Can't Deny Me

[Release_Me]

It's not just the opening but also the bridge after the hand claps, that he sounds like Chris. I don't know if it's intentional but it was the first thing I noticed. Like it, Ed!

[stip]

Best Pearl Jam song since Lightning Bolt came out.

... which are the others?


Or is that the joke

There are a few.

Again Today, Around And Around, Wishing Well. I also thought of Out Of Sand, but that's Ed solo.

I really love Again Today.

[Anders]

Best Pearl Jam song since Lightning Bolt came out.

... which are the others?


Or is that the joke

There are a few.

Again Today, Around And Around, Wishing Well. I also thought of Out Of Sand, but that's Ed solo.

I really love Again Today.

I know, but I never warmed to it. Like Can't Deny Me though.

[igotworms]

Have to say that I thought this song was a POS when I first heard it last night. Throwaway, sloppy garbage.

But it has warmed on me tremendously.

My only major gripe about it now is that Eddie sounds horrendous on the verses. He's over-stretching himself in an effort to emote, but rather than sounding angry, he just sounds drunk. Which may, of course, actually be the case.

[E.H. Ruddock]

Why is everyone mad/surprised this is about Trump? They had a song about Bush, who is the Pope compared to Trump.

[Coach]

This is good. Give me an angry Pearl Jam album.

Hey Jeff, welcome back.

At least new music brings back old RMers!

[spike]

Why is everyone mad/surprised this is about Trump? They had a song about Bush, who is the Pope compared to Trump.

low hanging fruit

[stip]

Why is everyone mad/surprised this is about Trump? They had a song about Bush, who is the Pope compared to Trump.

No one should be surprised. You would hope for something a bit more artful, though

[stip]

Have to say that I thought this song was a POS when I first heard it last night. Throwaway, sloppy garbage.

But it has warmed on me tremendously.

My only major gripe about it now is that Eddie sounds horrendous on the verses. He's over-stretching himself in an effort to emote, but rather than sounding angry, he just sounds drunk. Which may, of course, actually be the case.

He really nailed the voice to use for these kinds of songs with Mind Your Manners. He sounds so great on that track, in part because he goes low instead of high, so you get the growl instead of the screech. He can do the low end stuff really well, and he can hit the soaring notes - it's the stuff that he would have screamed in his prime that really doesn't serve him well anymore

[Release_Me]

Hey Stip! I agree he's always been more pleasant to the ears when he allows his voice to soar on the highs since that highlights his beautiful tone. However, I think the pissed off, angry vibe he gives off in the verses is best achieved through the screamy singing we see here. That he doesn't nail this style easily live is a fact but given a few studio takes, I think he does it really well as shown in this song. I personally think he sounds great on this but then again, I've always preferred Ed reaching for his limits with the upper register. I was OK with MYM but I'm not a fan of Ed racing through lyrics. I prefer the more deliberate pace we see here even if every note sounds more strained.

[Ledbetterman10]

i thought the days of 160kbps mp3s were long gone.

Right? I thought that as well.

[Anders]

In Mind Your Manners it's so tiring to listen to Ed, just awful for my ears. He sounds a lot more like himself here. "The faster you fly" part is Ed at his current best.

[epilogue]

This doesn't sound like Soundgarden at all and the anti-Trump lyrics are pure Eddie.

I disagree. This sounds a lot like Soundgarden to me.

There are a few chord changes there that are vaguely Soundgarden-y (I'm thinking of how the riff kind of slides into the low end in the chorus with what sounds to be an open E string, that "rumbly" sound) and the background percussion sounds a bit like the percussion from "Been Away Too Long". Neither of these things is exclusive to Soundgarden, and Soundgarden isn't the first band that came to mind when I heard this bad bad song, but I understand where people are getting it from

The Damon Albarn comparison is baffling but I'm still processing it

I would agree that Soundgarden wasn't the first comparison to come to mind. But once I heard it, I couldn't "un-hear" it. And now it's fairly prominent to my ear and it's easy to imagine it as a full Soundgarden song with Chris on vocals. The lyrics wouldn't certainly have been more interesting had Chris written them, I think.

[epilogue]

Why is everyone mad/surprised this is about Trump? They had a song about Bush, who is the Pope compared to Trump.

I'm not mad or surprised. I'm fucking THRILLED.

[epilogue]

Why is everyone mad/surprised this is about Trump? They had a song about Bush, who is the Pope compared to Trump.

No one should be surprised. You would hope for something a bit more artful, though

I don't know. There's nothing wrong with just saying something. It's blunt and coarse, but that's okay. It's "Punk Ed." And it's probably better than it should be given that Ed's a damn privileged man in his 50's who doesn't write as often as he used to. These aren't great lyrics. They are "artful" lyrics. But they fit the song. They fit the theme. They ride the melody well and they're delivered well. I can't be too mad at 'em.

[Anders]

Indeed. Ed is right to speak out. It's not his best lyrics, but they are straight to the point, no bs.

[Jorge]

I wish they were stronger. This is the best he could come up with? "Where's your vocabulary"? "You may be rich, but you can't deny me"? "Bushleaguer" was ruthless in comparison

[epilogue]

We'll have to see if this is really just a one-off or if it ends up as part of the next album. As a one-off, I can see what you mean (though I like the "vocabulary" stanza, personally). But if it ends up on an album surrounded by other songs, perhaps that gives it context. There may also be a "Bushleaguer" to accompany it.

[Anders]

Bushleager is too over the top. Really ruined the song for the future.

[dprival78]

eddie vedder calling someone out for being rich..

aight