SEVERED HAND

Big man stands behind an open door
Said, "Leave your lady on the cement floor."

"Got some kicks, wanna take a ride?"
I said, "Yeh,..."
"Take your pick, leave yourself behind."
I Said, "Yeh,..."

I've no fear but for falling down
So look out below, I am falling now
Oh please understand, I just need my friend
A way home.

Tried to walk, found a severed hand
Recognized it by the wedding band

"It's okay, do you want some more?"
I said, "Yeh,..."
"You'll see dragons after 3 or 4...:
I said, "Yeh,..."

"Understand, I'm not falling down"
I said, "Look around, the room's taller now,.."
I can't close my eyes, cause i see the sound
In waves

In waves, lets me stay calm

If I don't lose control
Explore and not explode
A preternatural other plane
With the power to maintain.

Like a tear in all we know
Once dissolved, we are free to grow
"What is human?,... What is more?"
I'll answer this

When I get home.

This is one of my favorite Pearl Jam songs. That could be because it’s the more muscular grandson of PORCH, and that’s the song that first made me really fall in love with the band. The music is dense and highly constructed, yet feels almost unhinged, as the superficial meaning behind the lyrics would imply. This song, more than any of the others on “Pearl Jam”, except perhaps COME BACK, suffers most from the relative flatness of the production sound. The multiple riffing patterns and arpeggiated fills don’t pop out at you the way that they should. But live, this song comes completely to life.

At first glance, SEVERED HAND appears to be about a drug trip of some kind. And I think that this is a reasonable interpretation. The references to the Big Man asking the singer if he wants to go for a ride, the description of hallucinations (You’ll see dragons after 3 or 4; Look around, the room’s taller now; A preternatural other plain), the descriptions of falling and needing the help of a friend all suggest an altered state of consciousness. And Ed may well have been describing the effect of drugs on the main character's state of mind; however, I think that the song can be interpreted as a way of working through the loss of a relationship, specifically a marriage.

The singer leaves his lady, his wife, behind and moves off into an unknown space. Leaving a marriage, especially a long one can be like moving into an altered state of consciousness. He needs the support of friends in order to find his way back to a stable state of mind (home).

"Got some kicks, wanna take a ride?"
I said, "Yeh,..."
"Take your pick, leave yourself behind."
I Said, "Yeh,..."

In the course of leaving his wife and marriage behind, he leaves a part of his life behind.

Tried to walk, found a severed hand
Recognized it by the wedding band

And of course losing his marriage is like losing a body part. The severed hand is the marriage. His world has spun out of his control and made him question his perceptions of everything that he’s known. But there is one constant:

I can't close my eyes, cause i see the sound
In waves
In waves, lets me stay calm

He still has sound (music) as a reference point that was there before the marriage and remains after it has gone. He only needs to keep himself focused on it, and one day he’ll find peace of mind (home). The song ends on an optimistic note, with the hopeful expression that the tear in his universe will allow him to grow from the the experience.

Like a tear in all we know
Once dissolved, we are free to grow
"What is human?,... What is more?"
I'll answer this
When I get home.

A great tune that suffers a bit from less than perfect production. 4 stars.

3 stars (2.5, really, but I rounded up because I'm nice). It never did much for me, and I'm not one for songs about drugs or drug experiences - I just don't buy what Ed is singing. Not bad but one of the weaker songs from the album for me. And it sounds too much like Porch.

awesome interpretation. having not been married and having hallucinated a bunch of time i interpreted it the other way, but i totally see where you're coming from. your interp makes perfect sense.

i've loved this song from the first time i heard it. it might be the best pj song since 1994. i cant say enough about it, i just love everything about this song. 5 stars

I don't think SLH's interpretation and the drug trip are mutually exclusive. I saw it as using the drugs as a way to clear space to deal with the issues and problems that he's having in real life (I wrote about this at length in the s/t tour thread so I won't reprise that here). Like frank I'm not normally a fan of lyrics about drug use, but I think these work in the context of the album

I agree that this song really suffers in production. it all blends together isntead of contrasting off each other. I really love the counter riff in the second verse but it is much more prominent live than on the record. And the production on the build in the begining is really flat--it doesn't give it the epic feel it is clearly supposed to have. defintiely the song from the last two records I'd most like to see O'Brien revist

Eddie's vocals in the choruses (the falling down parts) are some of my favorite vocal moments on the album

4 stars. Probably 5 once upon a time but some of my love has cooled.

