Joined: Tue May 30, 2006 2:48 pm Posts: 3115 Location: Edinburgh/Lincoln, UK
An interesting way to see the song, is through the eyes of his then wife, Beth.
I think Ed partly wrote it from her eyes in disgust with himself, and partly through his own disgust with himself. Either way, it's painfully honest and i love it.
An interesting way to look at the "quater to ten" lyric, is to see it as meaning the time before Pearl jam hit the mainstream with Ten. It's basically a metaphor for his fame, and how it imposed on him, and closed him as a person.
And the last two minutes need to be there for me, personally, it's a summary of the story - the roller coaster of being lost and found as a person.
Joined: Mon Mar 13, 2006 1:02 am Posts: 2560 Location: Dallas/Atlanta/Savannah
I have to defend this song, I can see the argument for it being rather self indulgent, (though i disagree about the gimmic part. if this is a gimmick, then alot of songs on Vs. are total gimmicks) but to me another way of looking it is to relate it to experience with yourself and other people, its an agle, but this song has helped me to remember to take a step back and look at the big picture, even though some situations are overwhelming, if you take a step back its not that bad.
my favorite line is 'my preconceptions are what should have been burned'
preconceptions and assumptions are usually a trapdoor in many cases, because to me people are very complex, or usually more than you think.
I love the guitar work on this, its a very calm and relaxing song, despite the fact that it seems to show a person who is trying to keep calm but can't because of intense stress.
bottom line i think this is a good song to listen to when your in a certain mood, usually when stress is overwhelming.
_________________ "is that a fucking pearl jam shirt?" Courtney Love
Joined: Mon Mar 13, 2006 1:02 am Posts: 2560 Location: Dallas/Atlanta/Savannah
jcurley wrote:
to me though, it seems like the larger issues at hand, which are alluded to, "thoughts to big for his size", but never directly stated, are the driving forces behind songs like these. and the ambiguity of these forces is what makes them so great, the wide open potential for interpretation, and from that, relating to the song and making it your own.
i don't know how this song is labeled as indulgent. making that type of statement limits the places art can go. why can't art be autobiographical, or expressive of an individual's struggle? i guess you could say ed should have done it in a subtler manner, but these lyrics are great the way they are. lo2l version is great, it definately made me a fanatic in tandem with touring band's parting ways.
its all in how you look at it, iv always thought that people are limiting art when they use a word like cliche or gimmick. I think that the intention of using these terms is to try and push the work in a certain direction that may seem more genuin to the listener or vewier. but ultimately if your going to make a statement about that I say you should try to do better or leave it be.
this is a song that I think gets a hard time because everyone sees it their own way, which works for some people and doesnt work for others.
_________________ "is that a fucking pearl jam shirt?" Courtney Love
Joined: Fri Sep 02, 2005 8:52 pm Posts: 2647 Location: Where gila monsters meet you at the airport
stip wrote:
I’ve railed against this song before many times, but since this is its SOTM I’ll try and be charitable. Musically it is nice. Strong melody and nice gentle guitar work. I do think it goes on a bit too long at the end (chop two minutes off and I’d be a much bigger fan). Eddie’s vocals are pretty good too. Not great, but pretty good. Part of my problem with this song (and with No Code in general) is that the acoustic/softer songs (Off He Goes, Around the Bend, Sometimes, I’m Open, even Who You Are) can’t hold a candle to their predecessors (Oceans, Small Town, Indifference, Nothingman, Immortality, Betterman, even Daughter). Off He Goes catches a lot of grief from me because it was the first in what became a long line of late period acoustic songs that couldn’t measure up to the ones on the first records
But my real issue with Off He Goes is the lyrics. They are just too self-indulgent for me. This song feels like a gimmick. He dealt with some similar issues in Vitalogy (with less resolution) but there you felt like he was peeling off his skin to get at his soul and see what was left of it. It was harrowing and compelling. You almost feared to look but couldn’t turn away. On Off He Goes you have Eddie #1 talking to Eddie #2. That’s just not that interesting to me. Nor are there any real great lyrical moments to transcend the hokiness of the gimmick. There are some decent lines here and there but there is never a moment that makes me go Wow, I wish I wrote that. I’d never show Off He Goes to someone I was trying to impress with Eddie’s writing.
