actually Five Against One, which was taken from the “Animal” lyric, “One, two, three, four, five against one…” It was released as the third single from the album. It’s still unknown who the anger on the song is directed at, but Eddie Vedder stated once that when a record label rep asked him to turn the vocals up on the song in the mix so that people knew what he was singing about, which prompted Eddie to tell him the true meaning behind the lyrics, the label rep conceded, saying, “You’re right. Let’s leave the vocals as they are. Maybe we don’t really want people to understand it.” You gotta love that.
40. “Nothing As It Seems” (2000)
Album: Binaural
Label: Epic
Written by bassist Jeff Ament, “Nothing As It Seems” was the first single off Binaural, and is about him looking back at where he grew up in rural Northern Montana. He told MTV in an interview about the song, “I think until two or three years ago, I looked back at my childhood as being a fairly utopian situation where I had the freedom to ride my bike around town when I was five years old, and my parents didn’t have to worry about anybody taking me and killing me or whatever. In the last couple of years, there have been some things that have kind of allowed some darker things to come to the surface of my childhood, seeing things that I had kind of selectively forgotten for my own mental health or whatever.” This was one of two songs Ament wrote the lyrics for on Binaural.
39. “Real Thing” f/ Cypress Hill (1993)
Album: Judgement Night (Soundtrack)
Label: Epic
The Judgement Night soundtrack was one of the first full rap/rock mash-up projects, pairing hip-hop’s elite with the greatest in grunge. Pearl Jam blessed Cypress Hill with a monster track, and they stepped out of their comfort zone a bit to get busy on it. There are no Eddie Vedder vocals on this, but it’s got that flannel flavor.
38. “Lukin” (1996)
Album: No Code
Label: Epic
This minute and a half punk ditty is Eddie Vedder’s response to what he calls “a pretty intense stalker problem” that was going on during the time of the band’s involvement in Neil Young’s Mirror Ball sessions. The chorus “I’m going to Lukin’s” is in reference to Matt Lukin, a founding member of slept-on Seattle bands The Melvins and Mudhoney, who Vedder was boys with. Most likely Lukin’s crib was one of his hideouts. It’s not often that Pearl Jam showed off their heavy punk influence this blatantly, but we kind of wish they did more often. To flip the style of the song, the band sometimes opts to play a slow version of “Lukin,” which comes off dope live.
37. “Long Road” f/ Neil Young (1995)
Album: Merkin Ball (EP)
Label: Epic
At a show in Vedder’s hometown of San Diego in 2006, he revealed that “Long Road,” the second of two songs off Pearl Jam’s collaborative EP with Neil Young, was written after he heard the news that his former high school drama teacher and mentor had passed away. It’s a sad song, and titled to represent the healing process that Vedder was going through after the loss. Vedder, Young, and Pearl Jam guitarist Mike McCready appropriately picked to perform the song together as part of the America: A Tribute to Heroes benefit concert, which was held ten days after the 9/11 attacks.
36. “Thumbing My Way” (2002)
Album: Riot Act
Label: Epic
Vedder announced before performing this Riot Act acoustic slow jam, that it was a song about “hitchiking your way through a broken heart.” However, he told VH1 that the song is not about him or his experiences, though it does touch on personal turmoil. It was not as successful on the charts as “I Am Mine,” but this was another one of Riot Act‘s best moments.
35. “Why Go?” (1991)
Album: Ten
Label: Epic
This is one of the rawest songs on Ten. It was written specifically about a girl from Chicago, who Eddie Vedder said in an interview with a Houston radio station in 1991 was caught smoking pot by her mom, and due to the trouble she was having with her parents, was sent off to be hospitalized. Vedder explained further, “They kept her there for quite a long time. She was so strong that she refused to accept many of the accusations of her doing terrible things when she wasn’t really doing anything and the next thing you know, she’d been hospitalized for like two years.” In the liner notes to Ten, the song is dedicated to a girl named Heather, who we assume was the song’s inspiration.
