_________________ "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: Tue Nov 30, 2004 4:02 am Posts: 44183 Location: New York Gender: Male
You are is a song with the potential for greatness held back by inconsistent lyrics and a poor vocal performance by Ed (a common problem on Riot Act). Musically this is easily one of the most interesting songs they’ve ever done, and the effects on the guitars give the music a grinding determination, like it is trying to break through whatever is holding it back. It’s great music for the lyrics, since that is essentially what the song is about—the strength that love provides.
Matt and Eddie share writing credits on this. I’d like to think the duds here are Matt’s but I’m not certain. The first two lines of this song are among my favorite opening lines in any Pearl Jam song. There is this great, almost Jerry Bruckheimer style, image of the immediate world falling apart. Eddie’s always been attracted to cars as imagery—they represent the possibility of escape. Here the car’s not doing so well—wheel about to fall off, the road self-destructing. Escape’s not going to be easy, but fortunately the singer has his partners love to stabilize him, to keep his wheels on and help him steer. So far so good…
The next verse starts with another promising set of lines. I like the utter insignificance it conveys—a tiny dot completely obscured by the blinding brilliance of the sun, burning into insignificance. It’s a great image of powerlessness that love rescues him from. But like last time, the follow up lines are weak. He repeats the tower image, and usually I like when the same basic line gets tweaked in subtle ways (see I am mine or the start of the Marker in the Sand choruses for instances where this is done well) but here it wasn’t that promising to begin with. “the darkening hour sees light again†is a decent, hopeful lyric and stands in nice contrast to the sun a few lines earlier, but it’s quickly overshadowed by that hideous ‘oh ah you are’ chorus.
He finishes up with the tower lyric. I’ve talked about that enough. Combining two sub par lines just creates a third sub par lyric. And I’m not entirely sure what the shoreline/sea connection is. If someone else wants to take a stab at it I’d be grateful. I find that by the time I make it this far down into the song I no longer care.
Favorite lyrics:
This broken wheel is coming undone
And the road's exploding
Sometimes I burn like a dot on the sun
With no one knowing
Two great lines in a sea of trite sentiment.
You Are is a 3.5 star song for me, with the potential to have been much higher, but since it didn’t reach that potential it’s closer to 3 than 4. so it gets the 3.
_________________ "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: Wed Mar 02, 2005 3:43 am Posts: 18418 Location: Anytown, USA Gender: Male
when i listened to riot act the first time, i was shocked by this song. never had i heard pearl jam do a song that sounded like this. i was a little apprehensive about it at first, but it grew on me quickly. and then seeing it live was just amazing. i loved it.
not quite a 5 star song, but definitely 4.
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Joined: Sun Mar 05, 2006 7:51 am Posts: 539 Location: indy 46227
you are is somewhere between a great pj song and a bad u2 song.
i don't think the vocals match the intensity of the music. great to hear them pull it off live, but it's one i tend to skip on ra.
Joined: Tue Nov 30, 2004 4:02 am Posts: 44183 Location: New York Gender: Male
Cal Varnsen wrote:
when i listened to riot act the first time, i was shocked by this song. never had i heard pearl jam do a song that sounded like this. i was a little apprehensive about it at first, but it grew on me quickly. and then seeing it live was just amazing. i loved it.
not quite a 5 star song, but definitely 4.
that's a pretty long cal post.
_________________ "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
In five years, when you get laid and grow up, you should go back and read some of these posts and if you've turned into a decent person you'll realize how much of an asshole you sound like right now
Joined: Mon Oct 18, 2004 11:36 pm Posts: 25824 Location: south jersey
definetly one of the better songs on riot act. i've seen it live a couple times and the lights were amazing. i usually dont even pay attention to that stuff, but i really couldnt take my eyes off of the lights. and like every song on riot act, and almost every song they've made, its way better live.
