29 June 2006 Thursday

Caught a bolt of lightning

Pearl Jam‘s song ‘Nothingman’, recently appears on this site under lyrics and playlists.

I’m actually not a Pearl Jam fan.. but someone whose musical taste I generally synch with, or at least appreciate, considers himself one of their biggest fans, so I’ve kept a slew of their music at hand.

I’m certain I’ve heard Nothingman before because the chorus is familiar, but I know that I would have skipped it every time upon hearing that chorus, because the lyrics and sentiment simply conflict with… well, it’s not the type of thing I like to sing about or dwell on. It’s very sad, besides.

But
a few days ago, it came up on my playlist, randomly.. and the first line “once divided, nothing left to subtract” had my attention.. as did the rest of it. Seems too perfect, somehow.. and that the song would be by Pearl Jam, of all artists. And that the lyrics would be poignant and the singing style would be comfortable, and the tune itself would be lovely.
Indeed, the song hasn’t left my head since I first listened through the whole thing.

The lyrics were clear, so I didn’t need to look them up to transcribe them…
but today I looked at some individuals’ interpretations of the song, and found commentary from the song’s author, Eddie Vedder.

Q: “Nothingman” is about a troubled relationship. Was that written before or after your marriage?

A: I wrote it before. I might bring something I know from the relationship to “Nothingman,” but I’m thinking about someone else going through it, someone who fucked up. I didn’t fuck up. The idea is about if you love someone and they love you, don’t fuck up… ‘cause you are left with less than nothing.

Q: What about your own relationship?

A: Relationships can be tough. There are times — I end up putting a lot of time into this music thing. I don’t sleep at night. I think I’m probably a very difficult person to deal with. Things never seem to settle down and be normal, and I think that Beth has to deal with a lot. I don’t want to get into our personal relations. But at times there is a tension… We are all selfish at heart, I guess. But I just know that without her, I’d be a kite without a string, a nothing man.

The song’s complete.
Very little left to say…

“And those who forget will be destined to remember.”