Song of the Moment: Lightning Bolt

General Pearl Jam discussion.
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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

Release_Me
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Re: New Song: Lightning Bolt

Post by Release_Me »

Thenews15 wrote:There's parts of this song that i like, but the chorus kills the momentum. If he just said Lightning Bolt once it would be ok. I don't know. Mixed feelings. I do love MYM for what it's worth which is weird because I've always liked the slow to mid-tempo songs better through their career. I like the lyrical content of MYM but Lighning Bolt is cheesy. It's the same reason I couldn't get into Love Boat Captin. The fact that he's says that in the song kills it for me.
Aside from the chorus which I can understand not being the best part of the song, do you still think the lyrics are cheesy after reading the ones posted a page or two back?
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Re: New Song: Lightning Bolt

Post by Release_Me »

Walker Bait wrote:
Thejambi wrote:My Best attempt

She comes down like a stone
But she don’t know where from she was thrown
Like a hurling meteor, from miles high
She’s looking for a place to land
She said “You got yourself some sand”
And whatever you’ve replied she took as ...yes
She comes after me
With her newly planted seeds
And soon you’re thrown down on your knees, and then you’re dead
Then before you know, The weeds are obesely overgrown
With All the wild seeds she sows in your sleep

You gotta know you’ll never let her go
She’s a lightning Bolt, Lighting Bolt, Lightning Bolt

Always something, never nothing
Isn’t that the way we’re taught to dream…. to dream
Oh looking through the worn out pages and stages
When you knew not who to be…yeah! YEAH!!
Until the lightning strike SETS!! you free! YEAH YEAH YEAH YEAH!!


You gotta know you’ll never let her go
She’s a lightning Bolt, Lighting Bolt, Lightning Bolt

Crashing stormy waves erode her shoreline everyday
Until the castle of her ways turns to sand
Then before you know, The weeds are obesely overgrown
With all the wild seeds she’s sows in your sleep

And with no repair in sight there is
No God with such might
As you open her world.. wide with such a view.
And Your efforts to arrive
As she finally decides
That all her problems, they will die with you

She’s a lightning bolt
Never let her go

Weewhoo! ;)
We had pretty much the same lyrics. :) I adjusted just to show the differences, mine are in bold. The rest were the same.
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Re: New Song: Lightning Bolt

Post by Lament »

warehouse wrote:
Lament wrote:
warehouse wrote:it was DTE
Thanks.
:thumbsup:
this was just an assumption. he did it in philly in 2012. no offense to SA, but im not doing it. thats your thing.
I think your assumption is probably right. I know it was one of the first few songs after the delay, and if he's done it before then that makes even more sense.
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Re: New Song: Lightning Bolt

Post by PHATJ »

I love this song. Admittedly, the lyrics may be pretty bad. But I just don't give a fuck. Musically I love it. It soars. The guitars roar. And I love Eddie's wailing throughout. I could listen to this all day.

I also find myself enjoying MYM more and more. Future Days is total blah. But two out of three ain't bad.
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Re: New Song: Lightning Bolt

Post by EJ »

Image
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Re: New Song: Lightning Bolt

Post by Release_Me »

PHATJ wrote:I love this song. Admittedly, the lyrics may be pretty bad. But I just don't give a fuck. Musically I love it. It soars. The guitars roar. And I love Eddie's wailing throughout. I could listen to this all day.

I also find myself enjoying MYM more and more. Future Days is total blah. But two out of three ain't bad.
Seriously, is no one reading the lyrics the same way as me?? They are far from bad FFS!
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Re: New Song: Lightning Bolt

Post by Thejambi »

EJ wrote:Image
Can't wait till that outfit hits the 10c!
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Re: New Song: Lightning Bolt

Post by harmless »

Release_Me wrote:
PHATJ wrote:I love this song. Admittedly, the lyrics may be pretty bad. But I just don't give a fuck. Musically I love it. It soars. The guitars roar. And I love Eddie's wailing throughout. I could listen to this all day.

I also find myself enjoying MYM more and more. Future Days is total blah. But two out of three ain't bad.
Seriously, is no one reading the lyrics the same way as me?? They are far from bad FFS!
They're definitely not as bad as supersonic or big wave, but they're pretty bad. It's basically like a game of Spot the Old Song Reference.
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Re: New Song: Lightning Bolt

Post by Thejambi »

Release_Me wrote:
PHATJ wrote:I love this song. Admittedly, the lyrics may be pretty bad. But I just don't give a fuck. Musically I love it. It soars. The guitars roar. And I love Eddie's wailing throughout. I could listen to this all day.

