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May 7, 2019: Not For You (Read on The Porch Episode 16)

Hi Jessi and Kate,

Other than “Betterman," the track I listened to the most when I first exposed myself to Vitalogy was “Not For You.” It’s about as raw of a song as it gets with Pearl Jam and the emotion swings throughout give me goosebumps sometimes.  You guys, with Brad Lyons, talked quite a bit about the meaning and lyrics to the song, but I’d like to give my take on the music.  Out of the catalog, this song I find to be the most interesting musically.  It’s a big reason why the last time I took the time to rank my top 10 studio track last year, I had it at #4, but if I had ranked it before “Present Tense” and “Corduroy” grew on me, it would have been #2 behind “Given to Fly.” 
The beginning of the song, I make out the sound of someone leaving a tea kettle boiling on a stove top.  It’s like the pressure of the song is building and the roof is about to get blown off.  Then Eddie goes into a very tense tone through the first few lines of the song and then belts out the following:

 Oh, where did they come from? Stormed my room!
And you dare say it belongs to you...to you…

After that first release of tension, my favorite bridge of any PJ song starts and goes on for quite a while.  I love Stone’s riff throughout the beginning of the bridge and then everything gets quiet.  What I think is the most underrated part of the song, is the heavy bass riff that Jeff carries out behind:

All that's sacred, comes from youth
Dedications, naive and true
With no power, and ------ nothing to do
I still remember, why don't you...don't you…

Then the roof is blown off again for a second time.  Finally, I love the riff that Stone does in the background as they’re seemingly going through a jam session to close out the song.  It’s a rapid-strumming riff that de-escalates over-and-over again for about 30 seconds.  Then to close out the song, Eddie quietly strums a melody that gives me a vision of sparks falling from the sky after a firework explosion.  

I’m glad you highlighted the SNL soundcheck from 1994.  I found that video a few years back and that performance is timeless.  My favorite part of the video is Eddie’s eyes rolling into the back of his head when he goes “I still remember, why don’t you.” That era of the band was really something special.

Forced to endure, what I could not forgive,

Chris

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