34. “Love, Reign O’er Me” (2007)
Album: “Love, Reign O’er Me” (Single)
Label: Monkeywrench
It’s was Adam Sandler’s brainchild to have Pearl Jam cover this The Who classic for his post-9/11 film Reign Over Me. The story goes that Sandler approached Eddie Vedder after a Pearl Jam show, and asked him if he would be down to do the cover song for the movie. Vedder was hesitant at first, but finally agreed to do it after getting a personal co-sign from Roger Daltrey of The Who. Mike McCready commented on the cover, saying, “I knew he’d put everything into it, because he’d know Pete Townshend might someday listen to it.”
33. “Dirty Frank” (1992)
Album: “Even Flow”/”Dirty Frank”/”Oceans (remix)” (Single)
Label: Epic
As explained by Mike McCready in a 1992 interview with Guitar World magazine, “Dirty Frank” was written while Pearl Jam was on tour with the Red Hot Chili Peppers, saying, “The song’s about our bus driver, Frank. We were convinced he was a serial killer. We would find piles of empty beer cans under his driver’s seat after a whole night’s drive. It was like, ‘Oh man! I’m glad we’re still alive!'”
The funky feel of the song was also influenced by the Red Hot Chili Peppers, which Stone Gossard commented on in the same interview, saying, “You can’t help but be influenced by the Chili Peppers when you watch them night after night. Rather than emulating them, we just wanted to catch their groove and feel it the way they feel it.” The line, “They cook ’em just to see the look on their face” is in tribute to the Peppers, a twist on their “Freaky Styley” lyric, “Fuck ’em just to see the look on their face.”
32. “The Fixer” (2009)
Album: Backspacer
Label: Monkeywrench
“The Fixer” was Pearl Jam’s first single off Backspacer, and one of their more overt attempts at writing a pop rock song. Stone Gossard commented on this in a radio interview, saying, “When people talk about ‘pop’ I think it’s about a simplicity of melody and a simplicity of arrangement that doesn’t over complicate a good idea or a great lyric. I think ‘The Fixer’ is a great example.”
Vedder weighed in on the pop topic with Rolling Stone, too. After explaining how he took the song from something that could’ve been a “a seven-minute, weird, sideways kind of artsy song with a cool groove,” he adjusted and condensed it, then wondered, “Will this be a song we’ll play every night?” It’s definitely stadium status.
31. “Nothingman” (1994)
Album: Vitalogy
Label: Epic
It’s amazing that a song as beautiful as this was written in less than an hour. Then again, sometimes the best art is made out of spontaneity, and acting out the emotions of a moment. Eddie Vedder shared our sentiments, telling Spin about the song, “Any time I can nail down a song, a thought, in a half hour, that feels really good.”
Vedder has said the song is about mutual love, and making sure not to fuck up or else you “are left with less than nothing.” He told the Los Angeles Times it was an idea that he kept in mind when dealing with his own relationship with his wife, saying, “I just know that without her, I’d be a kite without a string, a nothing man.” Interestingly enough, they were divorced in 2000.
30. “Crazy Mary” (1993)
Album: Sweet Relief: A Benefit for Victoria Williams
Label: Thirsty Ear/Chaos
Originally recorded by Victoria Williams, Pearl Jam’s cover of “Crazy Mary” first appeared on Sweet Relief: A Benefit for Victoria Williams, a tribute album inspired by the songstress being diagnosed with multiple sclerosis. It’s a favorite on their set list, and the “take a bottle, drink it down, pass it around” chorus is fun to sing (and drink) along to.
29. “Rearviewmirror” (1993)
Album: Vs.
Label: Epic
It’s most likely that Pearl Jam named their 2004 greatest hits record after “Rearviewmirror” because it is a look back at all their finest and most successful work. Vedder described the emotion of the song in a 1994 Los Angeles Times article, saying about the upbeat nature of the music, “It made me feel like I was in a car, leaving something, a bad situation. There’s an emotion there. I remembered all the times I wanted to leave.” This was actually one of the first songs that Vedder himself wrote the music for in addition to the lyrics.
28. “Just A Girl” (1990)
Album: Ten (Legacy Edition)
Label: Epic
“Just A Girl” is one of Pearl Jam’s earliest demos, back when they were known as Mookie Blaylock, after the popular and talented NBA point guard. Due to legal reasons, they had to change their name to Pearl Jam, but still named their debut album Ten after Blaylock’s jersey number. According to an article on seattlepi.com, the Pearl Jam name is “a reference to Vedder’s great-grandmother Pearl and some sort of hallucinogenic jam she allegedly made.” When Ten was reissued in 2009, “Just A Girl” was included.
