Song of the Moment: Lightning Bolt

General Pearl Jam discussion.
Post Reply

Rate Lightning Bolt

5 Stars
34
24%
4 Stars
59
42%
3 Stars
22
16%
2 Stars
8
6%
1 Star
12
9%
Betterman (live)
4
3%
 
Total votes: 139

User avatar
harmless
10Club Complaint Department
Posts: 17337
Joined: Tue January 01, 2013 2:41 pm

Re: new song: lightning

Post by harmless »

WtOB? wrote:
harmless wrote:
WtOB? wrote:I'm liking this even more with that new video. Ed should just stop singing from "yeah yeah!" onwards though. Let the band flow.
If you compare this to something like Present Tense, with an extended outro, it strikes me that he never used to feel any inclination to ad-lib throughout the ending like he does now. He was pretty bad at that on Ten though. All the yeah yeah yeahs and hey mamamama yeahs on that album kind of detract for me now.
Yeah, it's like he's too scared of boring the audience by not singing for like 2 seconds. :?
:thumbsup:

There's a sense in which late PJ music is kind of apologetic. That tentativeness would be kind of charming if they acknowledged it but they don't really.
RisingTides wrote:There is more kindness on the internet than we would care to admit to ourselves. Sometimes we are so afraid of falling victim to a ruse, we miss out on actual opportunities.
User avatar
stip
The worst
Posts: 42946
Joined: Thu December 13, 2012 6:31 pm

Re: new song: lightning

Post by stip »

WtOB? wrote:
harmless wrote:
WtOB? wrote:I'm liking this even more with that new video. Ed should just stop singing from "yeah yeah!" onwards though. Let the band flow.
If you compare this to something like Present Tense, with an extended outro, it strikes me that he never used to feel any inclination to ad-lib throughout the ending like he does now. He was pretty bad at that on Ten though. All the yeah yeah yeahs and hey mamamama yeahs on that album kind of detract for me now.
Yeah, it's like he's too scared of boring the audience by not singing for like 2 seconds. :?
I like it when he does that stuff.
User avatar
harmless
10Club Complaint Department
Posts: 17337
Joined: Tue January 01, 2013 2:41 pm

Re: New Song: Lightning Bolt

Post by harmless »

I keep trying to attempt the lyrics but no such luck. I get bits and pieces but nope.
RisingTides wrote:There is more kindness on the internet than we would care to admit to ourselves. Sometimes we are so afraid of falling victim to a ruse, we miss out on actual opportunities.
User avatar
harmless
10Club Complaint Department
Posts: 17337
Joined: Tue January 01, 2013 2:41 pm

Re: New Song: Lightning Bolt

Post by harmless »

Another video, decent quality again



Mike's soloing is clearer on this one.

I like the part where the verse goes noisy from 3:10 onwards.
Last edited by harmless on Sat July 20, 2013 12:44 pm, edited 1 time in total.
RisingTides wrote:There is more kindness on the internet than we would care to admit to ourselves. Sometimes we are so afraid of falling victim to a ruse, we miss out on actual opportunities.
User avatar
stip
The worst
Posts: 42946
Joined: Thu December 13, 2012 6:31 pm

Re: New Song: Lightning Bolt

Post by stip »

I gave up too. Once it got past the first few lyrics there were some nice lines there.


Really Eddie only has 3 or 4 songs where I flat out don't like the lyrics. No reason to expect otherwise for me (that's not to say I always love them either). He is far from my favorite lyricist these days but he rarely embarrasses me and most songs can be counted on to have a few great lines in there. He is good. Not great. But good.
User avatar
Kevin Davis
tl;dr
Posts: 9312
Joined: Tue January 01, 2013 6:06 pm

Re: New Song: Lightning Bolt

Post by Kevin Davis »

I like both of these new songs better than "Mind Your Manners" but--judging from only these poor quality videos, of course--they still just seem kind of bland to me.
User avatar
WtOB?
Rank This Poster
Posts: 4818
Joined: Thu January 31, 2013 7:03 am
Twitter: https://twitter.com/humdinger_dman
Location: by the ocean
Contact:

Re: New Song: Lightning Bolt

Post by WtOB? »

harmless wrote:Another video, decent quality again



Mike's soloing is clearer on this one.

