Fatal

How good is he? How warm are his eyes?
You'll see it's not a reprise
Did he arrive too late and too tethered away
To put on his suit and his tie?

How good is he? How warm is his heart or ego, telling him which place to park?
Did he relate? The message is clearly, hardly grounds for dismissal
Outright... grounds for dismissal outright...

I wake up and wait up
When anger's in fashion
I wake up and wait up
It echoes through the mansions
I wake up and wait up
When April's in May, oh, uh-oh
I wake up and wait up
The answers are fatal
The answers are fatal

I wake up and wait up
The answers are fatal
If he's truly out of sight, is he truly out of mind?
If he's truly out of sight...





The most horrible feeling in this world is to not be needed any longer. People pray that various structures they were a part of crumble upon their departure. This applies to jobs (“they won’t be able to carry on without me”), friends (no one should have a good time without me”), and especially relationships (he/she must be going completely crazy without me”).

This instinct is typically followed by a sense of helplessness and despondency as the replacement enters, and the beat of the world continues unadulterated.

“Fatal” references the most gut-wrenching of these replacement paradigms—the relationship. There isn’t much in this world that manipulates our human vulnerability as much as a significant other. When we truly care, we give all of ourselves—our hearts, minds, and souls. There is a vacancy when that person goes away, and there appears an even greater vacancy when that person finds joy with someone else. “Fatal” addresses this with lyrics and music that capture the existential emptiness of heartbreak.

The opening line, “How good is he? How warm are his eyes?” sets the song in motion. These are the questions that later will be deemed “fatal”. The narrator cares deeply about the departed and wants her to be with someone “good”, yet the jealousy that comes from being replaced is killing him. “Not a reprise (a recurrence)” in the second line has always confused me. I’m not sure if she’s not coming back to the narrator or if the narrator’s situation is atypical. It’s vague—like the thoughts and words of someone that has had his heart broken. The last question of the stanza addresses a specific image (“suit and tie”) which again dwells on the lingering visions that exist in the narrators head of his departed and his replacement.

The “how good is he?” reminds me of Rob Fleming from High Fidelity. This is a book/movie that captures these feelings of emptiness after being replaced in a relationship. Rob continually asked his ex-girlfriend “how good is he?” whenever he has the chance to talk to her (though Rob was more concerned with his snogging ability than his nature). He obsessed over every nuance of the new relationship and allowed his imagination to get the best of him.

The questions continue. I love the “How warm is his heart or ego, telling him which place to park?” question. The “place to park” image is a reference to the fact that the new guy is essentially in his parking spot—is his heart worthy of that?

“Grounds for dismissal” makes it apparent that the departed broke up with the narrator. She dismissed him in order to be with the replacement. Essentially the narrator is questioning how all the time they spent could be thrown out the window on what appears to be a whim. Again, this is an inevitable human reaction.

The song changes to the narrator talking about himself in the next stanza. This portion reminds me a lot of some of the Binaural songs and outtakes. There’s an emptiness that permeates—the “echoes through the mansion”. It’s much like all of “Soon Forget” and the “Empty cup in the middle of the sea” lyric in “I Got Shit”. Another question is alluded: What’s the point of everything that I have if I’m all alone. Sleeplessness and restlessness fill his days and nights. The questions have only one sole answer—they’re better off not being asked. There’s no solution to this epic problem—hopelessness and despair are in the cards for a long time, maybe forever. “The answers are fatal.”

The last stanza is beautiful. It ends with one last question that Ed delivers with a pitiful whisper. It’s heartbreaking. “If he’s truly out of sight, is he truly out of mind?” I always assumed that the first “he” is talking about the replacement. The second “he” seems to reference the narrator. “Am I truly out of mind?” would have made more sense, but the peculiar wording adds to the confusion in the voice of the narrator. It trails off giving the song an even deeper sense of despair.

Musically, this is one of my favorite types of Pearl Jam songs—the slow burn. Although it’s not as complex and rich as “Black” (a song with a similar theme and pace), the short and sweet approach make it a gem. An unorthodox structure is present. The music tinkers in before working itself to a rise in the middle section. The first hard hit chord (a bit before “I wake up”) always gives me chills. The rise and explosion near the end make the weight of the words, “The answers are fatal” all the more powerful. It’s the grand epiphany of the song. The ending serves to remind the narrator that no amount of emotion or intensity will solve this problem; he simply returns to his despondency. Ed’s voice is on point throughout the song. He sounds exactly like the narrator feels—helpless and hopeless.

I’m not really sure why this occurs, but Stone writes some of my favorite songs even though he has always been my least favorite member of the band. He seems like the kind of guy that would make practices a real drag. I’ve been interested in the way Ed and Stone’s relationship has been described in various interviews. They say they need each other to balance it out, but for the most part, I generally feel like Stone is a bit too dweebish to be in Pearl Jam. This is a very teenage reaction, but I feel like I know Eddie, and I can relate to Eddie. “No Way”, “Parachutes”, and especially “All those Yesterdays” (along with “Fatal”) are favorites of mine, though. Songs like this make me grateful that he’s in the band and curious what kind of person he is through his cryptic lyrics and dweebish persona.