27. “Even Flow” (1991)
Album: Ten
Label: Epic
Proving that they weren’t just one-hit wonders of the early 90’s alternative rock era, Pearl Jam followed up their breakout hit “Alive” with “Even Flow,” a song which describes the experience of being homeless. While introducing it during a ’94 gig in Miami, Vedder commented on the homeless community living across the street from the venue, saying, “You should just know that those people ain’t all crazy and sometimes it’s not their fault.”
There are a couple different versions of “Even Flow” that have been released. The album version took dozens of takes to get down, and most of the band was still unhappy with the final product. Jeff Ament said of the recording process, “I felt that it was the best song that we got the worst take of on the first record. There were a hundred takes on that song, and we just never nailed it.” Mike McCready added, “”We did ‘Even Flow’ about 50, 70 times. I swear to God it was a nightmare. We played that thing over and over until we hated each other. I still don’t think Stone is satisfied with how it came out.” Maybe that’s why an alternate version appears in the video for the song, and also on their 2004 greatest hits double disc Rearviewmirror.
By the way, this song is great to practice your Eddie Vedder impression to. Just ask Adam Sandler.
26. “Just Breathe” (2009)
Album: Backspacer
Label: Monkeywrench
“Just Breathe” was the second single to be released from Backspacer, most likely because it was an instant fan favorite from the album. It was one of the softer and gentler moments from the album, and what Vedder called “as close to a love song as we’ve ever gotten.” He added, during an interview while on tour in Toronto, “There’s never a dull moment on the road – every day it’s something. Maybe that’s why my goal is the dull moment. That’s what this song is. It’s saying, ‘Just stop, and be together. Don’t talk now, just breathe and feel each other’s presence – now that the kids are in bed.'” Pearl Jam fans were able to breathe easy after hearing this song, as they were assured that the band was still capable of making classic songs that would be spun for years to come.
25. “Leash” (1993)
Album: Vs.
Label: Epic
Pearl Jam had been performing “Leash” live since 1991, but it wasn’t recorded until their second album. It was one of the first songs they laid down, and was Vedder’s way of addressing his unease of becoming someone his generation was looking to as a spokesman, singing, “I am lost, I’m no guide, but I’m by your side, I am right by your side.” Vedder’s going hard on this song, pouring his soul out, and the band’s rhythm section sounds tighter than ever, too.
24. “Oceans” (1991)
Album: Ten
Label: Epic
In a 2009 interview discussing the reissue of Ten with The Line Of Best Fit, both Stone Gossard and Jeff Ament revealed that “Oceans” is their favorite song from their debut. Ament said of the song, “When we recorded it I thought we were pushing the envelope and that there was a lot of other places that we could take the music that we made. I also like the intro and outro music, which was a kind of art project that we did on a day where somebody was sick. That’s what I get most excited about, the stuff that’s just a little bit outside of our comfort zone.”
The song is dedicated to Eddie Vedder’s love of surfing, specifically his surfboard, though at their MTV Unplugged taping in 1992, he mentioned that it was actually a love song dedicated to a woman named Beth, who he eventually married in 1994.
23. “Corduroy” (1994)
Album: Vitalogy
Label: Epic
One of Vitalogy‘s standout cuts, “Corduroy” was titled after a remake of a brown corduroy jacket that Eddie Vedder was known to wear on the reg. His costed $12, and the remake was being sold for $650. Relatively, Vedder says the song itself is pretty obviously about the pressures of fame, and “one person’s relationship with a million people.”
Not wanting the meaning of the song to spelled out too clearly though, the band put an x-ray of Vedder’s teeth in the album liner section for “Corduroy,” rather than the lyrics. Those who attempted to decipher the meaning behind that may have seen the bad shape of his teeth to be a metaphor for how fucked up his head was at the time the song was written.
