Sad

All the photographs are peeling
And colors turn to gray, he's stayin'
In his room with memories for days, he faced
An undertow of futures laid to waste, embraced
By the loss of one he could not replace

And there's no reason that she'd pass
And there is no god with the plan, it's sad
And his loneliness is proof, it's sad
He could only love you, it's sad

The door swings through a passing fable
A fate we may delay, we say
Holding on, to live within our embrace

Eleven nights, he laid in bed
Hoping that dreams would bring her back, it's sad
And his holiness is proof, it's sad
He could only love you, it's sad

Holding his last breath, believing
He'll make his way
But she's not forgotten
He's haunted
He's searching for escape

If just one wish could bring her back, it's sent
And his loneliness is proof, it's sad
He will always love you, it's sad



Sad has almost become the fine argument to suggest that - when it comes down to track listing - Pearl Jam have made some mistakes. It's lyrically strong, achingly moving, and the music is complimentary to both these aspects.

This song is essentially the sibling song to Light Years (this could be reasoning for its absence on Binaural). The subject matter appears to be linked, as the song deals with loss, escape and the need for answers. The largest difference between the two is the angle taken. Sad is written with an outsider’s perspective. Through the 3rd person we are able to see the pain and suffering in a different light – perhaps it’s easier to release these feelings through the guise of another being? And perhaps the subjectivity of this perspective allows it to be more accessible? The song takes on an almost anthem-like quality in that the writer is not being so personal that we (as a listener) feel like we’re being intrusive. Through seeing the story being told from this perspective we could also be seen to be more hopeless – we aren’t in control of the happenings. The discourse is such that, after listening, we do not have the ability to complete the story (consider songs like Black and Indifference where even though the song has finished, we are able to move on and decide for ourselves an eventual outcome, or witness the results – whatever they may be). In these respects, Sad is a depressing lesson. It’s painful…harsh…and that’s its beauty. For a song with such intensity and heart to hit you with such a blow in about 3 and a half minutes is a true testament to the power of music and expressionism – it’s the embodiment of art in it’s purest form.

Beginning with a muffled sounding guitar riff, and soon followed by an off-kilter drum and bass, we are already put in an uncomfortable state. The warm, ‘old fashioned’, crackly tone at the start immediately (to me) strikes connotations of nostalgia – a look back to the past perhaps, and this becomes the perfect setting to the story’s central character. The drums and bass have a pounding urgency…like a heartbeat they further help to document the lack of stability in the subject of the song. Such factors are a great example of music helping to support and strengthen the concept and theme of a song (something that is arguably missing in Light Years for example).

Following this setting we are introduced to the subject of the song in the first verse. First off, the photograph imagery is perfect in showing how a memory and feeling can exist and then fade and disintegrate. The idea of something having colour suggests life, possibility and direction…whereas ‘gray’ suggests a void – a fixed, obtuse position. No variant, no alternative – essentially just an absence of light – and this is perfect in showing the feeling of loneliness, and lack of hope that the figure is feeling. This hopelessness is explained more directly with the following two lines where he (the character in the story) is shown to be left for days contemplating what could have been. These last lines of the verse also help us see how the loss is completely out of his control…What is great however, is how we are never told by the writer the circumstances of the loss. Is it death? Is it love? This is something which has perhaps been Ed’s greatest quality as a writer. Songs like Black, Long Road, Light Years and Come Back are made all the more powerful in that they can be reached by people all feeling different things. For this reason, I am very grateful that Sad wasn’t officially released under the title ‘Letter to the dead’, as this destroys the ambiguity that serves the song so well. Also having known the song as ‘Sad’ before ‘Letter to the dead’, I was fortunate to take in the song from a clean perspective and interpret the song on a level which moved (and benefited) me at the time.

The chorus throws up ideas about religion and fate. ‘The plan’, it would seem, is the pre-determined outcome of life. Here we see an argument against religion put forward (though not expressed explicitly) – one must question the existence of a god or deity when such suffering occurs as a result of a loss. There’s a bit of a debate between whether the third line says ‘holiness’ or ‘loneliness’, and listening closely I’m fairly sure it’s ‘loneliness’ the first time, and therefore this line is pretty straightforward in summarising what’s happened so far. The last line of the chorus could perhaps be the most powerful so far. There’s an unwritten rule in writing that says it is always more powerful and effective to avoid any direct usage of the word ‘love’ in a song – it risks becoming cliché…and consequently softens and generalises the meaning of the word. Sad is the perfect counter argument to this. We see 8 lines painting a picture of loneliness and despair…expressed through metaphor and through questioning faith, and it is the desperateness of these lines, and the persistence to try and show the feelings that results in the last line of the chorus, which simply serves as the most direct and powerful way of expressing the emotion felt: ‘He could only love you, it’s sad’. There’s a sense of regret, and the subject is blaming himself - his biggest mistake was falling in love, and the word ‘only’ suggests that he is left carrying this burden for the foreseeable future.

