Hear the sirens covering distance in the night
The sound, echoing closer, will they come for me, next time?
For every choice, mistake I made, is not my plan
To send you in the arms of another man
And if you choose to stay, I'll wait, I'll understand
This is where the lyrics turn. What the hell has another man got to do with this bloody song?
As I've discussed here many times, I am not a "lyrics guy". My preference is for mysterious sounding nonsense, Cropduster and In the Moonlight are among my favourite lyrics for this reason. I like the words to act as almost like percussive instruments rather than conveying some kind of clear textual meaning.
All of that said, I agree with LMS that the above lines are really jarring and totally take me out of the song. They don't even feel like organically Vedder/Pearl Jam lyrics, I'm not sure what he was going for at all.
The other part I can't stand is the phrase "this here town" used earlier in the song, which is like nails on a chalkboard. You know how presidential candidates are pilloried for being too "folksy"? That line gives me that feeling, there's nothing genuine about the phrasing. Does Ed go through life saying "this here town"? Or, for that matter, "he be havin' lots of women" in Johnny Guitar? It feels totally inauthentic and almost pandering, though to whom I'm not sure. Does it arise from an insecurity about being old and out of touch? I don't know, but it's very off-putting.
i can see that in sirens, but johnny guitar is a character, and i think that lyric works in that context
I don't hear any indication of that line being delivered by a character, other than the song's "narrator" (for lack of a better term) which seems to be Ed himself.
He's clearly inhibiting johnny guitar watson. He's discussed that he saw this album cover and imagined what it would be like to be that guy on the cover. Its clearly a character driven song.
I can't believe I'm stuck in a lyrical interpretation discussion, kill me.
"Johnny Guitar Watson staring at me" - if Ed is inhabiting the character of JGW, then who is the "me" being referred to in this line?
It's clearly a lyric sung form the perspective of an external narrator of some kind, whether intended to be Ed himself or someone else.
Last edited by Birds in Hell on Sun February 23, 2020 2:00 am, edited 1 time in total.
Birds in Hell wrote:I always understood it was "further north, a warmth alive and lingering", which is definitely the only Pearl Jam lyric I can think of which graphically describes a vagina.
Hear the sirens covering distance in the night
The sound, echoing closer, will they come for me, next time?
For every choice, mistake I made, is not my plan
To send you in the arms of another man
And if you choose to stay, I'll wait, I'll understand
This is where the lyrics turn. What the hell has another man got to do with this bloody song?
As I've discussed here many times, I am not a "lyrics guy". My preference is for mysterious sounding nonsense, Cropduster and In the Moonlight are among my favourite lyrics for this reason. I like the words to act as almost like percussive instruments rather than conveying some kind of clear textual meaning.
All of that said, I agree with LMS that the above lines are really jarring and totally take me out of the song. They don't even feel like organically Vedder/Pearl Jam lyrics, I'm not sure what he was going for at all.
The other part I can't stand is the phrase "this here town" used earlier in the song, which is like nails on a chalkboard. You know how presidential candidates are pilloried for being too "folksy"? That line gives me that feeling, there's nothing genuine about the phrasing. Does Ed go through life saying "this here town"? Or, for that matter, "he be havin' lots of women" in Johnny Guitar? It feels totally inauthentic and almost pandering, though to whom I'm not sure. Does it arise from an insecurity about being old and out of touch? I don't know, but it's very off-putting.
i can see that in sirens, but johnny guitar is a character, and i think that lyric works in that context
I don't hear any indication of that line being delivered by a character, other than the song's "narrator" (for lack of a better term) which seems to be Ed himself.
He's clearly inhibiting johnny guitar watson. He's discussed that he saw this album cover and imagined what it would be like to be that guy on the cover. Its clearly a character driven song.
I can't believe I'm stuck in a lyrical interpretation discussion, kill me.
"Johnny Guitar Watson staring at me" - if Ed is inhabiting the character of JGW, then who is the "me" being referred to in this line?