22. “Jeremy” (1991)
Album: Ten
Label: Epic
“Jeremy” is based on two true stories. One about a boy named Jeremy Wade Delle from Texas who killed himself in front of his English class in 1991, who Eddie Vedder read about in a small newspaper article. The other, about a former middle school classmate of Vedder’s in San Diego who shot up an oceanography room. Vedder said that he felt “the need to take that small article and make something of it—to give that action, to give it reaction, to give it more importance.”
The controversial video for the song won MTV’s Best Video of the Year award in 1993. The controversy surrounding the video heightened in 1996, when a junior high school student from Washington State killed two students and a teacher, saying he was copying the video. Pearl Jam didn’t release another music video again until 1998.
21. “Breath” (1992)
Album: Singles (Soundtrack)
Label: Epic Soundtrax
This song was on Pearl Jam’s earliest demo, and originally titled “Breath and a Scream,” which eventually made its way to the Ten reissue. But the re-recorded version Pearl Jam fans are most familiar with (they’re very similar) appeared on the Singles soundtrack. Fans of Ten were definitely excited when the soundtrack came out and had two new Pearl Jam songs on it, and also pumped to see members of the band play a cameo role in the movie.
20. “Go” (1993)
Album: Vs.
Label: Epic
Pearl Jam opened up their sophomore album Vs. with this aggressive cut, showing critics who were ready to put them in a box that they were capable of much more than just making songs like “Jeremy.” In fact, they at times despised songs for being too catchy. “Go” jokingly has been said to be about Vedder’s pickup truck, giving the line “don’t go on me” a much different meaning than the listener may naturally interpret. Regardless of the meaning though, this is full force blam, and the perfect lead-in for the new material that was to follow on Vs.
19. “Release” (1991)
Album: Ten
Label: Epic
This epic, nine minute song off Pearl Jam’s debut album, was one of the first songs Eddie Vedder wrote with the band. It was a true bonding moment for all of them, as Vedder was still dealing with the news that who he thought was his father was actually his stepfather, and his real father had passed away before he had a chance to connect with him. And Stone Gossard and Jeff Ament were working through the loss of their Mother Love Bone bandmate Andrew Wood, who had died the year before of a heroin overdose. Vedder explained that they found common ground on “Release,” saying, “We were strangers, but we were coming from a similar place.” It was the beginning of their long and beautiful relationship as collaborators and friends, and a song that listeners who experienced similar loss could emotionally connect with as well, releasing their own inner anguish.
18. “Dissident” (1993)
Album: Vs.
Label: Epic
“Escape is never the safest bet,” Eddie Vedder belts on the chorus, which is pretty good advice given in relation to the song’s storyline. In Pearl Jam- The Illustrated Story, Vedder breaks “Dissident” down, saying, “I’m actually talking about a woman who takes in someone who’s being sought after by the authorities for political reasons. He’s on the run, and she offers him a refuge. But she just can’t handle the responsibility. She turns him in, then she has to live with the guilt and the realization that she’s betrayed the one thing that gave her life meaning. It made her life difficult. It made her life hell. But it gave her a reason to be. But she couldn’t hold on. She folded. That’s the tragedy of the song.”
Fun fact: The guitar riff for “Dissident” was first revealed during a commercial break after playing “Black” during their MTV Unplugged session, which was filmed a year and a half before Vs. was released.
17. “Of The Girl” (2000)
Album: Binaural
Label: Epic
“Of The Girl” is described in the Pearl Jam Twenty book as “a bluesy strut written by Stone Gossard on which the thick bass and galloping drums give the impression of charging through twilight.” It’s organic, and comes off as if they were performing at a local coffee house, which is a setting we dream of seeing them perform an acoustic set in. Very cool song.
16. “Garden” (1991)
Album: Ten
Label: Epic
Ten has lots of favorites, but “Garden” is one of its deeper cuts that doesn’t get mentioned much. In their early days touring, they toyed with different live versions of “Garden,” but ended up reverting back to the original. Then, they left it off the set list for five years straight between 1995 and 2000. It still rarely is played live, but remains a sleeper favorite off their debut, and a song that day one fans get excited to hear when they do choose to include it in their performances.
15. “All Those Yesterdays” (1998)
Album: Yield
Label: Epic
There is a definite Beatles White Album era influence present in this Stone Gossard penned Yield finisher. It’s interesting to hear Pearl Jam’s take on a Beatles style song. It’s no rip-off, no, never that from these dudes. But it’s an homage of sorts from one legendary band to another. We can dig it.
