Post subject: SotM #85: And the feeling, it gets left behind ...
Posted: Thu Mar 29, 2007 2:40 pm
Cameron's Stallion
Joined: Mon Sep 05, 2005 3:29 am Posts: 199 Location: US
I AM MINE
The selfish, they're all standing in line Faithing and hoping to buy themselves time Me, I figure as each breath goes by I only own my mind
The North is to South what the clock is to time There's east and there's west and there's everywhere life I know I was born and I know that I'll die The in between is mine I am mine
And the feeling, it gets left behind All the innocence lost at one time Significant, behind the eyes There's no need to hide... We're safe tonight
The ocean is full 'cause everyone's crying The full moon is looking for friends at high tide The sorrow grows bigger when the sorrow's denied I only know my mind I am mine
And the meaning, it gets left behind All the innocents lost at one time Significant, behind the eyes There's no need to hide... We're safe tonight
And the feelings that get left behind All the innocents broken with lies Significance, between the lines We may need to hide ...
And the meanings that get left behind All the innocents lost at one time We're all different behind the eyes There's no need to hide ...
Joined: Mon Sep 05, 2005 3:29 am Posts: 199 Location: US
To many people, including myself when I first heard the lyrics, "I am Mine" can seem extremely isolated and pessimistic. There’s so much hopelessness and indifference in the world and there’s only one thing that you truly know and own: your mind. You are yours, and that’s about it. In the context of most of Riot Act, with songs like "Thumbing my Way," it’s easy to label it like this and just move on.
I don’t see it like that, and I think the positive note the song ends on debunks that anyway. I think one of the song’s mains strengths is that contrast it has with the rest of the album.
Thematically, it’s as much a self-reflective song as it is an examination of world events. “All the innocence/innocents lost at one time†is a simple, beautiful lyric, but it’s so vague. I think Ed does his best political stuff when it’s buried like this. He isn’t accusing, he isn’t naming names, he’s just giving sad facts. It’s confusing though; is Ed referencing 9/11? Is he referencing the Roskilde tragedy? Is he referencing America’s constant stream of wars and conflicts with the world? With Ed and his almost universal condemnation of senseless killing (pussy-liberal-commie-bastard ...), it could really be anything.
But there are so many more questions and uncertainties throughout the song. The opening lines are rather dark, almost disgusted with the state of things. The selfish do their best to get more, to achieve more through all kinds of well-intentioned ideas twisted for their own purposes. All you can do is take refuge in your mind; take comfort in the fact that at least somewhere, something is totally familiar and comfortable to you.
But once you reach the chorus; despite his belief that our feelings and emotions, the qualities that make us human and allow us to rise above animals are being forgotten; there’s so much left inside us. There’s something so significant buried inside everyone. All can’t be lost.
Another line of thought that threads throughout the song is that we aren’t alone. He keeps talking about the significance and independence of what’s inside people, what’s “between the lines.†I know it seems trivial, but I think it’s important that after using I throughout the song, even naming it I Am Mine, he says we at the end of each chorus. “We’re safe tonight,†not I, me or myself. The song is about addressing and embracing the differences between us, because those differences can be harnessed to help us survive. We can easily forget the good things because we’re constantly bombarded with the collective problems and hate of the world. If we can only see that refuge we have inside ourselves, we can be calm, at least for now. We’re safe tonight.
Eddie questions himself, not only the outside world, throughout the song. I love how he uses “There’s no need to hide†throughout the song before switching to “We may need to hide.†It’s rational and human for thinking minds to question themselves, and I love this intentional little slip. Still, underneath all his bad feelings about the state of the world, I think Ed’s an optimist. I’m sure many people will disagree, but this song is too beautiful and too optimistic as a whole for me to think otherwise. To support this, he ends the song with his original affirmation: “There’s no need to hide.â€
Musically, the ominous intro fits the opening lyrics. The layering in of the acoustic and electric guitars is stark and beautiful (Speaking of, does anyone else LOVE when you can hear his hands move up and down the guitar strings? It gets me every time). By the time the song builds into the full band, you’re not exactly sure where it’s going. Is it going to be another murky, stern rocker that Pearl Jam has become so good at in recent years? The first chorus puts that notion to rest. It’s catchy, rather uplifting and more complex than usual. It’s a chorus (and a song) that early Pearl Jam really couldn’t have done. They’ve moved on from the simpler, catchy-as-fuck choruses of "Daughter" and "Alive" into more complex ones that take longer to dig into your brain and stick there. I’ve even caught non-PJ fans, like some of my girlfriends (who barely listen to rock music, much less Pearl Jam’s worst-selling album) humming and singing under their breaths to it.