The second verse opens with the imagery of a swinging door. This is a wonderful way of suggesting the opening and closing of feelings. Though as well as being viewable as a metaphor for something being either open or closed, it also contains hope in that there is a possibility of being re-opened (the fact the door is ‘swinging’ suggests that the position has not yet been decided). This is further explored through the ‘delayed fate’ lyric. This could be a metaphorical nod to death, and effectively waiting to be reunited through death, yet, from a lost-love perspective could hint at the chance of love being reunited. I think the use of ‘we’ in the verse however, doesn’t suggest the two people in the story being together, yet is used as a generalised way to show the consensus of how ‘we’ (as human beings in society) deal with loss – ‘a fate we may delay, we say, holding on to live within our embrace’…effectively saying we have to carry these things with us till the end, this again is exaggerating the feeling of carrying the burden of something lost.

I’ve seen the second chorus interpreted as ‘He lit a match, he laid in bed’. This is a powerful piece of imagery, and ties in with the imagery used in Indifference…light is used to try and get answers, to gain hope and understanding from. However, in the context of the next lyric (suggesting him being asleep and dreaming), it doesn’t quite make sense to me. The ‘eleven nights he laid in bed’ image, however could be seen as equally striking – it’s direct in that it’s so specific (the mention of 11, and not an even number, or ‘a few’ etc). It also makes for a startling visual (like that of ‘wide awake like snakes in a panic’ from Alone). In this chorus I think ‘holiness’ is used, and it serves as a tool of exaggeration for his loss – despite faith he still feels hopeless.

The bridge is used here to further convey the instability of the character. There is suggestion of ‘making his way’ and ‘searching for escape’…and these could be seen as positive or negative depending on whether you see the figure as fighting out of the situation, or giving up and accepting himself as beaten. The use of ‘she’s haunting’ adds to the difficulty of the situation…whilst he may feel strong enough to move on himself, he is still constantly reprised with the thoughts and memories of her.
One thing the bridge is perfect for, though, is for building up to that last chorus. Musically everything slows down, and then we are hit with the ‘If just one wish could bring her back...it’s sent’ lyric. This is probably one of my favourite moments from a PJ song. It doesn’t need a close analysis, you just need to hear it and you can’t help but get chills. The greatest advantage I’ve always felt that Pearl Jam and Eddie have over their contemporaries is that you can really believe them. They’re painfully honest, and to me, this is one of Ed’s most sincere vocal deliveries (I’d even hold it up against the last line in Black). The ‘he will always love you’ is a subtle lyric change to the previous choruses, but is the perfect and most fitting last line that is needed to complete the song. It could be seen as beautiful in that his faith will stick with her forever, or could be seen as a curse. Whichever way it is seen, the way the music falls apart and stops immediately after, means that we too may be left to carry this burden.

I’ve always thought that the guitars at the end are designed to play out like a violin piece…they’re wistful and beautiful, and perfectly link back to the warm sounds of the intro. They bear the same nostalgic effect, and it results in the piece as a whole as being a cyclic process – there are no answers given and we are left in as much despair as were at the start.

5 stars.

Thanks for reading .



Previous Songs of the Moment
1. In My Tree
2. Red Mosquito
3. Porch
4. I Got Id
5. Release
6. Do The Evolution
7. Breath
8. Corduroy
9. Elderly Woman...
10. Leash
11. Hail Hail
12. Grievance
13. Love Boat Captain
14. Even Flow
15. Black Red Yellow
16. In Hiding
17. Can't Keep
18. Indifference
19. Insignificance
20. Whipping
21. Black
22. Smile
23. Push Me Pull Me
24. Rats
25. God's Dice
26. All or None
27. Yellow Ledbetter
28. Last Exit
29. Who You Are
30. Rearview Mirror
31. Hold On
32. Present Tense
33. Light Years
34. Alive
35. Brain of J
36. Thumbing My Way
37. Hard to Imagine
38. Tremor Christ
39. Rival
40. Animal
41. Lukin
42. You Are
43. betterman
44. Given to Fly
45. Once
46. Low Light
47. Parting Ways
48. Off He Goes
49. Go
50. get right
51. World Wide Suicide
52. Angel
53. MFC
54. Long Road
55. Why Go
56. Nothingman
57. Save You
58. Of A Girl
59. Habit
60. Satan’s Bed
61. Faithful
62. Oceans
63. Gone
64. WMA
65. State of Love and Trust
66. Spin The Black Circle
67. Life Wasted
68. Arc
69. Garden
70. All Those Yesterdays
71.Sleight of Hand
72. Other Side
73. Let Me Sleep
74. I’m Open
75. Blood
76.Nothing As It Seems
77. All Night
78. Jeremy
79. No Way
80. Around The Bend
81. Immortality
82. Comatose
83. Daughter
84. Alone
85. I am Mine
86. Down
87. Cropduster
88. Strangest Tribe
89. Inside Job
90. Drifting
91. Wishlist
92. Big Wave

