Red Mosquito

I made a comment about a wishlist lyric being in my top 10 and then began to wonder what was actually in that top 10. So lets figure it out! I tend to go in for the more sweeping grandiose and aphoristic moments. I don't know that these are the best lyrics on the page, or that they are from the songs with the best overall lyrics (often they aren't, as sometimes a line feels elevated if what surrounds it is not particularly memorable, or a song's lyrics derive their power from the way the moments build and play off each other) but they are my favorite lyrical moments.

In chronological order

In chronological order

1. If I knew where it was I would take you there. There's much more than this.
2. I am lost, I am no guide, but I'm by your side. I am right by your side.
3. I sometimes realize I can only be as good as you let me
4. I wish I was the verb to trust and never let you down
5. I was alone and far away when I heard the band start playing
6. Behind her eyes there's curtains and they've been closed to hide the flame
7. Tidal waves don't beg forgiveness. Crash, then on their way
8. I'm a lucky man to count on both hands the ones I love
9. Somewhere there's a siren singing a song only he hears
10. All the answers will be found in the mistakes that we have made
11. Love notwithstanding we are each of us fucked

need to cut one

you mean the actual lines? oh man i have so many. Even in songs that i dont like

I'm shocked you have this at the ready, Stip. Mad respect. This will take a long time for me to suss out. There are just so many...

1. Drop the leash. Get out of my lucky face.

2-10..... whatever who cares

epilogue wrote:I'm shocked you have this at the ready, Stip. Mad respect. This will take a long time for me to suss out. There are just so many...

that was just me running through albums in my head and seeing what jumped out. I suspect there will be changes.


I was close to including "son, she said, have I got a little story for you..." just because it's such a great start to the song, but I don't know about it as a stand alone lyric or sentiment (and Even Flow and Jeremy have equally striking opening lines). Lyrics like Jeremy spoke in class today are amazing for everything that the song folds into that simple statement, but as a stand alone line I'm not sure.

I have also always really liked the over the top everything is going to hell quality of "this broken wheel is coming undone and the road's exploded" but I don't know if it's top ten.

Honestly, I can't get focus on your focusness out of my head, but is it a great lyric? It's a lot of fun, but great?

Gigaton alone has so many great lines.

I'd have to really sit down to think about the whole catalog, but I feel like you could make a top 10 out of Binaural alone;

There's a girl on the ledge, she's got nowhere to turn
Cause all the love that she had was just wood that she burned

Basically the whole first verse of Light Years

It's not in my past to presume love can keep on moving in both directions

"Turn the jukebox up," he said
Dancing in irreverence
"Play C3, let the song protest"

Pledge your grievance to the flag
Cause you don't give blood, then take it back again

How's our mother to damn these contributors with mud?
How will the man who made chemicals difficult shed blood?
How's our father supposed to be told?

Sometimes he hid in his radio
Watching others pull into their homes
While he was drifting

In her eyes there's curtains
And they've been closed to hide the flames

Some of those, like Sleight of Hand or Insignificance, you could almost pick any line.

Sweet lew how could you?

The bridge from Thin Air, for sure.

Old Favorites:

"The direction of the eye, so misleading
"The deflection of the soul, nauseously quick"

"Don't see some men as half empty, see them half full of shit"

"Admire me, admire my home, admire my son - he's my clone"

"Paint Ed big, turn Ed into one of my enemies"

"Once passing servile, now you're getting sharp
Moving on so quickly with such disarm
I pulled the covers overhead, should've pulled the alarm
Turned to my nemesis - a fool, not a fucking God"

"I'll decide
Take the dive
Take my time
Not my life
Wait for signs
Believe in lies
To get by
It's divine, oh whoa
Oh, you know what it's like?"

Favorite N00bs

"Drowning in their dissertations
Random speakers in my mind
Yeah, they never stop their fortifications
And blocking my precious time
You used to let it go and let it float away
You don't get to speak with twice as much to say
It's all delivery
Oh, said the messenger who is now dead
Was all on the periphery
I didn't see him but I heard what he said
Oh, sideways talk poisoning our thoughts
Everyone walks and it's no one's fault"

"But the world got to spinnin'
Always felt like it was endin'
And love not withstandin'
We are each of us fucked
I can hear you singin' in the distance
I can see you when I close my eyes
Once you were somewhere and now you're everywhere
I'm feeling selfish and I want what's right
I ask for forgiveness
I beg of myself
Feelin' angry
Now, get off the stage"

"Where you been, can I find
A glimpse of my friend
Don't know where or when one of us left
The other behind
Divisions came and troubles multiplied
Incisions made by scalpel blades of time"

"Expecting perfection
Leaves a lot to endure
When the past is the present
And the future's no more
When every tomorrow
Is the same as before
Numbers keep falling off the calendar's floor
We're stuck in our boxes
Windows open no more
Collecting up the forget-me-nots
Not recalling what they're for"

