Joined: Tue Mar 13, 2007 4:48 pm Posts: 4320 Location: Philadelphia, PA
BIG WAVE
I used to be crustacean In an underwater nation And I surf in celebration Of a billion adaptations Got me a big wave, ride me a big wave, got me a big wave. Got me a big wave, ride me a big wave, got me a big wave. I feel the need Planted in me Millions of years ago Can't you see The oceans size? Defining time And tide Arising Arms laid upon me Being so kind To let me ride I scream in affirmation Of connecting dislocations And exceeding limitations By achieving levitation Got me a big wave, ride me a big wave, got me a big wave. Got me a big wave, ride me a big wave, got me a big wave. I feel the need Planted in me Millions of years ago Can't you see The oceans size? Defining time And tide Arising Arms laid upon me Being so kind To let me ride Got me a ride. I got me a ride.
Joined: Tue Mar 13, 2007 4:48 pm Posts: 4320 Location: Philadelphia, PA
This is an incredibly catchy bass-driven song that suffers a great deal from its positioning on Pearl Jam, the album. Sandwiched between UNEMPLOYABLE and GONE in a very strong story arc, most listeners seem to find it, at best, intrusive, at worst, disruptive. This obscures the real charm of this piece.
It’s really too bad because this is a rare Pearl Jam song that exists solely for the fun of it. It has no deep message, it just rocks. It’s a Jeff tune, so it opens with a trademark Jeff-style bass riff and the brash, fuzzy guitars coupled with Eddie’s growled vocals give it an arena rock feel. Others have already pointed out that the lyrics fuse two of Eddie’s favorite subjects, surfing and evolution, and he uses these themes to craft lyrics that adhere to a fairly strict iambic tetrameter, thus providing a sing-song quality to the verses and making the song highly danceable. The “big wave†chorus is repeated several times in several variations reinforcing the arena readiness of the song. Mike has a good time during his solo which is followed by an outro comprised of a series of weird semi-nautical guitar sounds. It’s a very catchy little tune, and may find its ultimate recorded home on the “Surf’s Up†soundtrack where it fits very nicely with the penguins surfing theme and will be the background music to numerous toddler finger-painting parties, perhaps hosted by the band’s own children.
As an aside, this song really takes wing live. The band clearly loves playing it, and the audiences are very receptive. BIG WAVE would be the best song on a Ratt album. 3 stars.
Joined: Wed Mar 01, 2006 8:33 am Posts: 35357 Location: Los Angeles, CA Gender: Male
I was at the premier of this song live. Studio version I'd give it 3 stars, but the live version whoops ass. Bumping it up to the 4 star range solely based on the live version.
Joined: Thu Nov 25, 2004 3:00 pm Posts: 19826 Location: Alone in a corridor
SLH916 wrote:
Angus wrote:
This song is one of the main reasons why Avocado sucks.
Have you read stip's guided tour through Avocado?
Yes. And actually, when Stip wrote it, I liked Avocado much more than now, but still, Big Wave never did anything for me. Big Wave-Unemployable…in the category of terrible 1-2 combo’s, only Gods’ Dice-Evacuation comes close.
Joined: Mon Dec 11, 2006 7:53 pm Posts: 634 Location: Brooklyn, NY
This may be the worst song they've ever recorded. It actually belongs on the soundtrack to a forgettable, subpar animated movie, because it's a forgettable, subpar song. One of the low points in the sorry life of this song was its debut in Laird Hamilton's car during the Iconoclasts show. Watch closely and you can see Laird smiling with his mouth but not his eyes. This is a band that gave surfers Given to Fly for crying out loud, and this is the best surfing song they could come up with for Avocado? They should be ashamed of themselves. This is the most-skipped PJ song in my CD collection. Deleted from my iPod along with Sweet Lew. A perennial piss break.