4 stars... definitely in my top 25 PJ songs.

Thank-you for your close reading of the lyric and that very in-depth analysis. I love this song, too. The intro is simply gorgeous. And it has some of the strongest lyrics that Eddie has ever written. Every line is nearly perfect, and that bridge.... A thousand pop songs have tried to establish that kind of emotional intensity. This is how it's done. 5 stars.

GREAT write up iceage--you've left me with very little to add


I've always loved the swirly murkiness of the guitars--it's a great little piece of music with some really strong vocals by eddie (a little too binauraled out for my tastes but what can you do) and very solid lyrics

The no god with a plan lyric has always been one of my favorites--I've always hated that cold comfort you here when someone is taken away. It feels somewhat dishonest, almost like a you're dismissing the person's pain.

And the way he delivers the "if just one wish culd bring her back" line is terrific, especially the way the the music comes exploding back at that point

But there are a few clunkly lines here and there that keep this from being a 5 star song for me. It's really 4.5 but for whatever reason I was feeling 4 this morning so that's what it got

5 Stars. The first time I heard it I listened to it again and I thought, how in the hell was this not on Binaural. Top 10 for me.

This song was on my list of 5 songs (n° 3) I desperately wanted to see that I wrote down in the hotel room in Kitchener before seeing my first show(s). I was totally crazy about it ever since first hearing it on Lost Dogs. I jumped straight into my top-5/top-10. But at that point, I never thought I’d get to hear it. So when the 2004 setlists came through, I was overjoyed to see it being played. And I got hope maybe some day I would get to hear it.

Then came ‘my’ 2005 tour and before taking the plane, I was so over-analysing the setlists. Vancouver, Saskatoon and Calgary didn’t get it. Missoula, the Gorge, Edmonton and Winnipeg got it. I only saw the Thunder Bay setlist when I came back. (this is written from the top of my head, I could be wrong, but I don’t think so) My hope was huge. Kitchener… no… London… no… what was going on? Hamilton… Porch opened… Save You… STBC… Animal… Given to fly… SAAAAAAAAAD!!! It’s hard to think that a song following Given to fly (n° 1 on my list, 2nd time I saw it) could make me as happy as then. But the moment they started those chords, I was jumping up and down like crazy. Two days after that, I heard it again in Montreal. My god, I still can’t believe what incredible shows I chose to be my first.

Anyway… about Sad… it was on my list of 5 because when I finally made the decision to go to Canada, one of the reasons was that I needed a sort of an escape. In April, when the tour got announced, the girl I then thought would be with me forever, left me. Sad spoke to me like I can imagine Black does to a lot of others.

And going to Canada meant to me leaving it all behind, starting something new, getting over it. You know, it’s kinda strange but I find that Sad is, musically speaking, an uplifting song. I know it’s pretty contradictory to the meaning and the title, but it comes over like that to me. So when I heard it, it was a very emotional moment. Also, in Hamilton, Eddie did a ‘Throw your arms around me’ preset, which was like “our” song, Sad followed Given to fly, which I don’t need to explain and 7 songs later, Present Tense (n° 2 on my list) (“makes much more sense…”) came along. In the 2nd encore, I saw In My Tree (4th on my list) for the 3rd time in 3 shows. No need to say, the first few months after I got back, Hamilton was on top of my list. (for your interest: n° 5 was I got shit, which I got in Ottawa)

Anyway, this was a little about was Sad means to me. In an hour and a half when I will be home, the first thing I will do is pick up my guitar and start that opening riff.

5 stars. “a song I could not replace”.

Incredibly awesome write-up, iceagecoming! Congrats!

thanks

It's good to hear how the song affects other people. I also interpreted it as a sad love song when someone i'd been in love with and together with for years had to leave and live in a different country. This song became some sort of saving grace. I was however fortunate to have met up with her since, and she's staying with me this winter.