I also find myself enjoying MYM more and more. Future Days is total blah. But two out of three ain't bad.
Seriously, is no one reading the lyrics the same way as me?? They are far from bad FFS!
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Re: New Song: Lightning Bolt

Post by Release_Me »

Well, to me they're painting a vivid picture. It starts off with Ed talking about a lover who sort of imposes herself on him and he can't resist her or isn't allowed to. He's thinking that this is someone I can't let go. As the song progresses and the references to weeds and seeds come in, to me it sounds as if she is manipulating/using him. Near the end of the song where he sings:

And with no repair in sight there is
No God with such might
As you open her world.. wide with such a view.
And Your efforts to arrive
As she finally decides
That all her problems, they will die with you


To me, this isn't a comforting love song. It has the protagonist complete helpless in the face of a lover who actually turns out to be a bitch, so to speak. The last lines where he sings:

She’s a lightning bolt
Never let her go

The reason Ed sings these more aggressively than at any other part of the song is that he probably realises what she's doing but he still won't let her go, for whatever reason. It's the classic PJ song with upliftin music but a far from positive theme. Thematically, I can liken this to Betterman. Roles are reversed of course.

Of course, I may be complete wrong about this and you can lambast this post in that case :)
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Re: New Song: Lightning Bolt

Post by BurtReynolds »

The lyrics are clunky and weird and probably bad, but at least they are different and a little dark.
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Re: New Song: Lightning Bolt

Post by PHATJ »

Ear boner.
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Re: New Song: Lightning Bolt

Post by Release_Me »

Weird, yeah I can agree to that. Seeds and weeds sound a bit, well, different. But I really think you guys are doing a disservice by dismissing the lyrics completely as being bad. Betterman has lyrics which are in no way better than this (no pun intended). In fact, the imagery here is on a different level completely. Of course, you can argue Betterman is a better song.
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Re: New Song: Lightning Bolt

Post by harmless »

Release_Me wrote:And with no repair in sight there is
No God with such might
As you open her world.. wide with such a view.
And Your efforts to arrive
As she finally decides
That all her problems, they will die with you
These lyrics make no actual sense.
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Re: New Song: Lightning Bolt

Post by Walker Bait »

I don't know.....I'm lovin this song. Maybe its because I can relate. My girlfriend for the past several years whom I love dearly is for lack of a better word....crazy. When it started it was unexpected and wild and fun and full of "lightning" but as time went on things have just kinda turned a little nuts and I don't know if it can be repaired but I know that I love her and she loves me as unhealthy as it might be...not violent or anything like that...maybe kinda toxic though. But I have no intention of leaving as stupid as that sounds. "You gotta know I'll never let her go, shes a lightning bolt!" So I can relate to the message that "I'm getting from the song anyway, and I think it's catchy as all hell. She got a kick out of it.
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Re: New Song: Lightning Bolt

Post by BurtReynolds »

Walker Bait wrote:I don't know.....I'm lovin this song. Maybe its because I can relate. My girlfriend for the past several years whom I love dearly is for lack of a better word....crazy. When it started it was unexpected and wild and fun and full of "lightning" but as time went on things have just kinda turned a little nuts and I don't know if it can be repaired but I know that I love her and she loves me as unhealthy as it might be...not violent or anything like that...maybe kinda toxic though. But I have no intention of leaving as stupid as that sounds. "You gotta know I'll never let her go, shes a lightning bolt!" So I can relate to the message that "I'm getting from the song anyway, and I think it's catchy as all hell. She got a kick out of it.
i can relate.
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Re: New Song: Lightning Bolt

Post by Walker Bait »

harmless wrote:
Release_Me wrote:And with no repair in sight there is
No God with such might
As you open her world.. wide with such a view.
And Your efforts to arrive
As she finally decides
That all her problems, they will die with you
These lyrics make no actual sense.
I think it means that shes feeling the same way about the relationship and that she sees HIM as her main problem and when he dies she will be problem free. lol thats what I'm taking away from it anyway.
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Re: New Song: Lightning Bolt

Post by Release_Me »

harmless wrote:
Release_Me wrote:And with no repair in sight there is
No God with such might
As you open her world.. wide with such a view.
And Your efforts to arrive
As she finally decides
That all her problems, they will die with you
These lyrics make no actual sense.
I'm pretty sure when Alive came out, the lyrics didn't make much sense and if anything, people believed it was a celebratory song.
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Re: New Song: Lightning Bolt

Post by Coach »

Some similarities between Backspacer's popularity vs. Lightning Bolt (the song):

Everyone loves Backspacer, but how much?
5 Stars: 7% [ 4 ]
4 Stars: 23% [ 14 ]
3 Stars: 46% [ 28 ]
2 Stars: 20% [ 12 ]
1 Star: 5% [ 3 ]

First impressions of fan audio live performance debut (Lightning Bolt):

Love it 14% [ 5 ]

Like it 31% [ 11 ]

It's okay 40% [ 14 ]

Don't like it 11% [ 4 ]

Hate it 3% [ 1 ]
Last edited by Coach on Mon July 22, 2013 8:52 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: New Song: Lightning Bolt

Post by harmless »

Release_Me wrote:
harmless wrote:
Release_Me wrote:And with no repair in sight there is
No God with such might
As you open her world.. wide with such a view.
And Your efforts to arrive
As she finally decides
That all her problems, they will die with you
These lyrics make no actual sense.
I'm pretty sure when Alive came out, the lyrics didn't make much sense and if anything, people believed it was a celebratory song.
Not if you listened to that bridge. Made perfect, dark and freaky sense.
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