Joined: Tue Nov 30, 2004 4:02 am Posts: 44183 Location: New York Gender: Male
Ahhh Big Wave
This should be fun to watch
The live versions of this song really helped it. It is a nice addition to the 'fun' side of the pearl jam catalgoue and has great energy when they do it live (and even on the record). I'd much prefer this over a song like leatherman any day of the week
The problem is that this song is undoubtadly a b-side. It has no real place on Avocado and messes up what would have been a really nice transition from unemployable to gone. The brain trust that tracked binaural and left down and undone off of riot act rears its ugly head again
the song gets 3 stars. The crappy placement bumps it down to two but the live versions moves it back up to 3. What an exciting journey.
_________________ "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: Tue Nov 30, 2004 4:02 am Posts: 44183 Location: New York Gender: Male
Angus wrote:
LostDog1079 wrote:
stip wrote:
Ahhh Big Wave
I'd much prefer this over a song like leatherman any day of the week
Or "U" or "Sweet Lew" or "I'm Open" or "Push Me, Pull Me"....
Sweet Lew is a joke. The other 3 are easily a 1000 times better than Big Wave.
it is hard to compare big wave to push/pull or I'm open. very different types of songs
U is also a fun throw away type song except it isn't very fun and mostly sucks
I have and will always enjoy sweet lew
_________________ "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: Tue Mar 13, 2007 4:48 pm Posts: 4320 Location: Philadelphia, PA
stip wrote:
Ahhh Big Wave
This should be fun to watch
the song gets 3 stars. The crappy placement bumps it down to two but the live versions moves it back up to 3. What an exciting journey.
Do you think the voters are going to place this song down in GET RIGHT territory? Who are all those people having fun and rocking out to this song on the videos?
Joined: Wed Jun 07, 2006 12:47 am Posts: 814 Location: Boston, MA
I love PJ's throwaway songs: Whipping, Habit, Lukin, Brain of J, MFC, Green Disease, U ect., and this song is no exception. Along with Unemployable and Parachutes, this was one of the songs from the new album I really liked instantly. I do agree that sequencing-wise, putting it between Unemployable and Gone was a bad decision. Still, I think the song is really fun and I like it.
Joined: Mon Oct 18, 2004 7:37 pm Posts: 15767 Location: Vail, CO Gender: Male
The first 6-7 tracks are so fucking heavy handed on avacado, big wave was necessary at this point.
I love this song and i think ed did a really fucking cool job of word play and phrasing. Its catchy, fun,and AMAZING gutiar interplay. Mike and stone really shine on this fucking track, the way they play off eachother is just fantstic, along with the textbook jeff ament time changes and pauses, just fun. good to see the band doing what they love to do, playing their instruments.
And aside from surfing, this song can easily be applied to any other activity that one might feel connected with themselves and the world around them by being outside etc...the natural elements.
Joined: Sun Dec 05, 2004 5:47 am Posts: 27904 Location: Philadelphia Gender: Male
3 stars. As a stand-alone song, it would have gotten 3.5. But as said by others, it's placement on S/T just ruins it for me. Best heard on a mix CD and not an album.
_________________ It's always the fallen ones who think they're always gonna save me.
Joined: Mon Oct 18, 2004 11:36 pm Posts: 25824 Location: south jersey
dirtyfrank0705 wrote:
3 stars. As a stand-alone song, it would have gotten 3.5. But as said by others, it's placement on S/T just ruins it for me. Best heard on a LIVE BOOT and not an album.
*fixed
i like this song alot. its not the greatest, but i like those fun rockers pj bust out once in a while. SLH's post was spot on. 3 stars
_________________ Feel the path of every day,... Which road you taking?,...
Joined: Fri Sep 02, 2005 8:52 pm Posts: 2647 Location: Where gila monsters meet you at the airport
Spot on, SLH.
I would actually give this song 4 stars, because it's so fun live (granted, I saw it debut in San Diego, so it was especially well received), but it's place on Avocado is so bad that it comes down to 3. It has the feel of a B-side, but actually could have fit somewhere on the album, I think, just not where it is after Unemployable. Someone above said that it's a needed bright spot for the album and I think that's true - it's just jarring where it is. Switch it with unemployable and it might work a lot better. You'd have a little break with Parachutes and Big Wave, the two songs that are probably least in-step with the theme of the record as a whole, and then be ready to dive back in after BW. Either way, terrible track placement, but a fun song that's really fun live.
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