There’s a build-up in this song; a slow moving, positive rumble that eats away at the song slowly until exploding in the final moments of the song. Oddly enough, Ed’s part in that final explosion is rather small. Typically he provides the “climaxes†to Pearl Jam songs, whether it’s the “She loved him ...†in "BetterMan" or the final chorus in "Worldwide Suicide," he’s usually the centerpiece. Mike’s typically left to provide the resolution and tear up the final moments of the songs. Here, Ed builds up to it and lets Mike explode the finale with his most memorable solo this side of "Alive." It’s so perfect yet so short; the listener can only crave more. It’s sad that the rest of Riot Act is nothing like this. I love the album, don’t get me wrong, but "I Am Mine" is one of the best, most uplifting mid-tempo anthems Pearl Jam has ever done and the rest of Riot Act finds them striving for nearly the complete opposite. It’s odd hearing this kind of song amidst the muddy sadness of the rest of the album, but it only makes it stand out even more.
This song, to me, is flawless. It’s beautiful, uplifting, complex and meaningful. I did this song for SotM for a reason, so I’m of course giving it a 5 (if that solo was longer it’d be a 5.5, but as it is it’s so damn enticing and perfect I can’t really rate it down).
Favorite Lines:
I know I was born and I know that I’ll die. The in between is mine. I am mine.
All the innocents broken with lies ... Significance, between the lines ... We may need to hide.
Also, when he performs it live and changes it to "You are yours."
Joined: Tue Nov 23, 2004 6:28 pm Posts: 5361 Location: St. Paul Gender: Male
ChristcanIFly wrote:
Favorite Lines:
I know I was born and I know that I’ll die. The in between is mine. I am mine.
To some it might be cliche ar oversimplified, but to me, this is one of the best lines he's ever written. There's just so much hope poured into this one line- *I* can't change anything that happens before or after, but I damn sure can be a force in my own time, be it in my own little world or in the greater scope of global affairs. It's my time, it's my choice- I can be whatever I want to be. People need that sort of reassurance in their lives as we often forget this or, in some cases, have it forcefully taken from us.
This is such a departure from songs like Sometimes ("Seek my part... devote myself... My small self... like a book amongst the many on a shelf") where the hope seemingly has all but faded and you're not your own unique individual. Ed has made a marked turn in his songwriting compared to the old days, often choosing to focus on the positives in life rather than the negatives, even changing lyrics to old songs in concert: "Small my table, now seats three. Got so crowded, oh lucky me". It's a welcome change.
Joined: Tue Nov 30, 2004 4:02 am Posts: 44183 Location: New York Gender: Male
When I first heard this song (bridge school) i was somewhat underwhelemed, and so I was amazed at how much richer and fuller it sounded when the song first hit the web and it grew on me real fast. To this day it is my favorite song on riot act, and one of my all time favorites--one of the very few songs post Vitalogy (and especially pre S/T) that I would hold up to the best of their early years
The music does a first rate job setting a mood of somber, somewhat tense reflection, but there is an energy to it, a sense of movement, that lets you know something is going to be resolved in the song. Some of the lyrics are hit or miss, especially in the verses but the chorus is rock solid. In particular I love how the song works through its own fear "loss of innocence and innocents/we may need to hide" up into "there's no need to hide.." and the outro guitar solo, while short, is one of the best pieces of cathartic music Mike (or the band) ever wrote--just full of hope and promise
I have little more to add after christcanifly's great initial post
5 stars
_________________ "Better the occasional faults of a Government that lives in a spirit of charity than the consistent omissions of a Government frozen in the ice of its own indifference."--FDR
Joined: Mon Oct 18, 2004 3:09 pm Posts: 10839 Location: metro west, mass Gender: Male
Meh, it's ok. It's so plain. It requires no effort to play.
