Post subject: SOTM # 152: I'm a lucky man to count on both hands...
Posted: Wed Nov 11, 2009 2:47 pm
Global Moderator
Joined: Tue Nov 30, 2004 4:02 am Posts: 44183 Location: New York Gender: Male
Just Breathe
Yes I understand that every life must end, aw huh,.. As we sit alone, I know someday we must go, aw huh,.. I’m a lucky man to count on both hands The ones I love,..
Some folks just have one, Others they got none, aw huh,..
Stay with me,.. Let’s just breathe.
Practiced are my sins, Never gonna let me win, aw huh,.. Under everything, just another human being, aw huh,.. Yeh, I don’t wanna hurt, there’s so much in this world To make me bleed.
Stay with me,.. You’re all I see.
Did I say that I need you? Did I say that I want you? Oh, if I didn’t now I’m a fool you see,.. No one knows this more than me. As I come clean.
I wonder everyday as I look upon your face, aw huh,.. Everything you gave And nothing you would take, aw huh,.. Nothing you would take,.. Everything you gave.
Did I say that I need you? Oh, Did I say that I want you? Oh, if I didn’t now I’m a fool you see,.. No one know this more than me. As I come clean.
Nothing you would take,.. everything you gave. Hold me till I die,.. Meet you on the other side.
The Into the Wild comparisons here are inevitable, but they’re justified. Not simply because the music is so similar to Tuolumne (which is a beautiful instrumental and one that was well worth fleshing out) but because this song sounds so unburdened, so at peace with itself, so free. The music is rich and full without getting too busy, and Eddie’s voice just envelopes the guitar melody while the keyboards and other guitars fill in the gaps and flesh the song out without ever being obtrusive. The baseline is surprisingly loud giving how understated the rest of the song is, but it fits perfectly. My one musical complaint is with the chorus. It’s too dramatic and over the top for such an otherwise calm and self-assured number. However, the way they manage to transition out of the chorus each time, keeping its energy and urgency(and the strings) while returning to the gentle rolling melody that runs through the verses is pretty excellent.
Eddie ALMOST hits this one out of the park. As others have commented his voice is perhaps a bit too nasally on this one, especially with the uh-huhs at the end of each lyric, and the way he rises at the end of each line. This was a choice, since he sings it the same way live, but I’m not entirely sure why he made it. Otherwise he’s rich and resonant and sounds great. Plus on a record of great vocal melodies this is one of, if not the, best. Only Johnny Guitar and the verses of Amongst the Waves may be better.
The sentiment carries this song lyrically, and its interesting territory for pearl jam. This is probably their first truly unaffected love song. There are no qualifications here, no self doubt, and no apology. Instead it’s a quiet and confident celebration of the love of his life. It only took the band 18 years to write, but it’s well worth the wait. We find Eddie taking stock of just how lucky he is, how fortunate he is to have found someone as amazing as he did to spend his life with, to grow old and die with. She completes him, grants him peace and certainty in an often violent and uncertain world (this is what the second verse is about) and he just wants to make sure she understands that he understands how lucky he is. He's practically bursting with this sentiment during the chorus, which is why it swells the way it does.
Even though the song begins and ends with mentions of death, this is not a song about death, and fixating on those lines in that way misses the point. It’s a song about being thankful for what we have and never wanting to lose it. When you want something to last forever and you know it can’t it becomes that much more important to make the most of the time you have with it. Anyone in a healthy long term relationship has had this thought before, and it has nothing to do with death. Instead it’s a wish for permanence, a desire to live in a perfect moment forever that we know can’t last. It’s those desires, those moments, that refesh and revitalize the connection between two people so that it can go on forever, in this life and the next.
The music and sentiment do a wonderful job conveying this. The lyrics don’t’ do a bad job, but they don’t do a great job either. I think this is a case of Eddie feeling something so powerfully and so immediately (this happens a lot in his political songs as well) that he doesn’t take the time to figure out how to say it just right. He’s speaking with the heart rather than the head. It’s too bad, because if he was able to do both here this would be one of their best songs ever. Having said that, the “I’m a lucky man to count on both hands the ones I love” is a wonderful lyric, simple and profound (and a long way from the alienated loneliness of ‘small my table sits just two/got so crowded I can’t make room) and made even more striking by the way it floats along. It’s too bad he follows it up with the “some folks just have one…” lyric, which brings it back down to earth.
This is a 4 star song for me. With a slightly more understated chorus or slightly better lyrics it would be five. It still might be five someday. I’ve been listening to backspacer a few times a week since it came out and this is one of the songs I keep coming back to.
Links to previous Song of the Moment thread can be found here
_________________ "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
Post subject: Re: SOTM # 152: I'm a lucky man to count on both hands...
Posted: Wed Nov 11, 2009 3:53 pm
Force of Nature
Joined: Fri Jun 10, 2005 3:38 am Posts: 504 Location: Poughkeepsie
On my first run through Backspacer, I really enjoyed the first four tracks. Then I got to this one, and it completely derailed the album for me. I hated Eddie's phrasing on it at first, especially during the first verse.
