January 8, 2019: Given To Fly

Hi Brad and Brad,

Here's to 2019! I'm stoked you guys started off the year by going over my favorite song by Pearl Jam in "Given To Fly." The song in itself provides such a rush of positive emotion for me. For all of the recent song meanings I've expressed in dealing with emotional pain, this is a track that truly makes me feel like I've broken through the quicksand and am now flying above it all. Something else I found on the Wiki page for "Given To Fly," is this quote from Mike. It describes the song almost exactly in the way that it makes me feel:

"I just kind of imagined it as sort of a wave in an ocean: It starts out slow and then it gets a little larger and a little larger and then it breaks and then it comes down again. And that's metaphorically how I think of that song.”

It's a song of theirs that instills a sudden crescendo of emotion at two points of the song for me. Whenever I have it blasting in the car, I find myself singing along and then almost yelling these two verses at the top of my lungs. This is where I feel like I'm beginning to leave my feet and soar into the air.

A wave came crashing like a fist to the jaw

Delivered him wings, 'Hey, look at me now'

Arms wide open with the sea as his floor

Oh, power, oh

He's.. flying.....whole

And he still gives his love, he just gives it away

The love he receives is the love that is saved

And sometimes is seen a strange spot in the sky

A human being that was given to fly

I found one pretty cool thing from 2005, where Pearl Jam was playing at the House of Blues (in Chicago) to raise money for Hurricane Katrina relief. This song has historically been compared to "Going to California." At this show, Pearl Jam performs "Given to Fly" with Robert Plant in the audience. After finishing the song, they transition into "Going to California" and Plant joins them on stage. Unfortunately, I cannot find a video of it, but I have an article linked if you guys want to read about it.

Forced to endure, what I could not forgive,

Chris

Comments

October 17, 2010: RIP Mozart for Guitar

Hi Brad and Brad, I first want to mention that I can't remember the last time I laughed as hard as I did while listening to you two and Clint Wells go on about spoonfuls of flour and uncooked spaghetti. I almost had to pull my car over as I was driving home during that part of the episode! Since Eddie Van Halen passed away on October 6th, I've been listening to a lot of Van Halen. I didn't really get into them until 10-15 years ago, but I consider them to be one of my favorite bands of all-time. Eddie was truly an innovator on shredding guitar solos and may be my favorite lead guitarist ever. I saw Mike's comment on Pearl Jam's Twitter feed referencing how he began playing guitar shortly after their first record came out. He goes so far to say "it sounded like Eddie was from another planet" and "Eddie was like Mozart for guitar. Changed everything and he played with Soul." I know the guys have covered Van Halen here-and-there and I looked

December 26, 2020: Someday at Christmas

Hi Brad and Brad, First, I hope you guys have had a Happy Holidays. Secondly, I really enjoy your solo episodes. They have a deejay format to them which also feels personable in getting to know each of your lives and what has influenced you to be who you are now. I hadn't taken the time to get to know Someday at Christmas until after listening to BradB's recent episode. Pearl Jam does a great job in covering the song, and I prefer Stevie Wonder's version over the Jackson 5. Especially, after reading the lyrics and reading some interpretations of the song. At the time the song was released, the Vietnam War was still underway. The lyrics seem to voice opposition to the war itself, but also express the hope for racial and economic equality. Unfortunately, that message still resonates strongly. Stevie Wonder was one of the artists that shaped my musical interests when I was a teenager. I'm very glad the guys chose to cover this song for a Christmas single and have

December 31, 2020: Low Light

Hi Jessi and Kate, I have been way behind on my podcasts the last several weeks. The main reason is because myself and a friend started our own podcast! It's not Pearl Jam themed , however it's consumed a decent amount of my week preparing for each recording. So we now have a hit on the Dink-O-Meter for both of you. First Jessi and now Kate! I can't remember if I have proposed the Dink-O-Meter to you yet, but I have it as a three-tiered system: Dinky: Just your average dinky, will only skip if streaming Rinky-Dinky: Automatic skipper, even when listening to vinyl Stinky-Dinky: It's like nails on a chalkboard to you Based on Jessi's response to Parachutes, I have that somewhere between Rinky-Dinky and Stinky-Dinky. I would have to let Jessi be the final judge on that. For Kate's remarks to Low Light, I have it somewhere between Dinky and Rinky-Dinky, however I'm inclined to believe it's closer to Dinky because I wasn't able to note as many hot

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