Some people have said that this song is supposed to be about Neil Young. Maybe if I liked Neil Young more that would help, but if that is the case it probably makes me like the song even less. What are we supposed to relate to? What is it about this story, this moment, this exchange that is supposed to help me articulate about my own life and my own experiences?
In the end I listen to Off He Goes and I feel nothing except annoyance that this song is interrupting the flow of No Code (it isn’t the only culprit here) coupled with a slight sense of embarrassment for the lyrics.
But I recognize that I am in the minority here.
This song gets one star from me. It would get two if it was a b-side.
with the exception of your extending your dissatisfaction for this song to all of No Code, I agree wholeheartedly with this post.
ok song. not bad, but not one I ever feel compelled to listen to. and would be much better if shorter.
Joined: Mon Oct 18, 2004 12:47 pm Posts: 218 Location: the zooniverse
vitalogy71890 wrote:
this is my second favorite pj song , and i think this is one of eddies shining moments as a lyricist... this is easily the best song on no code, and the last thing i find it to be is boring
i dont mind the fact that it is about eddie, i thought it was even more amazing after i found out that he wrote it about himself, he was reflecting on the last few years of his life with this song, realizing that he wasnt the most approachable person in the world during that time"face pulled and tense"
"Said he'll see me on the flipside... of this trip he's taken for a ride He's been takin'... too much on... off he goes With his perfectly... unkept clothes... there he goes..." i look at this part as other peoples view of what eddie was going through around vs and vitalogy, his inability to cope with fame and the "ride" that it took him on during those years, hes taken too much on himself, became really stressed out
"I wonder bout his insides... Its like his thoughts are too big for his size He's been taken... where? I don't know... off he goes With his perfectly... unkept hope... there he goes... " this verse i believe is about whether he would go down the same road as cobain, the possibility that he can no longer cope with the world on his back and he just wants to end it like kurt did
"For he still smiles... and he's still strong Nothing's changed, but the surrounding bullshit... that has grown" eddie is still the same person he always was before fame, but the fame and confusion in his life is building
it ends with eddie being his old self and happy again but its an ongoing cycle, and he is most likely going to go down the same path he did before
i like how eddie recognized this in himself and wrote a song as amazing as this one about it, you can tell he poured his heart and soul into this song, and i love it... 5 stars, easily
I like your interpretation. 5 stars for me also. I love the version on Live on 2 Legs.
Joined: Tue Nov 30, 2004 4:02 am Posts: 44183 Location: New York Gender: Male
jcurley wrote:
i don't know how this song is labeled as indulgent. making that type of statement limits the places art can go. why can't art be autobiographical, or expressive of an individual's struggle? i guess you could say ed should have done it in a subtler manner, but these lyrics are great the way they are. lo2l version is great, it definately made me a fanatic in tandem with touring band's parting ways.
It's not the subtley, or lack thereof. It's that the song (at least to me, obviously not to many of you) fails to give me a way in. I feel like I am just watching Ed, without having that universal thread that helps me relate to the experience. Whereas a song like TMY, which also feels really personal, still seems open enough that you're invited to feel what he's feeling, rather than just be a spectator
A lot of great posts for this SOTM.
_________________ "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 Oct 21, 2004 3:10 pm Posts: 128 Location: London, UK
5 Stars.
Would be in my Top Ten PJ songs to be honest...
No Code came along at an interesting time in my life, when new music was starting to open up to me. I had the previous 3 albums, but I still wasn't a PJ fanatic - No Code changed that. I loved how they just said "fuck it" and recorded this werid, all-over-the-place album, totally uncommercial, but very organic sounding.