I first heard this song at a 2003 concert in Columbus when a guy I barely knew let me listen to the Binaural outtakes in his car. It was a cool moment… one of those that the old standing-in-line-for-tickets-all-day-boring-chaos created.

The song didn’t really hit me until I put Live at Benyroya on while taking a thirteen hour bus ride from Amsterdam to Strasbourg this past year. A relationship that had been blossoming for about six months ended in a flash before my eyes the night before the mega-long bus ride. My thought were buried under the weight of a lifetime of mistakes—the same mistakes made over and over and over again. I had to spend thirteen hours sitting on the opposite end of the bus from the person that mattered more to me than anyone else ever had, knowing that I’d never be able to talk to her again. Of course, the questions came pouring out, and the song revealed a truth. It was the absolute last thing that I wanted to know—there is no hope of ever getting out of the absurdity of the life that I’ve created for myself. My eyes welled up as I stared blankly at all the signs and sights we had laughed about on our trip there. All the answers were “fatal”, and I had thirteen hours to stew them over in my mind. I felt the need to include this in my review because it plays a large part of my ranking for it (5 Stars). I love imagining the thousands of different meanings these songs by this great band have to all of us. I know I personally can’t rank a song on its merits alone. It’s impossible for me to not rank it on the personal connection I have to it. Even though the connection is a dismal one, whenever I listen to this song, I’m back on that bus, trapped and wishing that the answers were anything other than what I was hearing. Music in general has that power, but Pearl Jam’s music seems to have some greater ability to do that than any other band. It’s fantastic to hear these songs at concerts (hopefully we’ll get to hear more of this one some day) and just look around knowing that everyone is connecting to profound moments in their life in some way. Good or bad, these songs, and especially “Fatal” help me to remember.




Previous Songs of the Moment
1. In My Tree
2. Red Mosquito
3. Porch
4. I Got Id
5. Release
6. Do The Evolution
7. Breath
8. Corduroy
9. Elderly Woman...
10. Leash
11. Hail Hail
12. Grievance
13. Love Boat Captain
14. Even Flow
15. Black Red Yellow
16. In Hiding
17. Can't Keep
18. Indifference
19. Insignificance
20. Whipping
21. Black
22. Smile
23. Push Me Pull Me
24. Rats
25. God's Dice
26. All or None
27. Yellow Ledbetter
28. Last Exit
29. Who You Are
30. Rearview Mirror
31. Hold On
32. Present Tense
33. Light Years
34. Alive
35. Brain of J
36. Thumbing My Way
37. Hard to Imagine
38. Tremor Christ
39. Rival
40. Animal
41. Lukin
42. You Are
43. betterman
44. Given to Fly
45. Once
46. Low Light
47. Parting Ways
48. Off He Goes
49. Go
50. get right
51. World Wide Suicide
52. Angel
53. MFC
54. Long Road
55. Why Go
56. Nothingman
57. Save You
58. Of A Girl
59. Habit
60. Satan's Bed
61. Faithful
62. Oceans
63. Gone
64. WMA
65. State of Love and Trust
66. Spin The Black Circle
67. Life Wasted
68. Arc
69. Garden
70. All Those Yesterdays
71. Sleight of Hand
72. Other Side
73. Let Me Sleep
74. I'm Open
75. Blood
76. Nothing As It Seems
77. All Night
78. Jeremy
79. No Way
80. Around The Bend
81. Immortality
82. Comatose
83. Daughter
84. Alone
85. I am Mine
86. Down
87. Cropduster
88. Strangest Tribe
89. Inside Job
90. Drifting
91. Wishlist
92. Big Wave
93. Sad
94. Stupid Mop
95. Come Back
96. Glorified G
97. Puzzles and Games (Light Years Demo)
98. Dirty Frank
99. Ghost
100. Marker In the Sand
101. Undone
102. Green Disease
103. Whale Song

fuck 5. 10/10. masterpiece.

i think the original line of "the answers are plaito" is much more clever as a thought, but souding like "playdough" would kind of make the song lose credibility. favorite b side next to hard to imagine.

great write up. I'm not usually a fan of stone's lyrics (or anyone in the band without the initals EV) but these are pretty good other than the april/may and which way to park lyrics. it sets a really nice mood and builds well. the music is pretty simple but works for the atmosphere and has a nice understated build. I've never quite heard it as a love song though. I've always seen it in the spirit of sleight of hand--a detatched taking stock of a life no longer lived for any real reason

However, it clearly means less to me than it does to you DFB (and whoby#s). This is a 3 star song for me. I can appreciate what it is trying to do but for whatever reason it's never struck that chord that really moves it into the upper echelon




I've always hated that potential lyric. What does it mean? Plato doesn't have very much to say to the questions posed in this song, so it comes across like the inappropriate name dropping of a philosopher just to sound smart.

waiting to see if drillingforbeer has any poll category requests. If not I'll just throw up a standard one later

I agree with Stip.
Also, Fatal is a nice name far a song.
This is one of Lost Dogs' best. Another gem from the Binaural sessions.

great song that I never paid much attention to lyrically, as Stone's lyrics so rarely reward scrutiny.