I like the part where the verse goes noisy from 3:10 onwards.
Is Mike using an Ebow on that solo?? :shock:
Dev wrote:i love listening to the leaked pj song "last word".
User avatar
harmless
10Club Complaint Department
Posts: 17337
Joined: Tue January 01, 2013 2:41 pm

Re: New Song: Lightning Bolt

Post by harmless »

WtOB? wrote:
harmless wrote:Another video, decent quality again



Mike's soloing is clearer on this one.

I like the part where the verse goes noisy from 3:10 onwards.
Is Mike using an Ebow on that solo?? :shock:
I don't think so... sounds more like a wah-wah pedal? But I'm not a guitarist so...
RisingTides wrote:There is more kindness on the internet than we would care to admit to ourselves. Sometimes we are so afraid of falling victim to a ruse, we miss out on actual opportunities.
User avatar
WtOB?
Rank This Poster
Posts: 4818
Joined: Thu January 31, 2013 7:03 am
Twitter: https://twitter.com/humdinger_dman
Location: by the ocean
Contact:

Re: New Song: Lightning Bolt

Post by WtOB? »

harmless wrote:
WtOB? wrote:
harmless wrote:Another video, decent quality again



Mike's soloing is clearer on this one.

I like the part where the verse goes noisy from 3:10 onwards.
Is Mike using an Ebow on that solo?? :shock:
I don't think so... sounds more like a wah-wah pedal? But I'm not a guitarist so...
It's not really the sound, I saw it on the screen. Definitely looks like an Ebow.
Dev wrote:i love listening to the leaked pj song "last word".
User avatar
harmless
10Club Complaint Department
Posts: 17337
Joined: Tue January 01, 2013 2:41 pm

Re: New Song: Lightning Bolt

Post by harmless »

Everyone might hate me for saying this, but the earliest example we have of this kind of emotional 'bland' song is probably Better Man. But the production of that song, and the instrumentation and passion of the performance, lifts it and makes it more than it should be.
RisingTides wrote:There is more kindness on the internet than we would care to admit to ourselves. Sometimes we are so afraid of falling victim to a ruse, we miss out on actual opportunities.
User avatar
harmless
10Club Complaint Department
Posts: 17337
Joined: Tue January 01, 2013 2:41 pm

Re: New Song: Lightning Bolt

Post by harmless »

WtOB? wrote:
harmless wrote:
WtOB? wrote:
harmless wrote:Another video, decent quality again



Mike's soloing is clearer on this one.

I like the part where the verse goes noisy from 3:10 onwards.
Is Mike using an Ebow on that solo?? :shock:
I don't think so... sounds more like a wah-wah pedal? But I'm not a guitarist so...
It's not really the sound, I saw it on the screen. Definitely looks like an Ebow.
Ah, OK, well then we might be in for some more Yield sound...

Basically I'm now hoping that this song is what Unthought Known wanted to be. If MYM is what Comatose wanted to be, then we might have a retread of S/T and Backspacer that's actually much better than both. That's my Episode 4 (new hope).
RisingTides wrote:There is more kindness on the internet than we would care to admit to ourselves. Sometimes we are so afraid of falling victim to a ruse, we miss out on actual opportunities.
User avatar
Kevin Davis
tl;dr
Posts: 9312
Joined: Tue January 01, 2013 6:06 pm

Re: new song: lightning

Post by Kevin Davis »

stip wrote:It's an upbeat, celebratory song. So if you only want pearl jam to write DARKNESS AND ANGER (unless it is yield, where it is okay for some reason)
C'mon, man. You know there are many shades of emotion between "darkness and anger" and "celebratory," and you know that even though both groups of songs may reflect more or less positive frames of mind, these new songs both have considerably different vibes than the songs on Yield. The piano on "Future Days" almost sounds like contemporary Christian rock--that's almost assuredly not a choice they'd have made in 1998.
Last edited by Kevin Davis on Sat July 20, 2013 1:26 pm, edited 1 time in total.
injuddstree
Broken Tamborine
Posts: 442
Joined: Tue March 12, 2013 10:21 am

Re: New Song: Lightning Bolt

Post by injuddstree »

harmless wrote:Everyone might hate me for saying this, but the earliest example we have of this kind of emotional 'bland' song is probably Better Man. But the production of that song, and the instrumentation and passion of the performance, lifts it and makes it more than it should be.
And the fact that it's possibly one of the best pop songs ever written.
User avatar
Kevin Davis
tl;dr
Posts: 9312
Joined: Tue January 01, 2013 6:06 pm

