Rise

Such is the way of the world
You can never know
Just where to put all your faith
And how will it grow

Gonna rise up
Burning back holes in dark memories
Gonna rise up
Turning mistakes into gold

Such is the passage of time
Too fast to fold
And suddenly swallowed by signs
Low and behold

Gonna rise up
Find my direction magnetically
Gonna rise up
Throw down my ace in the hole

I’ve come to appreciate rise a bit more as the song has aged. I confess that this one did not immediately grab me, and I still have a hard time picturing this as one of the flagship songs on a record with (imo) stronger songs on it. I am not sure quite what my problem with it is, since it does what it wants to do and does it well. Eddie’s vocals are subdued and strong at the same time. There is a reassuring determination to the song and the vocals. He’s talking to himself and isn’t vanquishing any demons, so there’s no need for him to really soar like he’s capable of (which is what I WANT, but I’m not sure it fits or is appropriate). Instead, he’s reaffirming his own goals to himself, a pep talk in the middle of a long, challenging, exhausting, and ultimately rewarding journey.

Musically there is a really nice intimate expansiveness to this song. The ukelee has a quiet, thin, private sound to it, yet this song fills a vast space with a simple melody. It sounds like someone’s innermost thoughts leaking out into a vast open space. You can picture someone hiking through a wilderness empty of human life and human baggage but full of clean and pure possibilities. Yet, at the same time, the song never climaxes—the music, and the thoughts, retreat back into the private space of the narrator, and I feel like I’m intruding. Not in the eerily uncomfortable way in a song like Untitled (the LD untitled, not the mfc improve), more like I’m just not needed or welcome there. But at the same time, I can see myself hiking somewhere and hearing this song play on the top of small mountain at sundown, and getting carried away by the music and the moment. This may just be a song I haven’t experienced the right way yet.

Lyrically Rise is fine, it starts out a little clunky, but there are some really striking and evocative lyrics here (burning black holes in dark memories/turning mistakes into gold) that redeem it. The fact that the song turns on the word rise is an interesting choice. Usually when you rise up you’re rising up against something external, something beyond yourself that is keeping you down, but in this case he’s rising up against himself and the chains that, while forged by the world around him, were maintained by himself. That’s why Rise lacks the dramatic tension you find in similar PJ songs. In the end the freedom, the empowerment in this song, is really quite simple, found in the act of simply letting go and embracing something immense and unformed outside yourself. The fact that it is so unspecific , so devoid of content, so easy (this is one of my issues with the larger Into The Wild story—the way the guy is so cavalier about the lives he impacts by following his heart), may be one of the things that in the end turns me off (maybe I just can’t appreciate it). Rise is an easy enough song to like, but it doesn’t push hard enough to inspire love.

3 stars

its ok. dont really like the Gonna Rise Up part but the rest is nice

I've always liked this one alot, I dont know why, I just do.

4 stars

mandolins are awesome

Today was one of the first days of the year that it actually felt like spring, and I felt like Into The Wild would be a good contrast with the Houston freeways and commotion on my way to work everyday. Windows down of course. I don't think this album is necessarily better than a couple of the proper pearl jam albums of the decade, but I find myself connecting to it the most. Rise is a big reason for this. I listen to a lot of Pearl Jam for nostalgia's sake, but songs like Rise and the rest of that album are something refreshing and new to me.

Also, I love the "find my direction magnetically" line.

yeah, that's a great line!

i really like this song a ton, possibly my 2nd favorite on the cd. i think i'll go listen to it now!

Isn't it a mandolin in this song? I thought that's what Ed was playing.

Anyway, great song nonetheless and love it's message. It is great when Eddie plays it live too -- though I think he jokes about it being a song for Viagra a bit.

yeah, you're right

This may actually be my favorite song on the CD. I love it.

If Ed's going to do some solo numbers at the start of encores (like he did very often with The End and Just Breathe) I'd love to see him throw in an ITW song here and there.

In the beginning I absolutely hated this song (album), now I love it. Strange.

I dont think he's going to do his solo stuff at PJ shows, he hasnt since ITW came out and I think he def would have in 08 if he was going to. Maybe he might throw one out randomly on rare occasions but I dont think he'll do it much.

This and Guaranteed are my 2 favourites on this record. It's got that sea shanty swing to it like Half Full and Red Mosquito. It'd be interesting to hear how Pj would play it. It'd probably sound like the aforementioned songs.

I don't think Rise would sound anything at all like 1/2 full.

I hope he does. When Mike needs a break they usually let Eddie Vedder come out and play a couple of solo songs. Instead of covers, Ed should just play more off of Into the Wild.

Great tune. My favorite off of ITW. 5 stars.

what makes this a 5 star tune for you?

Dimejinky says the strangest things.
Like when he said there were horns in "Got Some".

there's not, but it kinda sounds like there are. I like that. Just like it sounds like there is a tuba in all those yesterdays.

This is one of my favorite tunes that Ed has written in the past ten years. I absolutely love the musical interlude. It says more than a lot of songs can do in 4 minutes.