April 4, 2020: All My Pieces Set Me Free

Hi Jessi and Kate,

I'm a week behind, so I haven't listened to your reactions on Gigaton yet, but I really wanted to write in about W.M.A. because it's a song that has cracked my top 10 of Pearl Jam recordings in the past couple of years. When I first began experiencing the Pearl Jam catalog, Vs. was initially my favorite and not just because I am 12 years older than the record to the date. This is a song I could leave on repeat all day and never get tired of it. I love the groovy, tribal and heavy bass sound of this track. If it was just Dave A. and Jeff playing for six minutes, I would actually be okay with that. You had discussed how this song compares in some ways to "In My Tree," which it certainly does based on how dominant it is with Jeff and Jack. I consider "In My Tree" as "Jack's Song" in a similar way I consider W.M.A. as "Dave A's Song." However, I did learn while listening to Betterband's episode on this song that the drum part was in fact on a loop. I can imagine this being a song in the middle of a set list being pretty taxing, which is probably why they play it so sparsely, but if you haven't heard Dave A's live performance at the Fox Theater in 1994 (Atlanta) it proves just how capable he was of playing out this song for 6-7 minutes.

You guys also discussed how unrelenting Vs. is as a tracklist. I would argue that W.M.A. is the first breather you get, for the first half of the track, before you're taken back up in the tidal wave until Elderly Woman. My favorite three-track sequence out of any album in the catalog is W.M.A. into Blood into Rearviewmirror. I would challenge any three-track sequence from any record in the catalog to that tour de force. If you think about it, it's almost an opus to the experience of being discriminated against. I completely agree today's America hasn't changed much on a high-level, where most of the leadership is white and male. I imagine W.M.A. is the experience of being discriminated against, Blood being the rage from feeling that way and Rearviewmirror as the attempt to move on and keep hoping for change.

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 14, 2019: Sirens (Read on the Porch, Episode 40)

Hi Jessi and Kate, Until hearing your discussion on " Sirens ," I hadn't taken the time to really think critically about the lyrics. My first impression of "Sirens" was lukewarm. I did initially think "are the guys trying to go adult contemporary?" It took several listens for me to appreciate it. I had initially interpreted the lyrics to be about trying to convince your loved one to stay and not end the relationship. I'm sure you can still interpret it in that sense, but as you guys discussed, their can be several other meanings than fear of a break up. Life is short, and the loss of a loved one can unfortunately be very sudden. I feared that was going to happen to me a little less than 2 years ago. After reading back over the lyrics and listening to the song yesterday, this line speaks volumes to me. I pull you close, so much to lose Knowing that nothing lasts forever I've come to appreciate how fortunate I am to

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