The Fixer

When somethings dark
Lemme shed a little light on it
When somethings cold
Lemme put a little fire on it
If somethings old
I wanna put a little shine on it
When somethings gone
I wanna fight to get it back again.

When somethings broke
I wanna put a little fixing on it
If somethings bored
I wanna put a little exciting on it
When somethings low
I wanna put a little high on it
When somethings lost
I wanna fight to get it back again

When signals cross
I wanna put a little straight on it
If there’s no love
I’m gonna try to love again

I’ll say your prayers
I’ll take your side
I’ll find us a way to make light
I’ll dig your grave
We’ll dance & sing.
Who knows, could be our last lifetime!

Okay, lets find out how much credibility I’ve banked after writing 100+ SOTM reviews, and how much I’ll have left after I’m done praising The Fixer.

Why this song become, for so many people, the most offensive moment in Pearl Jam’s catalogue is beyond me. The Fixer is not a great song, but it is a good song, even a really good song. The music is really good, it’s upbeat and fun without feeling forced, catchy as hell, the lyrics are simple but some of them are good, and the whole thing is performed with infectious enthusiasm. It’s not a perfect song. The lyrics are simple, and it lacks the few breathtaking lines of a song like wishlist. I could do without the fadeout, and I am hungry for a third verse coming out the bridge, but nevertheless I really enjoy what it gives us.

The Music: I love the whipcrack way that this song begins, the way it just jumps right out of the gate. All 4 of the first songs on Backspacer do a great job thundering right into a galloping rythem that is so easy to get swept up into. The way the sound is slightly muffled and the fuzzy guitars give this a warm, inviting texture. The main riff has a cool, off kilter time to it that PJ has used before, but rarely in something this catchy. I love the brief pauses between the notes and the way the bass fills it in. The tinkling guitars during the chorus give the song a satisfying brightness that is balanced nicely by the muted low end that propels the song along. There are fun little flourishes through the song (I love the handclaps, but I like em in get right too. It’s a nice, unexpected addition), mike colors this in nicely, doing something a little different throughout the song (like the slashing counterpoints to the main rhythm in the first verse, or the way almost all the notes just seem to hang in the air in the second verse. Part of me wants a solo during the outro, instead of the ‘patterns’ that Mike is playing, just to give the song a final exclamation mark, but the song doesn’t really suffer without it. All of The Fixer has a wonderfully celebratory mood to it—one of Pearl Jam’s only danceable songs that actually has content worth dancing to.

The Vocals: Vocally Eddie sells this one pretty well. The deep uh huhs before the first verse seem a little out of place, as does the yeah, but the verses move along with the same effortless movement that he brought to almost all the melodies on Backspacer, and he commits to the chorus, giving it just the right amount of enthusiasm without going over the top, and the layered vocals on the yeah yeah yeah’s are a great invitation to sing along. The way the bridge just spins around itself is probably my favorite moment in the whole song.

The Lyrics: I suspect many of the issues people have with The Fixer is related to the lyrics. They are far from Eddie’s best. No one is gonna mistake this one for Tremor Christ, or even Force of Nature, but they’re fine for what they are. This is meant to be a simple song, and particularly weighty lyrics would bring the whole thing down. While stylistically this is pretty similar to Wishlist, wishlist has a sense of reflective weight and gravity to it that leaves more room for deeper, more elegant thoughts. The Fixer is pure assertion, pure immediacy, and reflection would slow it down. That’s not to say that the lyrics couldn’t be better, just that the song isn’t really harmed by them not being amazing. In some ways the simplicity and the repetition do the song credit because of the simple, seductive momentum they build up leading to the central lyric of the song, the desire to “fight to get it back again”. The Fixer is a call to arms, a call for renewal, a call to start over again. There’s no real room to think. It’s all action.

Now some of these lyrics could certainly be better, in particular the ‘exciting’ lyric, but it doesn’t really bother me since the rhyme scheme and energy of the song move you past it. It’s hardly a full stop moment that takes me out of the song, and there is a charming, unaffected simplicity to the rest of these. And some of these lyrics I like quite a bit—the dark/light and cold/fire combinations, and the no love/love again. That last lyric in particular, which leads right into the bridge without a chorus (the music stops to draw attention to it) is the heart of Backspacer, and the coda to a decade’s worth of music from Pearl Jam. If I was going to pick one work to describe PJ’s output in the 2000s it would be burdened. Everything felt like it was either carrying a really heavy weight (Binaural/Riot Act) or railing against it (S/T), but the presence of something that the music was reacting to is clearly there in all 3 records. Backspacer lets that go. It’s an album about putting the past behind you are starting over, a reward for having held onto faith in dark times. In that respect The Fixer is a political song insofar as it is clearly putting the Bush years behind itself—but not just the politics. It’s laying to rest the pall that it placed over everything, the way in which the sense of doom and crisis infected every aspect of people’s lives. When Eddie sings about digging a grave he’s not just talking about Bush. He’s talking about part of himself. He’s talking about the burdens he and everyone else had been carrying for almost a decade, if not longer. The Fixer tells us its time to let that person go, to start over. This chance for renewal is the great reward for our faith and perseverance, and while The Fixer may not describe it, it celebrates it, and I can get behind that.

