Pearl Jam ~ Yellow Ledbetter
(written: 26 February 2004)
I figure I ought to do this, just to get it out of the way...
I really should pick a specific version. But, no, never, it is the musical ENTITY which is Ledbetter. (/lisa) For you see, 'Yellow Ledbetter' is the only pop/rock song I know of in history that has, well, mutating lyrics. This is reason one why it is unequivocally my favourite song of all time, and always will be.
Try as they may, all they can do is say it's a song of 'anti-patriotism'. Even Mike McCready has no idea what the hell it's about, but loves ending the shows with it... a different solo each time. It's just the epitome of what music- and on a grander scale- art should be: freedom of expression built on a foundation.
We have the Hendrix rip-off riff (check out 'Little Wing'- McCready should owe royalties). We have the 'boxer or the bag'. We have these mysterious porch dwellers who don't wave. But that's about all that remains the same in each performance.
I should digress to something more personal, though. Like why this is my favourite song. The truth is, (in the words of HBK) 'I have no fucking idea'. As far as Pearl Jam songs go, it is actually mediocre in its creativity (most Pearl Jam songs aren't so obviously an homage), and the original is more incoherent than Ozzy on morphine.
I reckon I heard it first in 1994. I have no need to give the details of my hearing it, but needless to say, a live version ended up tacked on to the end of an errant mixed tape that ended up in my angsty paws. (Err, was that really 'needless'?)
I could recognize Vedder anywhere, even then, but had never heard this song... I guess it just came in a time of my life where... where I realized it was time to be an individual, time to create my own world.
Ever since, 'Yellow Ledbetter' is my intro and outro. The soundtrack to all my beginnings and ends.
It's just one of those songs. It sounds right, deep in your soul. I remember when I asked Nicki about music while getting to know each other over rollies on the banks of the Ganga. I asked her who she listened to, and stuff like that, she just said something like: "I listen to what feels good". That's as best as I can figure out why I like it so: it feels rightly good.
Like the best kind of love for anything... or anyone, you can't explain it... it transcends words. I believe that only the best things transcend words....
Maybe that's why one of the most lyrically incoherent songs in history is my very favourite? Hmm.
Now get out of here.
photo by kam