While that particular point still gets me a little, I've come to love this song. I enjoy watching this band try to change gears at times, and while this reminds me a little of Ed's solo stuff, I still like the attempt here on Backspacer. The chorus has a certain sing along quality to it that helps drive this song to the end.
This song also creates the widest gulf between me and my girlfriend. I love this song, she hates it (she finds Ed's delivery to be bland and unconvincing). I'm sure this will become even more of a regular debate as this starts to show up on radio.
_________________ Homer: Ohhhhhh. Bart, get my suicide axe.
Post subject: Re: SOTM # 152: I'm a lucky man to count on both hands...
Posted: Wed Nov 11, 2009 3:58 pm
Yeah Yeah Yeah
Joined: Tue May 30, 2006 2:48 pm Posts: 3115 Location: Edinburgh/Lincoln, UK
stip wrote:
Eddie ALMOST hits this one out of the park. As others have commented his voice is perhaps a bit too nasally on this one, especially with the uh-huhs at the end of each lyric, and the way he rises at the end of each line. This was a choice, since he sings it the same way live, but I’m not entirely sure why he made it.
I saw a youtube clip of them playing it in Philly, and he sung it much more naturally (the 'aw huh parts), and it sounded a lot better to me.
Post subject: Re: SOTM # 152: I'm a lucky man to count on both hands...
Posted: Wed Nov 11, 2009 4:41 pm
Former PJ Drummer
Joined: Thu Nov 25, 2004 3:00 pm Posts: 19826 Location: Alone in a corridor
It's kinda ironic. had I seen this thread yesterday, I would have given it 2 stars. Now I felt the need to give Backspacer another chance today and I listened to Just Breathe about 10 times in a row I think. 4 stars.
Post subject: Re: SOTM # 152: I'm a lucky man to count on both hands...
Posted: Wed Nov 11, 2009 7:34 pm
Banned from the Pit
Joined: Sat Aug 15, 2009 5:35 pm Posts: 73 Location: Germany Gender: Male
With a different vocal delivery this could be a 4 or 5 star song for me. And if they removed/changed the chorus.
Just listened to it again...let's say 3 stars. Verses are really good with the exception of the "uh-huhs", chorus is annoying and cheesy, ending is awesome.
Post subject: Re: SOTM # 152: I'm a lucky man to count on both hands...
Posted: Wed Nov 11, 2009 7:46 pm
Got Some
Joined: Wed May 09, 2007 5:58 pm Posts: 1259 Location: Western Masshole Gender: Male
This one I liked immediately but thought it wouldn't hold up over time. I listened to Backspacer again last week and fell in love with it all over again. I agree with Stip in that the other instruments, especially the keyboard, do a great job of complementing eddie's picking without overwhelming it. 4 stars.
_________________ Paul McCartney told me to never drop names.
Post subject: Re: SOTM # 152: I'm a lucky man to count on both hands...
Posted: Wed Nov 11, 2009 9:02 pm
Got Some
Joined: Sun Oct 17, 2004 3:47 pm Posts: 2932
The vocal melody in this song is fairly juvenile. The music behind is vaguely celtic and appealing in an understated way.
Lyrically it tries to be profound and at least gets halfway there; "Some folks just have one, Others they got none, " is an embarrassingly bad lyric, the rest are decent...but why try and fill space with Aw huhs or whatever the fuck he's saying? let the song...just breathe. ...and is Ed professing a new belief in the last line of the song?
_________________ For your sake I hope heaven and hell are really there but I wouldn't hold my breath
Post subject: Re: SOTM # 152: I'm a lucky man to count on both hands...
Posted: Wed Nov 11, 2009 11:02 pm
Cameron's Stallion
Joined: Thu Oct 20, 2005 3:53 am Posts: 6704 Location: Tasmania, Australia Gender: Male
I gave it 1 star. I probably dislike it even more than The Fixer. Something about it just doesn't sit well for me, and it's just not just that annoying as fuck vocal melody in the verses.
_________________
Harmless wrote:
'Isn't this weird? We're looking down on PJ's music, only.... that's not PJ's music. Isn't that weird?'
Post subject: Re: SOTM # 152: I'm a lucky man to count on both hands...
Posted: Thu Nov 12, 2009 1:48 pm
Supersonic
Joined: Sun Oct 17, 2004 3:07 pm Posts: 12393
I wish there was a little more dynamic range in the recording.When the strings climb into the chorus, they sound great but feel really 2 dimensional. They don't really add any space or dimension, which is too bad.
Other than that, I think it's a great song. A few lines aren't so great, a few are, and musically I love it.
Post subject: Re: SOTM # 152: I'm a lucky man to count on both hands...
Posted: Fri Nov 13, 2009 5:07 am
Global Moderator
Joined: Tue Nov 30, 2004 4:02 am Posts: 44183 Location: New York Gender: Male
teflonsteve wrote:
adamdude wrote:
teflonsteve wrote:
This song is cheesy garbage. The vocal delivery is awful.
Cheese-central. Too much of that 09 Vedder breath-vocals.
The music itself is listenable but that vocal medley just sounds so awkward. Worst part being that this song will likely do well for the band.
that vocal melody is terrific. You sir, are clearly not listening to the right song.
_________________ "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
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