However, this song always reminds me of the new PJ sound. I don't know how to explain it. 3 stars I guess.
_________________ "There are two ways to enslave and conquer a nation. One is by the sword. The other is by debt." -John Adams
Joined: Tue Nov 30, 2004 4:02 am Posts: 44183 Location: New York Gender: Male
Sunny wrote:
Meh, it's ok. It's so plain. It requires no effort to play.
I don't play guitar so I can't comment on whether or not it is easy. It sounds simple, but they do a great job (esp on the studio) filling in the sound to make it rich and warm
_________________ "Better the occasional faults of a Government that lives in a spirit of charity than the consistent omissions of a Government frozen in the ice of its own indifference."--FDR
Joined: Thu Feb 23, 2006 5:10 am Posts: 459 Location: milwaukee
i thought this was one of the worst songs on an album full of very bad songs. the lyrics, i'll concede, are very good, but the music is so plain and awful. there is nothing in the music, for me, that makes me want to listen to it again. i tried to get into it when it came out (and riot act in general) but i just could not. easily the worst first single pearl jam has released to radio.
Joined: Wed Sep 07, 2005 1:27 am Posts: 4033 Location: tampa
stip wrote:
Sunny wrote:
Meh, it's ok. It's so plain. It requires no effort to play.
I don't play guitar so I can't comment on whether or not it is easy. It sounds simple, but they do a great job (esp on the studio) filling in the sound to make it rich and warm
yes stipper it is very easy to play I taught it to myself solo and all in about 15 minutes but who gives a fuck some of my favorite all time songs aren't that complex at all they are just so damn beautiful that it doesn't matter. I am Mine is like that to me, it does seem somewhat somber but (hope this makes since to you) but when I first heard it I felt like he was writing about coming to some sort of simple but disheartening realizations about life but has come to terms and learned to except whatever that realization might be and take control of what he can.
nice write up by the way, gave it 4 stars but debated on 5
Joined: Mon Aug 28, 2006 3:27 pm Posts: 119 Location: Adelaide, AU
5 stars from me, probably only give the album version 4 but this one keeps getting better live. (like a lot of Riot Act)
Kinda sums up a lot of pj songs for me, even if they're dour or mournful, they're almost always ringing with hope. That hope and strength comes from inside.
But ChristcanIFly has pretty much said it all already
I've read that this was written in the hotel room before the first show after Roskilde and Ed has called it 'the saddest song' on Riot Act. I didn't hear it like that when I first heard it but my perspective has changed. I guess it's a half full/half empty type song.
Joined: Mon Oct 18, 2004 3:09 pm Posts: 10839 Location: metro west, mass Gender: Male
stip wrote:
Sunny wrote:
Meh, it's ok. It's so plain. It requires no effort to play.
I don't play guitar so I can't comment on whether or not it is easy. It sounds simple, but they do a great job (esp on the studio) filling in the sound to make it rich and warm
I don't play guitar either, but all sections are very simple.
vocals are very relaxed.
drumming doesn't get any more basic.
I assume this is Cono's favorite song?
_________________ "There are two ways to enslave and conquer a nation. One is by the sword. The other is by debt." -John Adams
Joined: Tue Mar 13, 2007 4:48 pm Posts: 4320 Location: Philadelphia, PA
ChristCanIFly,
Your analysis really captures what is so appealing about this song for those who like it. The sentiments expressed are irresistable, and the music builds to such an intense and unexpected climax after the very somber start. The intro is absolutely beautiful.
I love the use of the words innocents and innocence. Alternating those words makes the song both personal and universal. He also uses the words significant, significance and different in a way that enhances their meaning by making them almost-rhymes.
I give this song 5 stars. There just aren't many examples of better song writing than this one.
Joined: Sat Mar 05, 2005 3:08 pm Posts: 1440 Location: AAAAAAAAAAAAARIZONA Gender: Male
Being a relative PJ newbie, this was the first PJ song I heard (other than Even Flow/Alive/stuff popular on the radio); when it was released as a single, I bought it to give it a shot. This song blew me away, pretty much for all of the reasons already mentioned. the combo of I Am Mine with Down on the single was absolutely amazing, and I listened to that single countless times before I even bought RA (and I think before I even bought Ten).
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