4 stars.

This is a good song that is being lambasted for not being cool enough. Like another poster mentioned, its a good song and at the shows people are enjoying it from the back rows to the 10c.

i love this song in concert, perfect chance to piss and get another beer

its awful. i dont care if it turns out to be bigger than Lady Gaga, its still crap.

but i gave it one star because im feeling generous and it isnt the worst song on the album.

I think Pearl Jam fans have the weakest bladders of any fan base.

I voted 3 stars. Not a bad song.

i think we just drink the most

That must be why we yell out so much stupid shit.

Out of 10? Maybe.

Out of 5? Absolutely not.

The song is well produced and well put together. If it was any other band I would turn the radio. I've enjoyed all of Pearl Jam's tours through different styles of music, but when I think of pop pearl jam I think of Undone. If the Foo Fighters came out with song I would be using it as proof that there a shitty band trying to sell records.

For me The Fixer doesn't rank up with anything from other albums. It doesn't rank well with the rest of Backspacer. I also wish I didn't have the image of those video screens from the target commercial in my head.

2 stars, but I didn't skip it this morning on the way to work

How so many people can enjoy this song, one of the most offensive moment in Pearl Jam's catalogue, is beyond me. The Fixer is not a great song, it is a terrible song, even a really terrible song. The music is really terrible and silly, the lyrics are simple but not in the good way, and the whole thing is performed with forced enthusiasm. It’s not a perfect song. The lyrics are simple, and they lack anything interesting. I would be happy if I never hear it again.

0 star

This song is nothing short of dog shit. 0 stars. Also, the title of the thread is fucked up.

What bm said.

stip wrote:

dark/light

stip wrote:

cold/fire

stip wrote:

no love/love

bored/'citement

I remember when this song came out I spoke to chud about it, and my immediate reaction was "I kinda like it, I hope it does well". The more I listened to it, though, the more I realized how horrible it was.

I don't think it's anywhere near the worst moment in PJ's discography-- in fact, the music COULD HAVE BEEN AWESOME, and the verse music is alright, but it's ruined by... pretty much everything else.

I've always said Pearl Jam's lyrics vary from adequate to downright terrible and this song sits comfortably in the latter category. Eddie really dropped the ball on this one. There's nothing about these lyrics that is halfway redeemable. They're not only formulaic but cringeworthy obvious and uninteresting. They sound like they were written by a lazier Bono.

What's even more terrible is this song is just crappy enough that it COULD'VE been a HUGE hit. As it stands, it's a terribly crappy pop song that fared lukewarmly in the charts. Like that Liz Phair song from a few years ago, a pointless sellout.

I gave it two stars, based solely on the music in intro and verses.

i dont know how the song could be considered 'fun' or 'catchy' to anyone over the age of twelve.

Right out of my mouth, you took the words.


RIGHT ON.

I'll give it one star, this song pretty much encapsulates everything that bugs me about Pearl Jam right now. As was pointed out above, if this song was by Foo Fighters (f'rinstance), people would be screaming "selllll oooout" - but instead they're giving it the benefit of the doubt as it's by Pearl Jam. I can't.

It's disappointing when both Ed and Mike have inferred in interviews that this song was specifically designed to get radio play and attract commercial success (I think Mike made this more explicit than Ed). I know Ed talked about wanting to make more commercial music so they remain relevant to kids in 2010, rather than end up singing Jeremy to the same old guys at the county fair.

It's only my opinion, but I think they've got it thoroughly backwards: the only way the band will remain relevant (and receive some long-overdue critical respect) is to pay no attention to commercial concerns and instead push themselves creatively and extend the boundaries of their sound.

This is "mid-life crisis Pearl Jam", the aural equivalent of them buying a red Ferrari to fool themselves into believing that they can still pick up chicks - I just hope that in a couple of years they look at their receding hairlines in the mirror, realise their folly, sell the Ferrari and dive headlong into a long, dark night of the soul.

It's really not that good. The music is ok, so it's listenable, but most PJ is at least that for me, with a few exceptions.

I will say, this might be the first song review that stip has done that I completely disagree with him on. We had a good run, stip.

1 star