Red Mosquito

Vote for your favorite

Smile is lovely.

Smile is a cute little song. Betterman is a pop masterpiece.

"Better Man" was the song that got me into Pearl Jam. In early '95, when I was 11, it was in heavy rotation on the same "hits" station as Green Day's "When I Come Around," Dionne Farris's "I Know," Dave Matthews Band's "What Would You Say,"'Blues Traveler's "Run Around," and Johnny Cougar Mellencamp's cover of "Wild Night." I was hooked by the song instantly, and was further intrigued for having remembered an episode of "Clarissa Explains it All" centered around the main characters trying to weasel out of some family function to go see Pearl Jam -- whom, like The Beets, I had always just assumed to be a fictional band created by the show's writers. Eventually I scrounged together enough allowance to buy "Vitalogy" on tape, and about 30 seconds into "Last Exit" I had a new favorite band (the previous reigning champion was Ace of Base). This record basically changed the way I thought about music, which in turn changed the way I thought about the world, which subsequently influenced the sort of people I gravitated toward as friends, the kinds of conversations I sought out, and the types of extracurricular activities I pursued. Had something of this magnitude not derailed the train, I probably would have pursued my pipe dream of becoming a professional basketball player to its inevitable, tragic end, and here in 2015 I would be on a message board dedicated to the memory of the '97 Chicago Bulls, reminiscing about the time my 7th grade varsity team begrudgingly voted me "sixth man" in the yearbook (as opposed to on RM reminiscing about the '94 Pearl Jams and talking about listening to Blues Traveler on the radio when I was 11). I do not say lightly that "Better Man" changed the course of my life -- and would also argue that, from the standpoint of raw songwriting, it exceeds "Smile" in just about every way.

And yet.

"Better Man"'s flame had dimmed over time, while "Smile" sounds forever fresh. I am tempted to blame this on overexposure to "Better Man," but after almost 20 years of listening to both songs, I have a hard time thinking that "Smile" isn't etched just as deeply into the grooves of my brain by now. What seems more likely to me is this: "Better Man" is a pop song that aims to hit an emotional climax that I am not always in the mood for -- and, over the years, I have heard enough phoned-in live versions to believe that the band isn't in the mood for it half the time, either. When mood and song cross paths, the feeling is monumental; the song hits all the right pleasure centers and makes me feel like I'm 11 again, dreaming of my jersey hanging from the rafters of the United Center. But 80 percent of the time it's just not a song I feel compelled to listen to -- I skip it on bootlegs, groan when they start into it at a show, and underrate it in my mind.

"Smile" is a simpler song with simpler ambitions that yields a simpler pleasure -- a heartfelt sentiment framed by minor charms: Lyrics fashioned out of notebook scribbles by a guy named Frog! The guitarist and bassist switch instruments on it! It's the one time Eddie plays the harmonica that doesn't sound like some lame attempt at being a grizzled folkie! It's one of the few songs whose legacy the band seems to have consciously written -- it is, like "Oceans," one of the very few non-hits to never have dropped out of concert rotation, and -- also like "Oceans" -- it is played just frequently enough (and is unchallenging enough a composition) for the band to stay sharp on, but rare enough for it to always feel special. From its earliest 1996 performances to last year's Moline "No Code"-a-thon, I can't remember a single poor version. Its sentiment of "I miss you already/I miss you always" always means something to me, somehow -- the specifics are forever in flux but the sentiment is constant, eternally relevant (particularly compared to "Better Man"'s domestic drama -- which I suppose is eternally relevant too, unfortunately, though I can be thankful that it has never been for me). It is, for me, the ultimate rarity -- a minor song that always gives to the listener more than it asks, thereby rendering it strangely major. Pearl Jam at their best.

"Smile."

Better Man

KD. I remember that post from last year, or the year before(?). Nails it.

he's wrong, but it's a great post nevertheless

Smile. Easy.

Betterman.
Smile is a good song but I dont like it as much as other people here seem to do.

Kaius wrote: KD. I remember that post from last year, or the year before(?). Nails it.

Thanks! Stip locked the thread while I was in the middle of writing that post last year, so imagine my delight to find these two songs rematched this year. In the thread from last year, Joey promises to lead the "Smile Takes All" campaign as a result of that post, so let's hope he makes good -- creates some good second accounts or something.

See all of my other posts in the active threads. Betterman has become too much of an "event," while Smile has and always will just kick ass.

I can't believe "Smile" is beating "Better Man". WTF guys. Seriously.

Like, I understand why "Off He Goes" is beating "Jeremy" even though I think it's stupid, but this is just ridiculous.

LoathedVermin72 wrote:I can't believe "Smile" is beating "Better Man". WTF guys. Seriously.

Convince me to change my vote.

Agree 100% with what KD said. Smile FTW.

I find it curious how a lot of you guys seem to take live performances into such heavy consideration when voting. I kinda feel like that shouldn't be a factor. I get it, but it seems like if we're voting on studio cuts, we shouldn't be worrying about how they feel live, or how well or poorly they're often performed, or whether or not one "groans" when the intro is played.

Smile is better in studio anyway. I don't consider live.

All hyperbole aside, this is a very tough call. Too difficult for a first round matchup, as I'm sure there will be some trios of Lightspacer junk that sneak through blissfully unaware of their shittyness.

I would argue that Betterman benefits from its live offerings. it is the best bounce about singalong in their entire catalogue other than maybe Do the Evolution, and it is unmatched in the high level live versions department, especially when giving credit for long jam tag ons.

However, Smile is, to my ears, a better composed and more expertly performed song. The studio version is locked in time and space, unable to be replicated or resourced, existing as a testament to the raw power of music crafted by possibly the best band on the planet at that moment.

I'm sorry, I'm not Kevin Davis.

LoathedVermin72 wrote:I find it curious how a lot of you guys seem to take live performances into such heavy consideration when voting. I kinda feel like that shouldn't be a factor. I get it, but it seems like if we're voting on studio cuts, we shouldn't be worrying about how they feel live, or how well or poorly they're often performed, or whether or not one "groans" when the intro is played.

I don't know that I am voting based on studio versions -- I feel more like I'm voting based a more pervasive, cumulative impression of the song, one which encompasses everything from the most meticulously technical elements of the composition to the most intangibly abstract feelings I've developed about the song simply by virtue of having carried it with me through my life for any length of time. For me -- someone who has always greatly enjoyed live PJ and ultimately spends considerably more time with it than with the studio records -- live versions account for no small fraction of my total engagement with any given song, so discounting them would be disingenuous to my experience with the song. Sometimes it feels more appropriate to call back to that scope of experience than other times, but it certainly doesn't feel unreasonable to suggest that the way a song like "Smile" has managed to stake out a relatively unique space in the band's canon is a feather in its cap, nor do I find it unreasonable to take an old song to task for not weathering well the degree of frequency the band subjects it to.