Ed really brought his *A Game* to Gigaton - The record really does click for me on every level (so far) - can't wait to hear these songs in a live setting.

edited to fix SBWM - thanks google lmao

I sometimes realize
I could only be as good as you’ll let me
Are you woman enough to be my man?
Bandaged hand in hand

Was the first thing to come to mind.

its hard to separate lyrics from delivery for me. some of the most powerful moments in pearl jam songs to me are when eddie vedder is singing "hey" or "yeah" lol.

do the evolution and i am mine are the first songs that come to mind. i like some of the lyrics on Gigaton. top 10 i'd have to think about.

digster wrote:I'd have to really sit down to think about the whole catalog, but I feel like you could make a top 10 out of Binaural alone;

There's a girl on the ledge, she's got nowhere to turn
Cause all the love that she had was just wood that she burned

Basically the whole first verse of Light Years

It's not in my past to presume love can keep on moving in both directions

"Turn the jukebox up," he said
Dancing in irreverence
"Play C3, let the song protest"

Pledge your grievance to the flag
Cause you don't give blood, then take it back again

How's our mother to damn these contributors with mud?
How will the man who made chemicals difficult shed blood?
How's our father supposed to be told?

Sometimes he hid in his radio
Watching others pull into their homes
While he was drifting

In her eyes there's curtains
And they've been closed to hide the flames

Some of those, like Sleight of Hand or Insignificance, you could almost pick any line.

I don't really care for that first verse of Light Years, actually. I do really love that insignificance lyric, and that Rival passage is probably stone's best moment

I'm adding that parting ways lyric into my list. That's a great one

wease wrote:I sometimes realize
I could only be as good as you’ll let me
Are you woman enough to be my man?
Bandaged hand in hand

Was the first thing to come to mind.

added the first part into my list, too. Forgot about that one

tragabigzanda wrote:I prefer the non-“I” lyrics, where he’s not singing from the first person/autobiographical. I’d have to think about it, but Rival comes to mind as a standout. Also Comes Then Goes.

need to think about comes then goes for sure. Some wonderful moments there

TremorJam wrote:Old Favorites:

"The direction of the eye, so misleading
"The deflection of the soul, nauseously quick"

"Don't see some men as half empty, see them half full of shit"

"Admire me, admire my home, admire my son - he's my clone"

"Paint Ed big, turn Ed into one of my enemies"

"Once passing servile, now you're getting sharp
Moving on so quickly with such disarm
I pulled the covers overhead, should've pulled the alarm
Turned to my nemesis - a fool, not a fucking God"

"I'll decide
Take the dive
Take my time
Not my life
Wait for signs
Believe in lies
To get by
It's divine, oh whoa
Oh, you know what it's like?"

Favorite N00bs

"Drowning in their dissertations
Random speakers in my mind
Yeah, they never stop their fortifications
And blocking my precious time
You used to let it go and let it float away
You don't get to speak with twice as much to say
It's all delivery
Oh, said the messenger who is now dead
Was all on the periphery
I didn't see him but I heard what he said
Oh, sideways talk poisoning our thoughts
Everyone walks and it's no one's fault"

"But the world got to spinnin'
Always felt like it was endin'
And love not withstandin'
We are each of us fucked
I can hear you singin' in the distance
I can see you when I close my eyes
Once you were somewhere and now you're everywhere
I'm feeling selfish and I want what's right
I ask for forgiveness
I beg of myself
Feelin' angry
Now, get off the stage"

"Where you been, can I find
A glimpse of my friend
Don't know where or when one of us left
The other behind
Divisions came and troubles multiplied
Incisions made by scalpel blades of time"

"Expecting perfection
Leaves a lot to endure
When the past is the present
And the future's no more
When every tomorrow
Is the same as before
Numbers keep falling off the calendar's floor
We're stuck in our boxes
Windows open no more
Collecting up the forget-me-nots
Not recalling what they're for"

Ed really brought his *A Game* to Gigaton - The record really does click for me on every level (so far) - can't wait to hear these songs in a live setting.

edited to fix SBWM - thanks google lmao

That's a nice moment in Dance, too.

stip wrote:
I don't really care for that first verse of Light Years, actually. I do really love that insignificance lyric, and that Rival passage is probably stone's best moment

I'm adding that parting ways lyric into my list. That's a great one

I think the way each line in that verse builds upon the other, finding ways to make the mundanity of life seem more important than it is, only to pull the rug out from under itself in the last line is pretty masterful. It nails how immediately everything else dissipates into air after the death of someone close to you. The second verse is probably more straightforwardly poetic (the line "with heavy breath, awakened regrets, back pages and days alone that could have been spent together but we were miles apart" is also a contender here).

digster wrote:"with heavy breath, awakened regrets, back pages and days alone that could have been spent together but we were miles apart"

Goddamn, I love that line. It was that second verse that really made it click for me and propel it to top Pearl Jam for me.

Has it ever been stated who the song is about? I remember Ed being kinda vague about it before but it seems like he actually identified the person somewhere.