Joined: Wed Mar 01, 2006 8:33 am Posts: 35357 Location: Los Angeles, CA Gender: Male
Come Back
If I keep holding out Will the light shine through? Under this broken roof It's only rain that I feel I've been wishin' out the days Oh oh oh Come back I have been planning out All that I'd say to you Since you slipped away Know that I still remain true I've been wishin' out the days Please say that if you hadn't have gone now I wouldn't have lost you another way From wherever you are Oh oh oh oh Come back And these days, they linger on, yeh, yeh And in the night, I've been waiting for A real possibility that I may meet you in my dreams I go to sleep If I don't fall apart Will my memory stay clear? So you had to go And I had to remain here But the strangest thing to date So far away and yet you feel so close I'm not going to question it any other way There must be an open door for you To come back And the days they linger on, yeh Every night I'm waiting for Is the real possibility that I may need to in my dream And Sometimes you're there and you're talking back to me Come the morning I could swear you're next to me And it's ok It's ok it's ok I'll be here Come back, come back I'll be here Come back, come back I'll be here Come back, come back Oooooooo Oooooooo Oooooooo
Joined: Wed Mar 01, 2006 8:33 am Posts: 35357 Location: Los Angeles, CA Gender: Male
Come Back might be one of Pearl Jam’s simplest, yet effective songs from their new catalog. It is about the death of a loved one, close to the narrator of the song. Some speculate it might be about Johnny Ramone from Ed’s perspective. They often use the allusions made in the song, such as him appearing in his dreams and in the morning where the narrator swears the lost person is “next to him.†However, there are a lot more lines that lead me to believe it could be about anyone, and not necessarily Johnny. One of my favorite lines is from the opening verse. “If I keep holding out, will the light shine through? Under this broken roof, it’s only rain that I feel.†I love the feeling of hopelessness and desperation from this line, Ed’s vocal convey it excellently. Another one of my favorites comes from the middle of the song. “Will my memory stay clear? So you had to go, and I had to remain here. But the strangest thing to date, so far away, and yet you feel so close.†Again, the desperation and the disbelief is completely evident in Ed’s voice and the music. And the final, and perhaps my absolute favorite is the outro with Mike’s solo. The simple “I’ll be here…come back…come back…†really works well.
As a witness to the much talked about San Diego 06 show, many people have raved about the version of Long Road played after a very chilling Ed speech. But for me, what really added the knock-out punch was the version of Come Back performed afterwards. Seeing 15,000 silent fans sitting there with their jaws dropped, and feeling Ed’s desperation for “his teacher†to come back even after 11 years was there. Come Back is also one of the few songs from Avocado that I felt got better live, along with Life Wasted, Comatose and Big Wave. While it might not be the best song ever written, it certainly is a song that is easily relatable to and catchy. A 3.5 song for me, however closer to a 4 than a 3.
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i don't know if there will be a zero star option, but in any case it gets 1 star, only for the heartfelt emotion outro. other than that its utter crap, musically and lyrically.
Joined: Sun Dec 05, 2004 5:47 am Posts: 27904 Location: Philadelphia Gender: Male
Surprisingly, this song hasn't held up over time for me all too well. I loved it upon first listen, and the many times that I heard it afterwards, but even now when I listen to it occasionally, it comes off as stale. I still appreciate the song for what it is, but it's not even close to being a better ballad than Parachutes.
The best part of the song, for me, is still the guitar part after the last "it's okay" line and the beginning of the outro ("I'll be here"...). There's more feeling in that small musical section than in all of the lyrics combined, even though I think that a few certain lines are great. But overall, it's lyrically generic. And that's okay, because the song still gets it's point across just fine. It just doesn't have enough to be a real standout in the grand scheme of things.
A steadfast 3.5 I normally don't do the ".5" thing, but this is one song that just falls in the middle of the rating road for me. For the emotion, better than a 3, but for originality, less than a 4.
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Joined: Tue May 30, 2006 2:48 pm Posts: 3115 Location: Edinburgh/Lincoln, UK
dirtyfrank0705 wrote:
Surprisingly, this song hasn't held up over time for me all too well. I loved it upon first listen, and the many times that I heard it afterwards, but even now when I listen to it occasionally, it comes off as stale. I still appreciate the song for what it is, but it's not even close to being a better ballad than Parachutes.
The best part of the song, for me, is still the guitar part after the last "it's okay" line and the beginning of the outro ("I'll be here"...). There's more feeling in that small musical section than in all of the lyrics combined, even though I think that a few certain lines are great. But overall, it's lyrically generic. And that's okay, because the song still gets it's point across just fine. It just doesn't have enough to be a real standout in the grand scheme of things.
A steadfast 3.5 I normally don't do the ".5" thing, but this is one song that just falls in the middle of the rating road for me. For the emotion, better than a 3, but for originality, less than a 4.
I think you pretty much got my thoughts across with this whole post, though I'd probably give it 3 stars overall.
Ed is a singer who i always really believe - i never question his sincerity, but i feel that on this track the typical ballady music that dominates the whole song (up until the outro) really hinders the emotion he's trying to put across. I'm not sure if that makes sense...but i guess i'm saying that because the music doesn't feel fresh, it almost appears lazy, and that can affect the way a song hits you.