It's clearly a lyric sung form the perspective of an external narrator of some kind, whether intended to be Ed himself or someone else.
he is looking at a poster of him, fantasizing/wishing he could be as cool as he is
Hear the sirens covering distance in the night
The sound, echoing closer, will they come for me, next time?
For every choice, mistake I made, is not my plan
To send you in the arms of another man
And if you choose to stay, I'll wait, I'll understand
This is where the lyrics turn. What the hell has another man got to do with this bloody song?
As I've discussed here many times, I am not a "lyrics guy". My preference is for mysterious sounding nonsense, Cropduster and In the Moonlight are among my favourite lyrics for this reason. I like the words to act as almost like percussive instruments rather than conveying some kind of clear textual meaning.
All of that said, I agree with LMS that the above lines are really jarring and totally take me out of the song. They don't even feel like organically Vedder/Pearl Jam lyrics, I'm not sure what he was going for at all.
The other part I can't stand is the phrase "this here town" used earlier in the song, which is like nails on a chalkboard. You know how presidential candidates are pilloried for being too "folksy"? That line gives me that feeling, there's nothing genuine about the phrasing. Does Ed go through life saying "this here town"? Or, for that matter, "he be havin' lots of women" in Johnny Guitar? It feels totally inauthentic and almost pandering, though to whom I'm not sure. Does it arise from an insecurity about being old and out of touch? I don't know, but it's very off-putting.
i can see that in sirens, but johnny guitar is a character, and i think that lyric works in that context
I don't hear any indication of that line being delivered by a character, other than the song's "narrator" (for lack of a better term) which seems to be Ed himself.
He's clearly inhibiting johnny guitar watson. He's discussed that he saw this album cover and imagined what it would be like to be that guy on the cover. Its clearly a character driven song.
I can't believe I'm stuck in a lyrical interpretation discussion, kill me.
"Johnny Guitar Watson staring at me" - if Ed is inhabiting the character of JGW, then who is the "me" being referred to in this line?
It's clearly a lyric sung form the perspective of an external narrator of some kind, whether intended to be Ed himself or someone else.
It goes back and forth. He's discussing this entire imagined conversation from both perspectives. That isn't unusual or weird by any means.
There's no "conversation". It's a song told from the point of view of a person obsessed with a girl on a Johnny Guitar Watson album cover. I like the song a lot but agree with Spenno that those lines are cringy
Anders wrote:I do not have a «neoliberal assessment of geopolitics», so please stop writing that I do.
theplatypus wrote:There's no "conversation". It's a song told from the point of view of a person obsessed with a girl on a Johnny Guitar Watson album cover. I like the song a lot but agree with Spenno that those lines are cringy
I dont think anyone here is saying otherwise. Just saying that they are.....right where they should be considering the material and the song.
Birds in Hell wrote:I always understood it was "further north, a warmth alive and lingering", which is definitely the only Pearl Jam lyric I can think of which graphically describes a vagina.
Best line in the album, it's really what all of Backspacer is about.
tragabigzanda wrote:I really like the lyrics to Johnny Guitar, and generally appreciate any of Ed's more recent turns of phrase that don't have to do with waves/sun/cars/getting away.
bodysnatcher wrote:Maybe Ed will write a song about the underboob on Ween’s “chocolate and cheese”
I mean, if anything were deserving of such praise, it's undoubtedly this. Mighty fine record, as well.
We still make records to be listened to — not that everyone will listen to a record track one to twelve in a row or side A or Side B — but we still make 'em in case somebody does want to listen to it like that, that's how we make em…
Johnny Guitar hatred around here is out of hand, and I'll no longer stand for it....It's merely the middle-aged version of Stone's "rhythmic things that butt up against each other."
Last edited by oneway23 on Sun February 23, 2020 2:05 pm, edited 1 time in total.
We still make records to be listened to — not that everyone will listen to a record track one to twelve in a row or side A or Side B — but we still make 'em in case somebody does want to listen to it like that, that's how we make em…