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This is by far my favorite song off RA. I remember downloading the leak of RA about a week or so before it hit the shelves and then giving it away after one listen because I didn't want to spoil it any longer. The only song I was "hot" for was You Are. It definitely keeps me coming back to Riot Act. --5 stars for me.
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Joined: Sat Mar 19, 2005 7:50 pm Posts: 10229 Location: WA (aka Waaaaaaaahhhh!!) Gender: Male
I'll give it a 5 because it's my favorite song off Riot Act...much better than anything else on that album aside from All Or None.
A total departure for Pearl Jam, but it works. Not like any other song they've ever written, IMO, (isn't this a Matt Cameron song?) and I'm a huge fan.
Not quite as huge of a fan of it as Even Flow though.
good video, i like the whole rock tower in the middle of the ocean thing going on
this was one of the standouts on my first listen to riot act... the love is a tower, your the key is pretty weak, the chorus should have stayed love is a tower, a srength to me the whole song imo, but the music is awesome, i gave it 4 stars, one of the better ones off of riot act
Joined: Tue Mar 22, 2005 10:49 am Posts: 7777 Location: In your pants
Sounds so much like How Soon is Now its eerie, but neverless I love this song. Does its best work live from what I can see, especially at MSG. Seems like Matt is the logical choice for backup singer from all the evidence we've been given too.
Sure the lyrics arent much chop, but thats what you get from Matt sometimes....it still beats Evacuation! I agree with the above post that the vocals arent up to scratch which loses a bit of emphasis, but its still a beautiful song and I love the guitar effects.
Gets a 5 from me, it was borderline 4 or 5 but its my favourite song on RA and for an album to not get a 5 for any tracks would be depressing. Lets see it made a staple for the 06 tour
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When I first heard this song when it aired on KROCK I went nuts. I thought it was awesome. It rocked, you could even dance too it. It was different.
It didn't settle well. I find the song really corny now. The lyrics are very subpar. I don't like the 'dot on the sun' line. Overall the subject matter is boring, overdone...etc...
The music kind of holds up because it is different and does it rock. But it also comes out as a little corny because it was like Matt stumbled upon the effect by accident and was like, we need to make a song with this effect...no if ands or buts...
Joined: Sun Oct 17, 2004 5:02 am Posts: 3279 Location: Department K, North of 60
I don't think the tower metaphor is getting enough credit here. Sure, on the surface it seems somewhat cliched, but considering it within the whole I don't think that it is.
This is a struggling relationship here, people!
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Joined: Mon Oct 18, 2004 11:02 pm Posts: 569 Location: Yorba Linda, CA
Cool song, cool vibe. I agree with Stip, it's a 3.5 star song, but I'll give it four because it's one of the cooler PJ songs when high.
And Stip, I got the explanation for the tower/sea lyrics. The song is about love, and hence, the lyric "love is a tower" is using the concept of a tower as a phallic symbol (i'm not joking around). The reason I'm pretty sure that they're using the tower metaphor is because immediately afterwards they say "you're the sea," and any body of water or anything that can be penetrated is a classic example of yonic (female) symbolism. Hence the line, "leading me higher, when you let me in" pretty much consummates the meaning of the song. I don't think I need to explain further, but that's my guess.
I'm actually really good at catching this stuff because I was an English minor in college and had a professor who loved to psychoanalyze literature and hence, he frequently lectured on the sexual symbolism or undertones in many works we read. You know, I could be wrong though. Sometimes a cigar is just a cigar.
Joined: Mon Dec 06, 2004 12:00 am Posts: 1584 Location: Huntsville, Tx Gender: Male
I am big fan of this song, I just love the music. Lyrically it is not one of their best but it still has some good lines it. I'm glad to see that there are others that like this song because I was thinking not many people did.
_________________ I won't change direction, and I won't change my mind
Joined: Sun Oct 17, 2004 9:50 am Posts: 1838 Location: Perth, Australia Gender: Male
i gave it 3.
when riot act first came out i would have given it 4, but these days i don't like it as much.
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