Red Mosquito

Dance of the Clairvoyants vs. In My Tree

So save your predictions
And burn your assumptions

Finally IMT will be exiting

Stand back when the spirit comes...

I remember being not quite sure what to make of this son on the first listen, which was absolutely nothing I was prepared for and not initially in love with. But once that outro kicked in I was just completely captivated - and there is still a kind of breathless surprise I feel every time it kicks in god knows how many listens later. Probably the most surprised, in the best way possible, I've ever been by a Pearl Jam song. No mean feat 29 years in.

I hate this round so much

now is when you start to remember just how good pearl jam's best stuff is.

In My Tree is a top 5 PJ song. There’s no shame in voting for it over Dance.

DotC here.

In My Tree used to be my favorite Pearl Jam song and it’s very close to the top. Dance of the Clairvoyants is what I want Pearl Jam to sound like now, a band stretching out, trying new things, pushing the creativity and delivering something unexpected without being a farce. Stone playing a Stone riff but on bass. Perfect! I won’t profess it to be my favorite Pearl Jam song, but it’s exactly what I needed when I needed it. It wins this matchup this year.

Dance is great, but it's not top 10 or potentially top 5 great, as In My Tree is. If there's any quibble with Dance (and it's pretty minor) it's less of a great song through and through for me than a pretty good first half followed by a phenomenal second half.

So, yeah, this is tough, but I think this is an In My Tree vote for me.

Dance is a great song and has had itself a run....but its time to go.

In My Tree.

Easy vote for Dance of the Clairvoyants for me.

The asshole in me wants to make some snarky remark like "I can't believe how impressed you people still are by Baby's First David Byrne Pastiche," but that would be giving in to my pettiest impulses (or I could write a post about how I won't post that, truly having my cake and eating it too).

I respect that folks love "Dance of the Clairvoyants," a song that I've just revisited for the first time in a year and still registers as utterly insipid, but to me "In My Tree" remains a uniquely powerful piece of songwriting and performance that captures everything I ever loved about Pearl Jam. It is one of the dozen or so PJ songs that still manage to move me. And as it heads off to meet its likely demise at the hands of this fresh-faced hotshot, I felt compelled to cast my first and potentially only vote of March Madness 2021 in its favor. For old time's sake

In My Tree is a plodding, naval gazing tune with a pretty cool bridge. Dance is wonderful, five stars.

Toss up for me. Going with Dance I think.

Yeah, I'm positive, positive.