Off He Goes was the highlight for me. A six minute accoustic folk song. Beautiful sounding guitars, and Vedder's voice sounding rich & soothing. I had always thought he wrote the lyrics about an actual friend of his, and only later found out it was about himself. Whatever the meaning, it's wonderfully written.
Unlike other views, I have never been that impressed with the song live. It's too fast, and loses the intimacy of the studio version. I think sometimes songs should be left on the record and not played live, I think this is one of them ( along with possibly Oceans, Lowlight, In Hiding & All or None )...
I always thought Vedder was trying to rewrite Off He Goes when he penned Thumbing My Way. He failed. Off He Goes is in a different league and is a masterpiece.
No Code came along at an interesting time in my life, when new music was starting to open up to me. I had the previous 3 albums, but I still wasn't a PJ fanatic - No Code changed that. I loved how they just said "fuck it" and recorded this werid, all-over-the-place album, totally uncommercial, but very organic sounding.
Off He Goes was the highlight for me. A six minute accoustic folk song. Beautiful sounding guitars, and Vedder's voice sounding rich & soothing. I had always thought he wrote the lyrics about an actual friend of his, and only later found out it was about himself. Whatever the meaning, it's wonderfully written.
Unlike other views, I have never been that impressed with the song live. It's too fast, and loses the intimacy of the studio version. I think sometimes songs should be left on the record and not played live, I think this is one of them ( along with possibly Oceans, Lowlight, In Hiding & All or None )...
I always thought Vedder was trying to rewrite Off He Goes when he penned Thumbing My Way. He failed. Off He Goes is in a different league and is a masterpiece.
they both are great, off he goes being my #2 pearl jam song and thunbing my way being #5
they are some of eddies best work, and neither of them get enough respect around here
Joined: Tue Nov 30, 2004 4:02 am Posts: 44183 Location: New York Gender: Male
Bump for Frank
_________________ "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
This is one of my favourite songs and I so would show it to people as an example of PJ (I have). The song structure appears simple to me and yet the space that the music creates really adds to the reflective nature of the lyrics. I love that there is like 90 seconds of guitar strumming at the end - it is just beautiful. I wish it was longer actually (but then I love Inside Job and how long that takes to build). And despite the narrator perhaps telling a story about himself (or Neil Young or whatever) I find that I can really relate to the lyrics too. I don't find it self indulgent, but then again, I love No Code and don't think it is self indulgent. I find it contemplative and about finding perspective in life - that it is our interpretations that influence what we see. And each person who experiences the same thing may view it in a totally different way...
And despite your preface Stip, you were harsh and are now trying to convert others to your rating - shame on you! 5 stars!
Good post. I almost cried when I read Stip's comments. But that is just one man's opinion, and a minority opinion at that. (I notice he likes to say atleast one thing negative about PJ in all of his posts, probably to down play his fandom) Off He Goes is a masterpiece. The lead guitar work, the sentimental lyrics, it all fits to make a great song that tells a nice story, which is something PJ hasn't really done often to my recollection. It is like reading a book, there is a lyrical beginning and ending to the story. Crazy Mary comes to mind, Rearviewmirror tells a story, maybe In Hiding. It is not a song I want to rock out to, but it is a song I can think about life to. Also, just cuz Ed is the lyricist doesn't mean you should picture him in the narrator's shoes, this song could be about anyone you know, even yourself, if you open your mind to interpretations.
_________________ another fan moved by sleight of hand
Last edited by Happy When I'm Dying on Tue Feb 06, 2007 10:18 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Joined: Sun Oct 17, 2004 10:53 pm Posts: 8066 Location: Las Vegas via Rockford (Roscoe), IL Gender: Female
I've been listening to this song a lot lately.
_________________ Frank Kevin
At night I drink myself to sleep and pretend I don't care that you're not here with me Cause it's so much easier to handle all my problems if I'm too far out to sea
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, ok, you got my vote.
