This song has not got nearly enough attention in my opinion. Although this may just have been a silly little number that was written, in part, with the help of a bottle of wine, I think I might have found another meaning to this song. It deserves a proper insight and here it is:

Bee girl you're gonna die
You don’t wanna be famous
You wanna be shy
Do your dances
Alone in your room,
Becoming a star
Will become your doom

Bee girl, be a girl
Bee girl, be a girl

You know time is long,
And life is short
Begin to live
While you still can
Believe in nothing,
Believe me
Those who can be trusted
Can change their minds

And the anxious
Is the present,
Unwrap your gift
Take your time
Everything you imagined
Needn't be stuck, in your mind

Bee girl, be a girl
Bee girl, be a girl.

Ok the first thing that I will bring to your attention is this song's possible link with Emily Dickinson. That sounds crazy...doesn't it? Well just think about it for a second. Dickinson was a noted shut in, and for most of her life she lived in her room, only occasionally leaving it, and even then she made sure that there was no one around. It became her world, she shut herself off from society and did not wish to become one with it again. Does this sound anything like the Ed Vedder of this period, right around the release of Vs? He was insecure about his new found fame and wanted to become a shut in. He hardly left the house and was hounded by media and fans. Ok now for the Dickinson poem that links the two together:

Fame is a bee.
It has a song -
It has a sting -
Ah, too, it has a wing.

This is perhaps just me clutching at straws here, but I think that the links are too close not to give the idea a chance. The poem is obvious in its links to the song and its influences.

Bee girl you're gonna die
You don’t wanna be famous
You wanna be shy
Do your dances
Alone in your room,
Becoming a star
Will become your doom

Dickinson realised that we all must die (sorry to point out the obvious) and she did not want to become famous or live her life in the spotlight. She was almost obsessed with death and spent a lot of time and effort in trying to understand it. The lines "Becoming a star/Will become your doom" may indicate that much of her early work was bastardised and was edited to the extreme in order to be more appealing to the masses and to adhere to certain poetic conventions of the time. This is something that Ed has shown time and time again to disgust him in the arts. "Do your dances/ Alone in your room" is an allusion to the fact that Dickinson hardly ever left her room and I think that Ed feels that he would have done the same thing in her situation.

You know time is long,
And life is short
Begin to live
While you still can

These lines to me indicate that Ed understands Dickinson's obsession with time and with death, but that he has learnt from her that life still has to be lived to the upmost otherwise you will wake one day to find that you have worried your life away.

Bee girl, be a girl
Bee girl, be a girl

The chorus fits in great with the above idea. Vedder identified that you have to shield yourself for a time, but ultimately your fears must be faced and he laments that Dickinson may have lost experiences in her life due to her isolation. “Be a girl” be yourself and let that dictate the terms, not the other way round.

Believe in nothing,
Believe me
Those who can be trusted
Can change their minds

Both Ed and Dickinson have had a lot of betrayals in the personal and professional life. Ed could no longer talk to people he once called friend and during one of the European Ten tours he had personal lyric book stolen from him. One of Dickinson’s loves moved across America to get away from her.

And the anxious
Is the present,
Unwrap your gift
Take your time

Dickinson frequently changes the role of words so that verbs become nouns, nouns become verbs, adjectives become nouns and so on. "And the anxious/Is the present" could be an example of that. This indicates to me that Ed was in a constant state of anxiety at this time and that this was the only gift that fame had given him. “Unwrap your gift/Take you time” this is a little sarcastic snap at anyone who said to him that ‘you should be happy with what you have, just enjoy the fame’ – it wasn’t that simple.

Everything you imagined
Needn't be stuck, in you're mind

These lines are the clincher for me. The point here is that Dickinson never intended for her poems to be seen by anyone. While she did try and have some published she refused due to editing conflicts. She wrote most of her work in the knowledge that no one would ever read them. Ed wants these thoughts to be known and wants her ideas to show through his work.

Ed's comments in the linear notes for the song are a bit unclear "Met her mother somewhere,…she was ten or so?... I was worried. I hope she's fine." but I think that this could be put down to Ed's unclear nature at the time, or it could have been a little joke with himself.

Again I might just be delusional but I think that these links are food for thought. Considering that the song was made on the spot, that Jeff was playing guitar and that it was made while playing it live on air, I'm going to give this one 4 stars. It is a gem in a slow, laid back set. A perfect little ditty that shows what Ed was thinking around this time.

Hope you enjoyed,
Vedderforpresident

this song is a bit middle of the road for me i suppose. just needs more development. wasn't it based on a time when ed met a girl and her mother and was 'worried'?

Methinks vedderforpresident is an English major making that comparison. Although it was a well written piece.

Anyways, it's a nice little song for what it is, an improv in a radio interview with Jeff. 3 stars.

Methinks vedderforpresident is an English major making that comparison. Although it was a well written piece.

I love this song, but I have no idea why. When they played it in Mansfield, I couldn't believe how lucky I was. In terms of songwriting, maybe 2.5 stars. In terms of personal preference, 5.

I gave it 4 stars. It's really nothing special, but it's very pretty and I really like it.

It's about the Bee Girl from the No Rain music video. This is what Ed said about it:

The Bee Girl was...she was this little girl who was 9 years old in a video and I saw her, I saw how...there's no other word for it--how obnoxious she was and she loved being a star...and I knew it wasn't going to last and my heart went out to her and I was just trying to tell her, ‘Man, that ain't the most important thing in life. It can't be. You're gonna die.’

Source: http://www.sonymusic.com/artists/PearlJ ... ritz1.html

I gave it 2, but would easily give it 3 if the singing was better and the chorus better.