_________________ "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: Mon Mar 13, 2006 1:02 am Posts: 2560 Location: Dallas/Atlanta/Savannah
One of the most intruiging songs from Pearl Jam's more recent releases, Of the Girl is a bluesy number with some nice ambience and a solid production quality that works to its atvantage.
Written by stone, this song tells a very strait forward story of a man who finds personal fullfilment in the love and thought of a woman. he feels his life may have been somewhat of a waste and an easy ride up to this point. "half his life a hand-me-down, wasted away".
It could be assumed with a bit of a stretch, that this song might be about a man who gets tied up in regrets in his past, and uses many escapes (i.e. drugs) when he 'tie's em' off' and 'left it alone, drilled the pain, with money to buy...' and still feels he had done at least something right in a particular relationship. This song doesn't neccisarily have to be about drugs.
Where some people feel the production quality weakens most of Binaural, this song is very strong. Theres a great live in studio sound on this song. The the mixing of the guitars, chimes, and bass creates an illusion of space within the recording. On a good sound system, it sounds as if mcready's guitars may be recorded from a distance or even another room, though it can fade out just barely from time to time. Ultimately, this song is an example of a loose and relaxed feel can sometimes work well for the group.
_________________ "is that a fucking pearl jam shirt?" Courtney Love
Joined: Tue Nov 30, 2004 4:02 am Posts: 44183 Location: New York Gender: Male
nice post Junco.
Of the girl is a three star song to me, but closer to two than four. I like the moody atmosphere but I never feel like it goes anywhere. The song lacks the immediacy that I feel when I listen to can't keep, which I can't help equating with of the girl. As is usual for a stone song, there are some nice lines in here (junco hit my favorite--the half his life... and I like the getaway line as well) but there are some clunkers. They might have been redemed if Eddie had really hit this one out of the park, but there really isn't very much for him to do here. The vocals are a little too relaxed without quite being penetrating. It's not that it is quiet and reflective. They just kind of hover about aimlessly.
I've really tried to get into this one a few times since it is held in pretty high esteem by the larger fan community, but I just can't do it. I would have rather seen a punchy string of insignificance/grievance/rival to lead into the close of Binaural. Of the Girl just dilutes the tension in insignificance before Grievance, and since the two songs are so closely related having Of the girl in the middle really feels out of place. I might like the song more if it was before insignificance (or after rival)
_________________ "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: Mon Mar 13, 2006 1:02 am Posts: 2560 Location: Dallas/Atlanta/Savannah
stip wrote:
nice post Junco.
Of the girl is a three star song to me, but closer to two than four. I like the moody atmosphere but I never feel like it goes anywhere. The song lacks the immediacy that I feel when I listen to can't keep, which I can't help equating with of the girl. As is usual for a stone song, there are some nice lines in here (junco hit my favorite--the half his life... and I like the getaway line as well) but there are some clunkers. They might have been redemed if Eddie had really hit this one out of the park, but there really isn't very much for him to do here. The vocals are a little too relaxed without quite being penetrating. It's not that it is quiet and reflective. They just kind of hover about aimlessly.
I've really tried to get into this one a few times since it is held in pretty high esteem by the larger fan community, but I just can't do it. I would have rather seen a punchy string of insignificance/grievance/rival to lead into the close of Binaural. Of the Girl just dilutes the tension in insignificance before Grievance, and since the two songs are so closely related having Of the girl in the middle really feels out of place. I might like the song more if it was before insignificance (or after rival)
cool. thanks again. and to each his own, there are some good points there.
I do feel the band does much better when they are trying to hit some notes harder and create a sense of intensity and as you said immediacy. this song would have been nice between fatal and sleight of hand. at the same time, its kinda nice to have a break in tempo, to me it mixes up things, and while the song stands alone nicely, it does sorta ruin the other two songs (insignifigance/greivance)
_________________ "is that a fucking pearl jam shirt?" Courtney Love
Joined: Mon Oct 18, 2004 3:09 pm Posts: 10839 Location: metro west, mass Gender: Male
I really like the way this song was produced during the Binaural sessions: it gives that "spacey" feel that many other songs on this record have. I personally don't think the live versions are that great, but this would be a great closer IMO.
-Sunny
_________________ "There are two ways to enslave and conquer a nation. One is by the sword. The other is by debt." -John Adams
Joined: Mon Mar 13, 2006 1:02 am Posts: 2560 Location: Dallas/Atlanta/Savannah
thematically it might have worked well with parting ways, like of the girl is one side of the story, the mans side, and parting ways is the womans side.
_________________ "is that a fucking pearl jam shirt?" Courtney Love
Joined: Sun Oct 17, 2004 12:47 am Posts: 46000 Location: Reasonville
five stars.
it's all there -- lyrics, groove, bluesy feel, guitar work. beautiful song and awesome opener. i'd like to hear it live
_________________ No matter how dark the storm gets overhead They say someone's watching from the calm at the edge What about us when we're down here in it? We gotta watch our backs
Many people only like this song live. I liked this song from the very start, from the studio version (although I have to admit the live version IS much better).
If every time they played this, it sounded like the Benaroya version, though, it would easily be a 5 stars song to me.
_________________ I said, I don't know whether it was a fox or a fag.
Joined: Wed Oct 05, 2005 2:40 am Posts: 12509 Location: Pittsburgh Gender: Male
Good for a listen once in a while, but nothing to get too excited about. 3 Stars.
_________________ "i'm the crescent, the sickle, so sharp the blade i'm the flick of the shank that opened your veins i'm the dusk, i'm the frightening calm i'm a hole in the pipeline, i'm a road side bomb..."
I really like the spacey production, I think it works best on Of the Girl, more so then the rest of Binaural. The song falls into the collection of half baked PJ songs in the Binaural-RA era. Since it starts in dissaray and builds into the light guitar and deep drum beat, I expect it to go somewhere else...but it never does.
The chorus is great, but again doesn't stray enough away from the verses which are overall fairly dull. I like when sings wrecklessly ala Jeremy or even Thumbing my Way...the vocal melody is dull. Up and down up and down up and down...snore.
It's a good song but not wonderful.
3/5
I swear you can hear Stone mubmble "Do it again" at the end of the song.
maybe...but breakerfall does kick it off pretty well i think...but if they were to open it slower it would have been perfect...i.e. the benaroya show..great way to start it
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