Setting Sun

[FlatSideofaDog]

Ed is known to write songs from someone else's perspective. It means this doesn't have to be about his own relationship. He wrote Nothingman from the perspective of a guy who messed up a relationship. He wrote Better Man from the perspective of a woman who had settled for a guy who wasn't worth it.

There can be multiple interpretations of lyrics, so whatever one wants to believe is fine.

True and maybe some people can write powerful lyrics like this when they don't experience it themselves. But I think Ed went Taylor Swift on quite a few DM songs. He's talking about himself if I had to guess.

[mikejasond]

Ed is known to write songs from someone else's perspective. It means this doesn't have to be about his own relationship. He wrote Nothingman from the perspective of a guy who messed up a relationship. He wrote Better Man from the perspective of a woman who had settled for a guy who wasn't worth it.

There can be multiple interpretations of lyrics, so whatever one wants to believe is fine.

This is fair, it would not be strange for Eddie to write from the perspective of somebody else. And it very well could be all it is. And it's also possible he is using this theme as a stand-in for something else, like metaphorically. But it was still jarring listening to it...

Having

Scared of Fear
React / Respond
Wreckage
Upper Hand
Setting Sun

all seemingly about what sounds like a divorce or separation is what was strange to me. And there are other songs that in retrospect seem like they could be referencing this too. And some songs like Won't Tell that are confusing what they are about, but still isn't what I expect from the Eddie we saw before.

I would argue there has not ever been a Pearl Jam album that sounds so cohesive in its storytelling and themes. Nothingman was a one-off song about such a thing (I guess Better Man could possibly tie in with this from the other perspective) but the lyrics on this album seem like something different, as many songs all tie in with the same story from the same perspective. So it seems almost like a concept album or Eddie drawing on SOME type of personal experience. It's also not a topic Eddie has touched in ages. Previous albums had songs like Just Breathe, and Sirens, that showed his contentment in his family. So suddenly getting these sad and bitter relationship songs was just very surprising. It makes me think he is feeling SOME powerful emotion because he doesn't usually write in this way. And it also doesn't seem like his usual story-teller songs to me, where it is more obvious he is relating somebody else's experience.

[mikejasond]

(In fact, the only song that does sound happy in this one is the one where he asserts his love for his kids....and that in context of the other songs does give it a different feeling than it might by itself)

[Farmer John]

Eddie's wife listening to the lyrics on this album:

[FlatSideofaDog]

Nothingman lyrics sound like they are coming from someone who perhaps saw it up close, but by the time you reach middle age you can see they aren't inspired or the real deal.

Setting Sun is a full 2-3 tiers up from that. Ed sings like the stakes are high - his best vocal performance since Better Days IMO - and the lyrics are inspired enough to articulate the situation with originality.

[Ms Harmless]

"the cast was made
to reset broken bones,
but there's no such thing
to fix a love gone wrong"

That line was definitely sad. It's one of the ones that made me think these songs can't be about Cornell, it just seems too direct and straightforward

yeah, it's... weird and made me feel a bit uneasy in the cinema

[oftheearth]

I would argue there has not ever been a Pearl Jam album that sounds so cohesive in its storytelling and themes. Nothingman was a one-off song about such a thing (I guess Better Man could possibly tie in with this from the other perspective) but the lyrics on this album seem like something different, as many songs all tie in with the same story from the same perspective. So it seems almost like a concept album or Eddie drawing on SOME type of personal experience. It's also not a topic Eddie has touched in ages. Previous albums had songs like Just Breathe, and Sirens, that showed his contentment in his family. So suddenly getting these sad and bitter relationship songs was just very surprising. It makes me think he is feeling SOME powerful emotion because he doesn't usually write in this way. And it also doesn't seem like his usual story-teller songs to me, where it is more obvious he is relating somebody else's experience.

This would make sense given all/majority of the lyrics were written in the studio while he was processing the melodies and a place in time emotionally.

[RockPusher]

This song is so epic and gorgeous it's like hearing Black or Release for the first time.

"We could become one last setting Sun or be the sun at the break of dawn"

[McParadigm]

You guys are pretty literal. I’d bet this album is about his relationship with his audience and his own history before I’d bet anything else.

[Ms Harmless]

You guys are pretty literal. I’d bet this album is about his relationship with his audience and his own history before I’d bet anything else.

when did a love with his fans go wrong?

[McParadigm]

You guys are pretty literal. I’d bet this album is about his relationship with his audience and his own history before I’d bet anything else.

when did a love with his fans go wrong?

That’s not what I said.

Isn’t it interesting that the big, thunderous callback song on this record is about someone who feels unheard, unseen, and disempowered, and then finds comfort and strength in a concert? As if to say, remember when this was you? Remember when it was me?

It’s also not hard for me to imagine lines like “we used to laugh, we used to sing, we used to dance, we had our own scene,” “something that I never had was the upper hand,” “I’ll be the last one standing / I’ll be the first to forgive” are reflections on the journey he took to get here. Or that a lyric like “if you could see what I see now, you’d find a way to stay somehow” first gestated while looking out at a sea of concert goers. Could be thunder, or a crowd.

To me, the loss that the record is dealing with is all the time that you've already spent, and the healing aspect of the record comes from its insistence on continuing to celebrate…and reach for an unattainable level of catharsis and meaning.

[RockPusher]

I can dig that read, McParadigm. Honestly, wherever he reached into to gather this stuff, I applaud him. Personally loving the lyrics.

[Ms Harmless]

You guys are pretty literal. I’d bet this album is about his relationship with his audience and his own history before I’d bet anything else.

when did a love with his fans go wrong?

That’s not what I said.

Isn’t it interesting that the big, thunderous callback song on this record is about someone who feels unheard, unseen, and disempowered, and then finds comfort and strength in a concert? As if to say, remember when this was you? Remember when it was me?

It’s also not hard for me to imagine lines like “we used to laugh, we used to sing, we used to dance, we had our own scene,” “something that I never had was the upper hand,” “I’ll be the last one standing / I’ll be the first to forgive” are reflections on the journey he took to get here. Or that a lyric like “if you could see what I see now, you’d find a way to stay somehow” first gestated while looking out at a sea of concert goers. Could be thunder, or a crowd.

To me, the loss that the record is dealing with is all the time that you've already spent, and the healing aspect of the record comes from its insistence on continuing to celebrate…and reach for an unattainable level of catharsis and meaning.

gotcha - good points, all

[Strat]

I love that, McP.

I think eds lyrics throughout are pretty strong thus far. Even something special. Some great word play as well and if not taken at face value, about his kids, there are a ton of great nuggets one could apply to their own life journey as well.

[FlatSideofaDog]

Who knows. He's never going to tell us. Stern would totally go there. But I doubt he's a big enough fan of their new stuff to really put much thought into DM lyrics.

[mikejasond]

I suppose its possible....I still feel songs like Setting Sun are far too specific to be about something else than what it seems, but I guess it's possible....or it could be combining feelings into a metaphor of losing a relationship but not mean it literally.

I look forward to the album coming out to have an easy way to read all the lyrics.

Its a kind of occam's razor thing I guess where I feel there's too many lines that add up to one interpretation to see it as another but it could easily be both or a metaphor.

[Jaeti]

Okay, well, this one just went from "great" to "breaks me."

[VinylGuy]

Ending is powerful yeah and Ed sound genuinely emotional

[Val]

Eddie's wife listening to the lyrics on this album:

[Monkey_Driven]

This is an early favorite