Red Mosquito

Garden vs. Small Town vs. Leash

Choose your favorite

Voting closes 8ish 3/5/24

I'd prefer to hear Garden every day of the week. Small Town is top tier though so I expect it to win.

It's fairly underrated around here, imo (Small Town). I suspect it will pull through, but it'll be close.


Garden is probably the only song on Ten that has never fully clicked for me. It's a fine, moody instrumental, but it never manages to reach the emotional heights of almost every other song on the album. Even the more meditative moments (early verses in Release, Oceans, Black) capture that feeling of being adrift in a world you don't fully understand a bit better. I think even among Ten era tracks Wash captures this sensation a bit better than Garden.

Leash is a blast of a minor song, and as I've said many times, has what may well be one of my top two pearl jam lyrics "I am lost, I am no guide, but I'm by your side. I am right by your side".

But Elderly Woman is a triumph. One of the first and best incarnations of inhabiting a complex character with empathy and accessibility. And 'I just want to scream hello...' has never failed to give me chills any time I've ever heard it live.

Elderly Woman in an easy vote

I think the BoB remix Garden may be superior to the original mix. But I haven't heard it nearly as often so that could just be that it sounds a bit fresher.

Poor Leash. 10 minutes in and we’re ready to drop the leash. Get outta my lucky tourney!

it's Leash for me

Once upon a time, it would’ve been Elderly Woman. Hearing it so much in a modern live setting has all but ruined it for me. I hate the changed arrangement, I hate how Ed sings it… ugh.

I’ll go with Leash.

Easy vote for Garden.

I will walk into your garden, garden of Stone:

I used to love Leash, one of my early favorites, but like Blood, the angst just doesn't hit anymore.

Easy vote for Garden

Easy vote for Small Town.

Always been a Garden man

I like Leash, as it reminds me of what it was like to be 13, but that doesn't quite compare to the simple majesty of Small Town which is so good that even though I sigh and roll my eyes every time Ed starts it off when they play it live (and it feels like they play it at every show) with a few lines I'm right there with him.

“Leash” rocks but is outclassed here.

“Small Town” is great, and one of those songs that feels newly powerful whenever you hear the studio version (or a Dave A live one) after becoming accustomed to the modern singalong versions.

But “Garden” is more to my tastes these days. It was one of my first favorite tunes on Ten and it is one of very few that hasn’t gone through periods of feeling stale; even after 30 years I still feel entranced and mystified by those guitar arpeggios.

Small town advances!