Baba O'Riley

Out here in the fields
I fight for my meals
I get my back into my living.
I don't need to fight
To prove I'm right
I don't need to be forgiven.
yeah,yeah,yeah,yeah,yeah

Don't cry
Don't raise your eye
It's only teenage wasteland

Sally, take my hand
We'll travel south cross land
Put out the fire
And don't look past my shoulder.
The exodus is here
The happy ones are near
Let's get together
Before we get much older.

Teenage wasteland
It's only teenage wasteland.
Teenage wasteland
Oh, yeah
Teenage wasteland
They're all wasted!



This is likely my favorite cover in Pearl Jam's catalogue for a few reasons. This overflows with energy every time they play. Maybe it is because of the way fuzzy guitars evoke a warmer sound then the clinical keyboards in The Who's version. Certainly eddie's exuberence every time he sings it (has there ever been a bad version of this one) plays a role. But they approach this song as a celebration of life, of music, and community and they do so with such absolute and unaffected sincerity that it is next to impossible not to get swept up in it. I've said elsewhere that what makes Pearl jam such a good cover band is that you can tell when they play the songs of their heroes that they are no longer stars in their own right, but kids singing/playing along in their bedroom imagining that someday, just maybe, there will be people somewhere singing along to their own songs. When they cover Baba ORiely they aren't covering it as musicans--they are covering it as unaffected music fans, and that passion shows every time

I just love it!!!....

now I finally know what he's singing there....Don't cry
Don't raise your eye...just too lazy to look it up...

my favorite cover

Great cover...overrated song

4 stars

Fun song & they do a great job with it. The Who is not an easy band to cover but Pearl Jam has done it as well as anyone.
That said because it is such a well known song it does seem like a cover no matter how well they play it. You can argue a more obscure song like Crazy Mary seems like one of their own compared to Baba.
I like Ed how lets the crowd sing starting with "don't cry.." but I think it's funny on Gorge '05 where there's nothing from the audience and the band is obviously caught off guard by the lack of response.

Baba O Riley is a great song, although I prefer the original song to the cover version that Pearl Jam does. Both are good though

i actually feel bad for pj fans who have not experienced baba live. i agree with stip's post 100%

This is one of the few covers that I actually prefer over the original.

This is also one of my favorite covers. And I agree with stip, the guitar intro is warmer and carries more energy than the synthesizer intro in the original.

I've never particularly liked it as a Who song, but I love it as a cover. And I've been fortunate enough to hear it live.

kp

I think it's rediculous to suggest it tops the original, but PJ's Baba is a great and festive live song. I can't stand the way Ed usually delivers "They're all wasteeeeeeeeeeeedddddddddddddddd," though.

A decent attempt at an excellent Who song. Nobody does it better than Pete and Roger, though.

one of their best covers ever, 5 stars. tops the whos version

It's a great cover but I can't fathom how anybody could think it's better than the original.

Keep in mind i'm not much of a who fan (I think pj's LROM is better than the original as well)--but there is a (I think I used this word in my first post) clinical kind of sound to the begining that lacks any strong feeling of warmth and community, and I think there is more texture and depth to Eddie's voice than to Rogers. The Who's Baba O sounds like it was constructed in a lab. A bit too deliberate for my tastes (except for the outro, which I like)

pearl jam should get boyd tinsley for the outro

love when the crowd sings! gets me everytime.

Not my favorite cover, but I dig it a lot. 4 stars.

I gave it a 2-star but it's a tough call though since they've only done it live.

Just wonder how the cover would be if they record it in the studio like Love Reign O'er Me.

It's good... but I'm so tired of it.