Thumbing My Way

I have not been home since you left long ago
I'm thumbing my way back to heaven
Counting steps, walking backwards on the road
I'm counting my way back to heaven

I can't be free with what's locked inside of me
If there was a key, you took it in your hand
There's no wrong or right, but I'm sure there's good and bad
The questions linger overhead

No matter how cold the winter, there's a springtime ahead
I'm thumbing my way back to heaven
I wish that I could hold you
I wish that I had
Thinking 'bout heaven

I let go of a rope, thinking that's what held me back
And in time I've realized, it's now wrapped around my neck
I can't see what's next, from this lonely overpass
Hang my head and count my steps, as another car goes past
All the rusted signs we ignore throughout our lives
Choosing the shiny ones instead
I turned my back, now there's no turning back…

No matter how cold the winter, there's a springtime ahead
I smile, but who am I kidding?
I'm just walking the miles, every once in a while I'll get a ride
I'm thumbing my way back to heaven
Thumbing my way back to heaven
I'm thumbing my way back to heaven...


Previous Songs of the Moment
In My Tree
Red Mosquito
Porch
I Got Id
Release
Do The Evolution
Breath
Corduroy
Elderly Woman...
Leash
Hail Hail
Grievance
Love Boat Captain
Even Flow
Black Red Yellow
In Hiding
Can't Keep
Indifference
Insignificance
Whipping
Black
Smile
Push Me Pull Me
Rats
God's Dice
All or None
Yellow Ledbetter
Last Exit
Who You Are
Rearview Mirror
Hold On
Present Tense
Light Years
Alive
Brain of J

Thumbing My Way is, hands down, Pearl Jam’s most depressing song. It’s TMW’s biggest strength and weakness. The lyrics are amazing, as is Eddie’s delivery (and the music is a nice stark complement to it), but the song is so hopeless, so bleak, that it’s tough to listen to. It’s just wallowing in listless grief and regret. There’s no hope, no anger, no release. It’s missing the cathartic moment that makes even tragic songs empowering. So ultimately it’s a great piece of art, but not a song I enjoy. It gets 3 stars from me.

This song is just one great image after another. The image of the lonely hitchhiker on a cold empty road just nails the sense of loss after the end of an important relationship. And the lyrics get right to the core of being heartbroken. There is no mellowdrama, just confusion and emptiness---the loss of home, the inability to unlock the parts of ourselves that feel happiness and joy. The realization that we so often take for granted and bemoan the parts of a relationship that turn out to be the most important (the rope and rusted signs) is a very mature one, and one that is lacking from most songs about love lost.

But as I said above, the real killer is the set of lines “No matter how cold the winter, there's a springtime ahead… I smile, but who am I kidding?” The first time he gives the line he leaves off the who am I kidding part, so it injects at least a cautious optimism, but he dismisses it as wishful/wistful thinking in the end. A song like Black is equally bleak with its lyrics, but at least there is rage, anger, and pain at the end. Here there is just resignation. He’s still walking—it is too far removed from what the band is about to give up completely, but there’s no expectation that things will be better.

It’s a rough listen.

Frank--this one's for you

Thank you, Stip. I don't have time to give a full reply right now but I will later tonight. All I'll say for the moment is that I think the song has a lot more hope in it than you perceive. But we'll get to that later.

I'd like to be convinced on this one. In general, and with only a few exceptions, I think riot act is a fairly hopeless album by PJ standards, and it's one of things that really holds it back

I love most songs that are acoustic and this was no exception. It was my favorite on Riot Act when I first bought the album. I think I may have burned myself out on it. I can barely stand to hear it now. The main riff that plays throught the versus sounds exactly like a Clash song. I'm not sure wich one. My wife love the Clash so I'll have to ask her and post it later. I'm sure I'll come around and like it again eventually

I'm the first to have given it 5 stars. There you go, 5 stars. Not regretting it.


(and this has a lot to do with what I went through when this song came out, but I'm not sure if i'll be posting about this )

I like the song, but it's no where near a 5 star for me, probably a 3. The one thing I like so much (usually) about Ed's writing is that the takes the personal and makes it universal. That's something ALL writers strive to do. But in this case, in this song, I think he missed the mark and is just left with too much personal shit in there. Because of this, I can't get into the song as much as I'd like to, because the saddness of it gets in the way. By contrast, Sad is equally a sad song, but the universal is there and so I can get into that one a lot more.

a good song. not one that i LOVE.

i'm guessing it'll be one of those ones that just hits me one day.

average song... i like it better as an eddie solo song... full band is more depressing...

no star from me..
i don't like it

I gave it five stars too, and it also has to do with some shit I went through at the time. I even started writing a short story, with each chapter opening with a line from the song.


I have not been home since you left long ago

Great line. A relationship has ended, and the character hasn't been to the place they used to live since the other person left. I envisioned him as living in a city, and after the break-up he's just roaming the streets trying to find some meaning to it all.


Great, great song, but I can understand those who says it's a mood-killer, especially at gigs. But this is perfect when I need it.

Not really a fan of this one. A bit dreary (even if that is the point of the song)

Ed's best lyrical content for an entire song. For a while there I was living the life of the person in this song. Simply beautiful. I think I tried not to like it after the negative reaction to it on this board, but I just love it to death, especially the solo Ed performances. So many great lines from this tune.

I hate this song. Despise it. 1 star from me.

I've always found that there's an underlying strength and hope in Pearl Jam's songs, especially their best ones. There's also always been an undeniable power in their slow songs and ballads. I find none of that here.

Stip, you're right that it is their most depressing song. I find it boring and completely lifeless, and the lyrics (which are tremendous and the only thing this song has going for it) suggest that the song should be anything but. It, in many ways, mirrors All or None from the same album, as both have a droning feel which just makes the listener feel wretched while giving them no hope in anything: music, vocal inflection, vocal tone, it's just all very depressing, and most of all, boring.

Bring on the flames

2 stars. You nailed my feelings about it, Stip. It's just so bleak. I can listen to it every now and again, but more times than not, I skip it.

i didn't know this, nor have i ever heard this before. i thought all i needed was love.

some of ed's lyrics of riot act, i must say, lack.

Like that post? I didn't understan any of it.

I actually like this song and was somewhat surprised that there are so many people that don't care for it. If I had to rate it I would give it three stars.

I think you might be missing the point of that line. He's pointing out (given the later reaction to it) that this is an empty, optimistic cliche. Different from LBC, which has no irony