14. “State Of Love And Trust” (1992)
Album: Singles (Soundtrack)
Label: Epic
This is the second of two Pearl Jam songs that appeared on the Singles soundtrack. Vedder wrote the lyrics to the song after seeing the film, which bassist Jeff Ament commented on in a 1992 Hit Parader interview by saying, “I think he probably took a heavier angle on what the movie was about than a lot of people will, but that’s Eddie, which is a beautiful thing.” Vedder himself described the song once before a performance of it in New Jersey in 1998, saying that it is “a song about being faithful.” And though it was recorded during the Ten sessions, it was done so with the intentions of being on the Singles soundtrack, though an alternate version featuring their original drummer appears on the 2009 Ten reissue.
13. “Crown Of Thorns” (live in Las Vegas, NV, October 22, 2000)
Album: Pearl Jam Twenty (Soundtrack)
Label: Columbia
As stated earlier, Jeff Ament and Stone Gossard were a part of Mother Love Bone before Pearl Jam was formed, and their lead singer, Andrew Wood, died of a heroin overdose in 1990, which eventually led to them linking up with Eddie Vedder and to form a new band. And this was always the one Mother Love Bone song that Eddie said he wanted to perform in tribute to Wood.
The Mother Love Bone version can be heard on the Singles soundtrack, and Pearl Jam’s cover was the lead release off the PJ20 soundtrack, which was recorded at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas in 2000. “Crown Of Thorns” is the lone, officially released live recording in this batch of Pearl Jam’s 50 Best Songs, but it excellently represents not only their stage magnificence but also their uncanny ability to flip covers without tarnishing the original versions.
12. “Immortality” (1994)
Album: Vitalogy
Label: Epic
It’s been rumored that this song is about Kurt Cobain’s death, but in an interview with the Los Angeles Times, Eddie Vedder shot that down, saying, “It’s not about Kurt. Nothing on the album was written directly about Kurt, and I don’t feel like talking about him, because it [might be seen] as exploitation.” Of course, Vedder was never one to take advantage, but if he did subconsciously use the emotions surrounding Cobain’s suicide as inspiration for “Immortality,” he did it well, with lines like “cannot find the comfort in this world” and “some die just to live.”
11. “Daughter” (1993)
Album: Vs.
Label: Epic
Originally titled “Brother,” “Daughter” was the second single off Vs. and their first Top 40 single on the mainstream Billboard charts. It was also nominated for a Grammy in 1993 in the category Best Rock Performacne by a Duo or Group with Vocal. It remains an acoustic guitar driven, alternative rock classic, that 20 years later still sounds great live and on the radio.
The song is written from the perspective of a girl with dyslexia, a subject which seemed to touch Eddie Vedder’s soft spot. In Pearl Jam- An Illustrated Story, Vedder says, “The child in that song obviously has a learning difficulty. And it’s only in the last few years that they’ve actually been able to diagnose these learning disabilities that before were looked at as misbehavior, as just outright rebelliousness. But no one knew what it was. And these kids, because they seemed unable or reluctant to learn, they’d end up getting the shit beaten outta them.” This is one of many social issues we’ve seen Pearl Jam tackle on this list in their songwriting.
10. “Wash” (1991)
Album: “Alive”/”Once”/”Wash” (Single)
Label: Epic
“Wash” was recorded during the Ten studio sessions, but did not make the album. Instead, it appeared as a B-side to “Alive,” and a bonus cut on the European version of Ten. An alternate take of the song was later re-released on Lost Dogs.
Eddie is most likely trying to rid himself of sin on this cut, pleading, “Oh please, let it rain today, the City’s so filthy, like my mind in ways.” Fans have debated on whether or not an STD is involved in the storyline, or if it is about wanting to rinse off after a moment of infidelity. Regardless of the exact meaning, he’s hoping to wash his love, because he knows “what’s clean is pure.”