Re: New Song: Lightning Bolt

Post by Kevin Davis »

harmless wrote:Everyone might hate me for saying this, but the earliest example we have of this kind of emotional 'bland' song is probably Better Man. But the production of that song, and the instrumentation and passion of the performance, lifts it and makes it more than it should be.
There's also a lot more going on melodically and harmonically in "Better Man" than there is here.
User avatar
harmless
10Club Complaint Department
Posts: 17337
Joined: Tue January 01, 2013 2:41 pm

Re: New Song: Lightning Bolt

Post by harmless »

injuddstree wrote:
harmless wrote:Everyone might hate me for saying this, but the earliest example we have of this kind of emotional 'bland' song is probably Better Man. But the production of that song, and the instrumentation and passion of the performance, lifts it and makes it more than it should be.
And the fact that it's possibly one of the best pop songs ever written.
I'm not sure it's that. It's good, even really good. But.
RisingTides wrote:There is more kindness on the internet than we would care to admit to ourselves. Sometimes we are so afraid of falling victim to a ruse, we miss out on actual opportunities.
User avatar
harmless
10Club Complaint Department
Posts: 17337
Joined: Tue January 01, 2013 2:41 pm

Re: New Song: Lightning Bolt

Post by harmless »

Kevin Davis wrote:
harmless wrote:Everyone might hate me for saying this, but the earliest example we have of this kind of emotional 'bland' song is probably Better Man. But the production of that song, and the instrumentation and passion of the performance, lifts it and makes it more than it should be.
There's also a lot more going on melodically and harmonically in "Better Man" than there is here.
Yeah, there is that.
RisingTides wrote:There is more kindness on the internet than we would care to admit to ourselves. Sometimes we are so afraid of falling victim to a ruse, we miss out on actual opportunities.
User avatar
harmless
10Club Complaint Department
Posts: 17337
Joined: Tue January 01, 2013 2:41 pm

Re: New Song: Lightning Bolt

Post by harmless »

I guess maybe all I'm saying is that Betterman started off the trajectory for this kind of song.
RisingTides wrote:There is more kindness on the internet than we would care to admit to ourselves. Sometimes we are so afraid of falling victim to a ruse, we miss out on actual opportunities.
User avatar
Kevin Davis
tl;dr
Posts: 9312
Joined: Tue January 01, 2013 6:06 pm

Re: New Song: Lightning Bolt

Post by Kevin Davis »

Definitely. I honestly think a lot of Pearl Jam songs have the potential to be that sort of thing at heart. But historically they've been very good at shading them with little surprises in the composition or production that elevate them to a different level. Obviously this video doesn't give much indication of how this song will fare in terms of the latter but just based on this video I'm not sure I've got a lot of faith in the composition.
User avatar
stupidmop
Future Drummer
Posts: 2796
Joined: Wed May 01, 2013 4:29 pm

Re: New Song: Lightning Bolt

Post by stupidmop »

she come on like a stone
but she don't know where from she was thrown
like a burning meteor
????

Shes looking for a place to land
She said you got yourselves some sand
And whatever you (?) she took as (?)

Now she comes (?)
With her new replanted seeds
soon you're thrown down on your knees
And then you're dead

And then before you know
the weeds are (obesly?) overgrown
With the all the wild seeds she sows
in your sleep

you gotta know you'll never let her go
Shes a lightning bolt
lightning boltx2

Always something and never nothing
isn't that the way we're taught to dream, to dream
looking through the worn out pages
stages when you knew not who to be
until the lightning strike sets you free

you gotta know you'll never let her go
Shes a lightning bolt
lightning boltx2

crashing so many waves (really ed, again?)
??? shoreline every day
????? choose to sing (i got nothing for this verse basically)

And then before you know
the weeds are (obesly?) overgrown
With the all the wild seeds she sows
in your sleep

ksghfjkghkjhgkjhgjkgfhblarg
blargh blargh with you hey hey yeah hey yeah
(i think this is an actual verse as opposed to random adlibs but i got nothing)

Shes a lightning bolt
never let her go
Shes a lightning bolt
never let her go

wehoo

JAAAMMMM


These are probably mostly wrong


Like force of nature with slightly less cheese maybe.
User avatar
McParadigm
NEVER STOP JAMMING!
Posts: 22393
Joined: Wed January 02, 2013 1:56 am

Re: New Song: Lightning Bolt

Post by McParadigm »

you gotta know you'll never let her go
Shes a lightning bolt
lightning bolt
Oh dear god say it isn't so.

No way I'm watching that video, now.
(patriotic choking noises)
Post Reply