4 song. This is a great song.

My fondest memory is the SNL performance. The intro made me say "OK, what's coming?" Then the main riff blew me away...then Ed's verse vocals brought me back down...but the rest of the songs the chorus and bridges blew me away again. I love the outro music too. I preferred the performance to the WWS one, so that made me very excited for the album.

It fits great on the record. I like how it goes places, has different parts ala Grievance and Insignificance. I'd love it if this song was a mainstay on setlists in the future.

4 stars. One of my favs.

4 Stars. Great song. As usual with PJs songs, the bridge is the highlight for me. PJ does the best bridges.

The bridge gets 1 star. The rest sucks.

Brilliant song. An instant favorite when I heard it on SNL. Great mystical lyrics, killer riff and the best bridge/outro/solo I've heard on a PJ song in a long time.

Classic Pearl Jam!

i gave the bridge 2.5 and the rest .5, not really a bad song, but i don't care for it aside from the bridge.

i dont know how someone be a pj fan and not like this song at least a little bit. but angus likes stupid mop, so i guess i should have expected this

4 stars.

Beautiful interpretation SLH...i can't believe i actually overlooked that. I also agree with the general comments on the production...this song has so many great layers of texture - particularly in the bridge, and sometimes they all get a little blurred together. However, to contradict myself...I love the production of the intro - i get all excited when PJ play around with effects and the like. I think the song's weakest point is Mike's solo at the end - i like the way it's double tracked, but it just sounds really uninspired.

I admit that I used to like that solo a lot more. The one in life wasted I still love as much as the first time I heard it

which was a lot

Myeh..i'm not too keen on that one either...i think the most interesting part of it is that off beat fast high strumming part at the very end, and as soon as that bit kicks in it all just fades out and ends. (I'm not one of those fuckers who cares about the fade out being there, they just could have waited for the interesting part of the lead to finish first! Psh.)

Absolutely love it. 5 stars. Immediately reminded me of Porch. Can't remember where I first saw it...I think either on Letterman or SNL...and I think that was before the album was released. I was in Heaven watching that performance and it got me super pumped for S/T and the upcoming tour, etc. My thought was..."Yes, Pearl Jam is BACK!"

It's the closest thing to Even Flow that the band has released in years, which means like like a fine wine or French cheese...they're starting to get better with age.

this was my favorite song when the album came out, i think i played it a bit too much, cause i hardly ever listen to it now but still 4 stars. I think one of the best songs they have put out in years. I love it live and i do think it has real staying power and i can see it being included in live sets for years to come

When I first heard the leaks of S/T this was my favorite song, and after all this time it still rocks. A solid 4 stars from me, hope to hear live in person one day.

Love the lyrics, think otherwise it's a little "meh" - it's middle-of-the-road Pearl Jam.

To me it just sounds like a not-quite-as-good version of Porch.

It can go places live but I hate how they paired it so often with WWS, it makes me switch off and perhaps enjoy this song much less.

Saw it first time at my First Show, the first time it was ever played
One of my fav, possibly my fav of S/T.
energetic, I love the bridge too, Ed voice on it in particular, and as a lover of dragons, that line gives me a kick every time

I think both interpretation are correct.
Ed himself said it was about drugs (Southside festival), but the other subtext works well, though of course he'll never talk about that one.

I voted 5 (ok, probably should be 4.5, but what the hell, I'm always happy to hear it live, all 24 times!)