On New Year’s Eve in ’92, Pearl Jam performed live in New York City, and after they transformed “Wash” from a gloomy, rainy day tune into an an upbeat, kick-ass, bass driven jam, Eddie Vedder, who was ironically donning a skully cap, gave Marky Mark (Wahlberg) the finger and dissed Madonna saying, “Are you a fucking musician? Are you a fucking singer? Let’s see some talent!” Then he grabbed his bozack.
9. “Eldery Woman Behind the Counter In A Small Town” (1993)
Album: Vs.
Label: Epic
Fed up with Ten‘s one word titles, Eddie Vedder gave this beautifully written, acoustic gem the total opposite. The song was originally a poem about two old lovers who see each other after a great deal of time has passed. The woman never left town, but the man did. Vedder describes the scene in Mick Wall’s Pearl Jam biography, saying, “So here she is working in this little place, and then an old flame comes in, and he’s probably driving a nice car and looking kind of sharp – not a fancy car, but he’s moved on. And then she sees him, and at first she doesn’t even remember who he is, and then she realizes who it is. She’s just too embarrassed to say ‘hello.'”
8. “Footsteps” (1992)
Album: “Jeremy”/”Footsteps”/”Yellow Ledbetter” (Single)
Label: Epic
“Footsteps” is the final song in what is known as Eddie Vedder’s “Momma-Son” trilogy that begins with “Alive” and “Once.” The trilogy, which essentially was the demo tape Eddie Vedder sent to Seattle that first peaked the interest of Stone Gossard (who had written and recorded the music Eddie sung over), tells the story of a boy who learns that his father is actually his stepfather, which is something that in real life happened to Eddie Vedder, and goes on a killing spree in reaction to finding out. On “Footsteps,” he is given the death sentence, and is looking back on his life from a lonely cell. It’s a sad tale of reflection, sung with haunting beauty.
7. “Given To Fly” (1998)
Album: Yield
Label: Epic
The fact that “Given to Fly” is the featured song in the PJ20 trailer sums up how much the sound of it represents the band as a whole. In fact, after 1996’s experimental album No Code was met with mixed reviews and a stale response from their fan base, “Given to Fly,” the first single off Yield, showed that they still had the potential to make a quintessential Pearl Jam song. When it was first released, it was praised by Billboard, who described it as “a slow-building rocker that doesn’t risk scaring off die-hards [and is] catchy and crisp enough to make the grade with popsters.”
Mike McCready, who wrote the the riff for “Given to Fly” while trapped in his condo on a rare Seattle snowy day, admits that there was a Led Zeppelin influence in the song, as it has often been compared to Zeppelin’s “Going To California,” which they performed live with Robert Plant at a Hurricane Katrina benefit in 2005 after segueing from “Given to Fly.” But regardless of biting claims, it’s perfectly Pearl Jam.
6. “Off He Goes” (1996)
Album: No Code
Label: Epic
This gorgeous ode to Eddie Vedder’s inability to be a good friend is an unlikely candidate for a Top 10 spot. Shit, even we forgot about it, and overlooked it until the very end, until we remembered how great it is. It’s got easy strumming, a gentle melody, and beautiful harmonies, making it worthy of a choice position on our list. And we love how Eddie introduced this song on stage in Poland, saying, “This is about being friends with an asshole,” and then pointed at himself.
5. “Alive” (1991)
Album: Ten
Label: Epic
Not only was “Alive” Pearl Jam’s first single and the song that put the band on the map, but it was also the first song they ever recorded together. Stone Gossard had the music for “Alive” in a demo called “Dollar Short,” the same tape with the demo he wrote “Footsteps” to and created the “Momma-Son Trilogy” with. After he sent his recordings to Gossard, Vedder was invited to come to Seattle, and Pearl Jam was born.
As explained earlier, “Alive” is the first part of the “Momma-Son Trilogy,” about a boy who finds out his father is in fact his stepfather, and that his real father is dead. Vedder described the trilogy once as “a work of fiction based on reality,” because that really did happen to him, though the part about the killing spree the boy goes on after finding out the news on “Once” is made up. But as dark a story as was told in “Alive” and through the rest of the trilogy, fans saw the positive in the “I’m still alive” lyrics, and ended up changing the meaning of the song. As Vedder said, “They lifted the curse.”
4. “Indifference” (1993)
Album: Vs.
