Ive seen this enterpretation before on here, and I disagree with it. Trudging without hope? "back to heaven" isnt hope? His false smile takes place in the "winter", not in the springtime.

I mean, cmon, the line that is repeated the most and which the song is based on is "thumbing my way back to heaven". that is pretty explicity, though vaguely, hopeful.

In that one line you cite, I dont think he takes it all back. Maybe if it had been the last line of the song.

Nothingman gets my vote. I love them both though.

I think it's the delivery of Eddie's vocals in Nothingman that makes me like it more. It was one of my first favorites song as a Pearl Jam fan and still is. I miss it live, they don't play it as often as they should.

Love the end of the song...into the sun, burn, burn...gives me chills everytime.

Thumbing My Way gets my vote. Nothingman is a very good song, but TMW just pulls me in every time I hear it, and it never lets go. I've written a ton about in while it was the SOTM, so I won't repeat myself here.

thumbing my way even though its depressing as hell.


any chance we can have a poll for happy pj songs, I know they exitst.

I can't really choose though if I had to I'm leaning toward TMW. I chose cannot decide.

yup--send me a pm with the songs you want included. Let me know if you want to do the write up too.

The way it ends "I'm just walking the miles, every one and a while get a ride" leaves me with a sense of futility--he is going through the motions, but he'll never reach it.

I also think he choses the word heaven to imply that it is an ideal he'll never reach. How does one get to heaven, let alone hitchhike there? It is an impossible ideal, or at least one he currently thinks is impossible.

Why do you place the smile in the winter, instead of the springtime?

Frank and I went back and forth about this at length in the Thumbing my way song of the moment. He was definitely on your side in this. I may have been the minority in that thread. I can't remember.

Woah, I think this is a fantastic competition....tough call.
Both songs to me are absolutely beautiful...I don't dig the "she won't feed him" or the "Burn!" after "Into the sun." But the delivery of "Into the sun" and "She once belieeeeeeved." are absolutely incredible and the whole first verse is filled with some of my favorite lyrics. I love Thumbing My Way as well, but I think that Nothingman is just half a point ahead.....so, somewhat regretfully, I vote Nothingman on this one.

I'm still good to do the next one, right?

Riot Act was the second PJ album I bought(after Ten). And this song, along with LBC, I Am Mine, and You Are sort of brought me into them. Absolutely amazing lyrics, definetly some of Ed's finest.

I definitely voted "can't decide" on this one.

Like Stip said, Thumbing My Way is just too damn good at what it's trying to do. However, I think Pearl Jam fans have become comfortable in that feeling of catharsis that most of the early records (and Avocado, for that matter) have in spades. They don't really appreciate that starkness, the sadness and how absolutely beautiful and transcendent it can be. I love cathartic songs, but ultimately they don't speak to you on the same level as sad songs do. Try listening to this song when you're down or even in a pensive, thoughtful mood, and see its affect. Somehow, through all the downtrodden sadness of it all, you feel better. At the very least, you simply feel, and most songs just can't hit so many nerves at much.

Thumbing My Way hits every single nerve it's meant to and it does it perfectly. Ed's voice is sad, pathetic and low, the music is empty and slow and the lyrics are pathetic, dark and abso-fucking-lutely gorgeous. If you can't tell, I love this song.

On to Nothingman, which is easily one of the most beautiful songs Pearl Jam has ever written. Barring the lyrics, which I'll get to in a minute, it's easily one of the best compositions they've done. Musically it's perfect, with just the right amount of starkness to it to complement the lonely, soaring vocals. Vocally, it's probably my favorite performance Ed's ever done. Even now, live, when he's a bit messier on the softer parts, when he soars (Into the suuunnnnnnnnn ...), he really fucking soars. Lyrically, it's not terrible, just not terribly special. It's sad on an album like Vitalogy, where most of the writing is so top notch (Tremor Christ is my favorite example), this song is just good, not great. That's the only thing keeping this song from totally destroying Thumbing my Way.

As it stands, it's hard to give either an edge b/c they both have such strengths. Thumbing my Way delivers on all counts, but Nothingman has Ed's voice at it's best, so it's a tie to me.

yup

Yes he goes on about trudging on but he still is heading "back to heaven"
so his current love is gone but he still sees light ahead and heads towards it

thumbing my way ranks barely ahead sweet lew for me... yeah it's good lyrically, but i just cannot get into the song. i want to, but i can't. saw it live once and i did like it, but on record and bootlegs, i just can't.

somebody help me....

The lyrics for Thumbing my way are so impressive. Some excellent images, but the music, eh. It could have been something.

I've been thinking about this for a few days and i still cant decide but I love both songs

i have only seen tmw live and not nothingman so this might be tricky. before paris 06 i had no love for tmw, in fact i found it their most dull song. since then i cant stop playing it. i love the 'no matter how cold the winter' line as it can give hope for the future. and the ' i can be free' bridge bit. eds voice can sound a little drained on the album version but more recent live version and better imo.

nothingman is a simple song, believe it was written and recorded in an hr or something like that. some lyrics are good ' some words are spoken, cant be taken back', 'she once believed in every story he had to tell' and some are not as good 'she dont want him, she wont feed him'.

i am choosing tmw. maybe if i heard nothingman i would come around as before this yr i wouldnt give tmw another listen, hard not to be biasd, sorry.

Definitely tough choice with this one. TMW has always been one of favorites from Riot Act and it does not get the credit that it deserves, but neither does the album as a whole in my opinion. Now I don't know what else can be said can be said about Nothingman, gorgeous song, great lyrics. I guess I have to give my vote to Nothingman, but not by much.

definately Nothingman, one of my all time favorites