Kevin Davis wrote:There are a few details in "Sleight of Hand" which suggest that Eddie is writing specifically about 9-to-5 work ("Mondays were made to fall," "clip-on world"), but I think in much bigger ways the song is for anyone locked into a routine that is sucking the life from them, and that's a feeling that could be as true for a millionaire rock star as it could be for anyone else; it's not quite the same as "Unemployable" where he's telling us all about the guy with religious jewelry who doesn't know how he's going to pay his bills. The proof is in the pudding, in any case -- I've been the guy in "Sleight of Hand" multiple times in my life, and there is absolutely nothing about that circumstance that Eddie gets wrong. In fact, when I've been in the thick of those feelings, "Sleight of Hand" was so dead on it was almost painful to listen to. PJ have been my favorite band for 22 tears and I can probably count on one hand the songs of theirs that I've felt that personally.
The music is so perfectly complementary too -- those dreamy, shoegazey arpeggios are the perfect theme music for this charactsr who is sleepwalking through life, totally numb yet constantly blanketed in this aura of sadness. I feel like this is one of the few post-"Vs." songs that revisits that "music by the band, free verse from Ed" writing template, and it's so evident to me how much Eddie's learned since then; this song settles right in between the free-verse-as-pop-song experiments from their first couple records and the even-freer spoken word pieces like "I'm Open," and finds an artistic space that draws on the best elements of both approaches. Truly one of PJ's finest songs.
Vote for "Sleight of Hand," obviously.
Thanks for this KD. This is one of my favorite posts ever. I have felt that way a thousand times too. I might be in the middle of that now. This song is completely relatable and encompassing of many emotions. And the music is my favorite that PJ has ever written.
For starters, these are the lyrics to "Stand Up Comedy" from U2's No Line on the Horizon:
I gotta stand up and take a step
You and I have been asleep for hours
I gotta stand up
The wire is stretched in between our two towers
Stand up in this dizzy world
Where a lovesick eye can steal the view
I'm gonna fall down if I can't stand up
For your love
Love love love love love
Stand up, this is comedy
The DNA lottery may have left you smart
But can you stand up to beauty, dictator of the heart
I can stand up for hope, faith, love
But while I'm getting over certainty
Stop helping God across the road like a little old lady
Ooh
Ooh
Out from under your beds
C'mon ye people
Stand up for your love
Love love love love love
Love love love love love
I gotta stand up to ego but my ego's not really the enemy
It's like a small child crossing an eight lane highway
On a voyage of discovery
Stand up to rock stars, Napolean is in high heels
Josephine, be careful of small men with big ideas
Ooh
Ooh
Out form under your beds
C'mon ye people
Stand up for your love
Love love love love love
Love love love love love
God is love
And love is evolution's very best day
Soul rockin' people moving on
Soul rockin' people on and on
C'mon ye people
We're made of stars
C'mon ye people
Stand up then sit down for your love
Love love love love love
Love love love love love
Love
Love
And these are the lyrics to "Sleight of Hand" from Pearl Jam's Binaural:
Routine was the theme
He'd wake up, wash and pour himself into uniform
Something he hadn't imagined being
As the merging traffic passed
He found himself staring down
At his own hands
Not remembering the change
Not recalling the plan
Was it?...
He was okay
But wondering
About wandering
Was it age?
By consequence?
Or was he moved sleight of hand?
Mondays were made to fall
Lost on a road he knew by heart
It was like a book he read in his sleep, endlessly
Sometimes he hid in his radio
Watching others pull into their homes
While he was drifting
On a line
Of his own
Off the line
Off the side
By the by
As dirt turned to sand
As if moved by sleight of hand
When he reached the shore of his clip-on world
He resurfaced to the norm
Organized his few things, his coat and keys
Any new realizations would have to wait
Till he had more time
More time
A time to dream
To himself
He waves goodbye
To himself
I'll see you on the other side
Another man moved by sleight of hand
Remember that thread about U2 from years ago? Or was it a thread about something else that got hijacked and turned into a huge U2 discussion (kinda like this one)?