But this is a great write up. What a moving song. Bumps it up easily from a solid 3.5 (which it earns on music and vocal delivery alone) to an easy 4, maybe 4.5

I don't think I've given this one that many chances. It clearly didn't get me the first time I heard it. I must've gotten lost somehow.

perhaps it is a reach and they were just name dropping. but plato's work and teachings can easily be related to the questions asked. they are not complex as one would associate plato's work with, but they don't have to be. philosophy is supposed to be simple and thought provoking with rhetorical annalysis.

Or maybe i took an easy 3 credit philsophy class and can attribute philosophy to anything. I think a little of both.

oh fucking hell yes! iv been waiting for this one to come up. one of my favorites! 6
what I like about this song that seperates it from some of PJs other songs, is that it asks some pretty simple and fundamental questions, but it isnt fucking tragic. it just a song being content the way it is.

and I think its an example of why stone and ed do need eachother. some of stones lyrics seem to be more about thought than emotion, and ed needs a break from the drama that is his life sometimes. without the rest of the band you get something like into the wild. a fine album in its own right, but when ed was left to his own devices it started to sound like a bad fucking springstein impression at times. so it goes to show what creative influence can take place between different minds.

Fantastic write-up, sir/ma'am. I am new to the forums and am glad to use my first post to comment on this brilliant little gem.

"Fatal" was the first song that really "grabbed" me when I first heard Lost Dogs. I pretty much just let the first disk play in the background while I wrote, not paying too much attention. But when the second disk started I stopped everything and went "wait a moment, what is this?".

The opening lines are probably my favorite in PJ's entire catalogue. "How good is he? How warm are his eyes?"... bitter stuff. Sounds like something Elvis Costello might've written in a bad day. In fact, the song this reminds me of the most is Elvis Costello's own "I Want You"-- it's just as dark and feverish.

I'm really glad the song is a B-Side because it feels like that much more of a hidden little treasure. I love how organic it sounds. I love the sound of Ed's voice in it. And the fact that it's short and sweet and not drawn-out or contrived at all.

I wish to hear a good live version of the song one day-- Benayora sounded too languid for my tastes. This song is a definite ten.

Good song, and along with All Night, the best of the "new" songs found on Lost Dogs (sorry, but Sad is overrated around here, folks). It's one of those songs that I never tried to figure out the lyrics to (the meaning, not the actual words), and I'm just fine with not knowing. It's all about the atmosphere and delivery. And I fucking love the "anger's in fashion" lyric.

One of Stone's best. 4 stars.

welcome to the board


whoby#s--what did you read by Plato in that course and how do you think it relates?

just his studies in general. his subject matter. in that class, we didnt really dig deep into idividual pieces of literature. do i think the lyrics were written in reflection of one of platos writings? probably not.

I gave this five stars. This has always been my favorite off Lost Dogs, and it still is. Cool lyric, intimate sounding guitar and I love the vocals in the opening verse. Really weird that this is just a leftover from the Binaural session, and not even released as a b-side.

One of my favorite Lost Dogs. Like everything else they cut, I can't believe it wasn't on Binaural.

It seems some people think that the questioning in this song is negative. I dont really see it that way. to me this seems to be a song about self realization in a positive light.

how so?

Great write-up Drilling For Beer.

Stip - i completely agree with you for your reasons for disliking the original 'Plato' line.

I've always wondered if the outro was a Dylan homage...which makes me think Ed may have added it, but it's definitely plausible for this to not be the case at all.

There are a few interesting lyrics which either strike me as 'guff', or i just don't quite understand them. 'When April's in may'? and also the reprise line from the first verse...which i see also confused Drilling For Beer.

Looking over it again, i've made some interpretation, and if it was intentional it could save the line a little:

'How good is he? How warm are his eyes?
You'll see it's not a reprise'

I think, Stone may be attempting to say that a person's sincerity (how good he/she is) cannot (in this case) be fairly ascertained from their external appearance...In this verse, this is referenced by how warm his eyes are - with the eyes (claimed by some to) being the gateway to the soul. So, Stone could be saying that the external appearance of the subject, is not actually a representation of the subject. His use of the word reprise in this context does just about work...but i think his choosing for the word was most certainly influenced by the rhyme scheme.

4 stars,
seeing it live took it up to 4.5 but I don't give 5 stars twice on a row on SOTM and I gave the Whale Song 5.

I'm not really sure why, but this song really reaches me on a deep emotional level.