That said, this song really does still hit me with a lot of the power it did back then.

I was at the show that contained this song's live debut.

I've never really understood the love for this song. Maybe because the title and the repeated phrase "it's sad" are just so simple. Maybe because that opening riff doesn't do anything for me. Maybe because I expected more from the lyrics of a song that was originally titled Letter to the Dead. Or maybe it's just because the song isn't that good...

People seem to really love it, which is cool. It just doesn't really appeal to me. Not a bad song, just not past more than "I like it, but I can take it or leave it" in the PJ canon. 3 stars.

The chorus is the weak link in this song--especially, as Frank pointed out, given its original title--which is so evocative

And kudos to the original write-up and Angus' post. It's stuff like that that preserves PJ Chat from becoming entirely silly sometimes.

Angus, please don't forget that complement when I tear you and your SOTM apart next week.

I sometimes think is wonderful, sometimes think is average. So 4 stars.

I share this sentiment. I was at the Ottawa or Montreal show in 05 where they played it and it was a none moment for me but damn near the highlight for the girl I went with. I find the opening little riff to be a bit off and it just doesn't draw me in. To me, it's a good depth track, definitely not filler but not a single either. 3 stars from me.

great write up, ice age. I have always enjoyed this song, but never loved because I never sat down and really looked at the lyrics or thought about them too much. without paying close attention, the verses are a bit hard to understand and I think the chorus is a bit weak, so maybe I never put the effort in.

I was interested to read your defense of the title "Sad," because that's one of the things I've always disliked. That word just doesn't work for me, in the song and especially not in the title. It's just not a good word. Used sparingly it might be OK, but it gets repeated a lot and it's really a non-specific, two cent word to me. It doesn't evoke, which is too bad because most of the rest of the song does.

As for the title, I dislike it on two fronts. First, "Letter to the Dead," is just so much better. Second, it doesn't fit. Angus talked about how, even though this song reminds him of some personally painful stuff (and certainly I can relate to that in any song about the loss of a loved one), it feels ultimately uplifting. This is a Pearl Jam trademark, as we've been discussing in stip's Ten thread - finding hope even in the darkest songs. The music of most PJ songs redeems to darkness of the lyrics. This is nowhere done better than in Come Back, which would be horribly depressing if it weren't for that solo at the end. In Sad, all of the music has a ... if not hopeful, then at least forward-looking quality. I like that about the song, but - to me - it makes the title even less effective (this is not the sort of song where an "ironic" title works).

Still, I've always loved the music, and iceage definitely made me appreciate the lyrics more than I did previously. I'd call this 4.5 probably, but it gets a 4 in the poll.

i think it doesn't work that well because it's a tell word rather than a show word. Where a homerun was hit in Black it's only a swing and a miss in Sad.

right. It's just such an unspecific adjective that it doesn't even really match the feelings the person in the song actually has. Kids get "sad," and use that word. It's fleeting, it's a childlike word for childlike emotions. The person in the song is light years beyond "Sad."

Having said that, the use of that word in the song has always given me the impression of great distance (emotionally?) between ed singing and the person in the song. Everytime ed says "It's sad," it's as if he's looking at the person and just saying, "Yeah, it's sad what happened to that guy." That word (and the phrasing "it's sad," as opposed to "he's sad" give me that impression so strongly and yet none of that matches the intensity of feeling 9and empathy) of the verses.

Whilst i preferred 'sad' to'letter of the dead' for the reasons i stated initially - Interestingly enough...whilst you were arguing against it, what you put made me appreciate the title on a different level. Maybe the fact that such a plaintive and simple word is used to describe such a powerful feeling is a credit to the hopelessness being felt...like you say, there's a distance there...and all we are left to do is be an observer to the situation.

To be honest, the title is a little 'lazy' perhaps...but let's not get distracted, there's so much more going on

I like the use of the word "sad." It is meant to be ironic. The verses describe an overwhelming grief:

He faced... an undertow of futures laid to waste
Embraced... by the loss of what he could not replace.

The use of a word as generic as "sad" underscores the fact that there are no adequate words to describe this kind of grief.

As an aside, Matt Cameron brings so much to this song. He drives the intensity as much as the vocals.

Thanks! I was totally trying to say what you said about the use of the word sad in my post above And i agree with what you say about Matt...maybe not quite as much as the vocals...but his presence is definitely felt and necessary.

I'm surprised that others don't feel this way.

It is true:

We're all different behind the eyes.

by the way iceage--nice job in particular talking about the first few lines with the picture