I also thing the lyrics are perhaps a little too straight forward for me to really appreciate, this may be intentional to be more blunt and powerful, but i just much prefer an Ed lyric with a bit more umm...substance. For instance...Given the themes of songs like Light Years and Hail Hail, there's all the potential for the lyrics to turn into a cheese-fest, yet Eddie pens some of his greatest lyrics and really shows off his strengths. I don't feel that there are many lines in Come Back where i could say to someone "woah! look at this section".
That said, you can hear a lot of heart in Ed's vocal delivery, and combined with this, the outro really saves it from becoming a 2 star affair.
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Joined: Sat Aug 13, 2005 11:31 pm Posts: 7162 Location: The Only "Non-NESN" County CT Gender: Male
iceagecoming wrote:
dirtyfrank0705 wrote:
Surprisingly, this song hasn't held up over time for me all too well. I loved it upon first listen, and the many times that I heard it afterwards, but even now when I listen to it occasionally, it comes off as stale. I still appreciate the song for what it is, but it's not even close to being a better ballad than Parachutes.
The best part of the song, for me, is still the guitar part after the last "it's okay" line and the beginning of the outro ("I'll be here"...). There's more feeling in that small musical section than in all of the lyrics combined, even though I think that a few certain lines are great. But overall, it's lyrically generic. And that's okay, because the song still gets it's point across just fine. It just doesn't have enough to be a real standout in the grand scheme of things.
A steadfast 3.5 I normally don't do the ".5" thing, but this is one song that just falls in the middle of the rating road for me. For the emotion, better than a 3, but for originality, less than a 4.
I think you pretty much got my thoughts across with this whole post, though I'd probably give it 3 stars overall.
Ed is a singer who i always really believe - i never question his sincerity, but i feel that on this track the typical ballady music that dominates the whole song (up until the outro) really hinders the emotion he's trying to put across. I'm not sure if that makes sense...but i guess i'm saying that because the music doesn't feel fresh, it almost appears lazy, and that can affect the way a song hits you.
I also thing the lyrics are perhaps a little too straight forward for me to really appreciate, this may be intentional to be more blunt and powerful, but i just much prefer an Ed lyric with a bit more umm...substance. For instance...Given the themes of songs like Light Years and Hail Hail, there's all the potential for the lyrics to turn into a cheese-fest, yet Eddie pens some of his greatest lyrics and really shows off his strengths. I don't feel that there are many lines in Come Back where i could say to someone "woah! look at this section".
That said, you can hear a lot of heart in Ed's vocal delivery, and combined with this, the outro really saves it from becoming a 2 star affair.
you hit the nail right on the head!
i think the song would shine even with the mediocre lyrics if the music was more "special" and the delivery more emotive...the whole album, even though i like it, is missing that something that makes most if not all other PJ albums amazing...even riot act, with its many "lazy" vocals, comes off better emotionally (not sure thats the word i want to use...maybe more powerfully) than this album does...just cant put my finger on it but this album in general just seems less full, not empty, but less powerful than the others...maybe because of production? yo no se...
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dirtyfrank0705 wrote:
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I really like this tune, although I think the overdriven solo at the end is fairly cheeseball rock power ballad stuff that undercuts the song's quiet loneliness a bit.
Joined: Mon Oct 18, 2004 12:58 pm Posts: 19700 Location: long island Gender: Female
I really like come back but more beacuse of the last minute and a half of the song then anything else.
While the lyrics are not the most original, they are heartfelt and eddie sings it well.
I will say I don't listen to it nearly as much as i did when i 1st heard it
4 stars
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Last edited by godsdice on Mon Jun 18, 2007 2:09 am, edited 1 time in total.
Joined: Wed Oct 05, 2005 2:40 am Posts: 12509 Location: Pittsburgh Gender: Male
2 stars
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I really like this tune, although I think the overdriven solo at the end is fairly cheeseball rock power ballad stuff that undercuts the song's quiet loneliness a bit.
Just reread the thread. Funny that the thing I like least about the song is what least people like the most.
Joined: Tue Nov 30, 2004 4:02 am Posts: 44183 Location: New York Gender: Male
I'm pretty much wtih Frank on this (and the people who agreed wtih him).
I like the lazy ballad feel to the song. It is a song that feels like taking its time and I think the relaxed feel to it plays out really well. I also like Eddie's vocal take on this one--not lazy, just not rushed--like the peson is trapped somewhere and knows they aren't leaving so there is no urgency to it--just some storytelling (except for the end). The music is simple, but it is a 50's style throwback simple, so it feels more like an hommage than lazy songwriting. The lyrics are my biggest problem--some really nice lines here and there (under this broken roof it's only rain that I feel is my favorite--plus there are some nice tie ins to similar 'home' imagery in earlier songs) but too many lines are flat (not terrible, just flat--the lyrics aren't bad, just somewhat uninspired) or a bit repetitive
And like everyone but McP, I love the ending, which works not because it is so overblown (it isn't, esp compared to other songs in their catalogue) but because of the contrast with the leisurely main body of the song
It's a 3 star song for me, but probably close to 3 than 4
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you hit the nail right on the head!
Frank