Label: Epic
Light your candles. This is the slow burner of all burners. Vedder describes the song in Pearl Jam – The Illustrated Story, saying it’s about “[trying to] do something to make some other peoples’ lives better than they are, even if it means going through hell.” It’s the final spark on the album that eases the listener out, though still hits on deep levels with lyrics like, “I’ll swallow poison, until I grow immune, I will scream my lungs out ’til it fills this room.” Their 2006 live performance in Bologna, Italy that can be seen in PJ20 is one of the highlights of the doc. It’s a captivating tune, and one that we’ve revisited heavily at P & P in the last six months.
3. “Better Man” (1994)
Album: Vitalogy
Label: Epic
At a ’94 gig at the Fox Theatre in Atlanta, Vedder announced that “Better Man” was “dedicated to the bastard that married my Momma.” Vedder actually wrote the song when he was in high school, and in a Los Angeles Times interview from ’96, he says, “Sometimes I think of how far I’ve come from the teenager sitting on the bed in San Diego writing ‘Better Man’ and wondering if anyone would ever even hear it.”
Well, plenty of people heard it, though he held tight to it until they started making their third album, which Vedder got his chops busted for at a VH1 Storytellers Q&A. Actually, one of their producers had heard them play it live once, and tried to persuade him in to putting it on Vs., but Eddie wasn’t having it. He was even reluctant to put it out on Vitalogy, trying to pull it off the record at the last minute.
After finally getting it right not only on stage, but in the studio, “Better Man” made it to Vitalogy. And without it being released as a single (Vitalogy had no commercial single releases), it reached number one for eight weeks straight on Billboard’s Mainstream Rock Tracks chart, and it continues to be a crowd favorite at their live shows. Jeff Ament says, “Arguably, it’s the biggest song we have.”
2. “Black” (1991)
Album: Ten
Label: Epic
Epic Records pushed to make “Black” a single, but in classic Pearl Jam fashion, they refused, fearing that the song was too personal to be released as a single and have a video made about it. Vedder said, “Fragile songs get crushed by the business. I don’t want to be a part of it. I don’t think the band wants to be part of it.”
One thing to note about this song, other than it’s possibly the most beautiful composition in their entire catalog, is that it was written by Vedder on his bus ride to Seattle to meet the band for the first time. Can you picture him, on the brink of forming Pearl Jam, writing one of the most remarkable rock ballads in history? We can all thank his bandmate Stone Gossard, whose “E Ballad” demo inspired the lyrics.
It’s hard not to make this song number one our list. Hell, we’re second guessing ourselves right now. But we’ve got one more that’s super special. Consider it a curtain call.
1. “Yellow Ledbetter” (1992)
Album: “Jeremy”/”Footsteps”/”Yellow Ledbetter” (Single)
Label: Epic
Vedder was once asked about the words to this song and he joked, “Wait, you mean there’s lyrics?” The crazy thing is, regardless of the fact that you can’t understand 95% of the lyrics, the song is Pearl Jam’s most powerful. The guitar work is brilliantly human and emotive, and the melody is undeniable.
Vedder said the song was written during the time of The Gulf War, and is an “anti-patriotic song” named in part after an old friend of his from Chicago named Tim Ledbetter, though it’s not exactly about him. He says the song’s subject is actually a friend of his from Seattle who received a “yellow letter” saying his brother had died in The Gulf War, which relates to one line fans have been able to decipher from live performances, “I don’t know whether my brother will be coming home in a box or a bag.”
It’s a shame that this song wasn’t on Ten, but it was released on the “Jeremy” single and reduced to B-Side status, probably because no one at Epic knew what the fuck Eddie was singing. Mike McCready, who helped write the music, says of the song not making their debut, “For some reason, it didn’t make it on Ten. I was kind of bummed at the time. I really wanted it to be on our first record.”
In retrospect, it’s placement on Ten would’ve been cool, but either way, it would’ve ended up in a class of its own. It’s the ultimate encore song, and one that they’ve closed out many concerts with over the years, including the recent “lights on” performance at Madison Square Garden in 2010 where they popped it off as the lights came on and everyone was leaving the arena thinking the show was over. And it’s the song we’ve picked to close out our list with.
