I seem to recognize your face
Haunting, familiar
Yet I can't seem to place it
Cannot find the candle of thought to light your name
Lifetimes are catching up with me
All these changes taking place, I wish I'd seen the place
But no one's ever taken me

Hearts and thoughts they fade, fade away...
Hearts and thoughts they fade, fade away...

I swear I recognize your breath
Memories like fingerprints are slowly raising
Me, you wouldn't recall, for I'm not my former
It's hard when you're stuck up on the shelf
I changed by not changing at all
Small town predicts my fate
Perhaps that's what no one wants to see

I just want to scream...Hello
My god it’s been so long. Never dreamed you'd return
But now here you are, and here I am
Hearts and thoughts they fade away...

Hearts and thoughts they fade, fade away...
Hearts and thoughts they fade, fade away...
Hearts and thoughts they fade far away...
Hearts and thoughts they fade, fade away...
Hearts and thoughts they fade, fade away...
Hearts and thoughts they fade, fade away...
Hearts and thoughts they fade...

I’ve always looked at Elderly Woman as a companion piece to Breath. I link it to the “If I knew where it was I would take you there…there’s much more than this” line. What would of happened if the girl had not left with him

Fast forward 20-40 years. The girl was too scared to go, too scared to leave everything behind and start over. She’s stayed behind, gotten old, and lost her dreams. She found a job, may have had a family, but whatever she was became diminished in some way. She lost her sense of independence, of possibilities.

I don’t think she sees someone she used to remember. I’ve always pictured her behind the counter in some small store where she has a moment where she reconnects with the person she was when she younger—the person she left behind. Maybe a song comes on the radio, or maybe she sees an old photograph. When I picture the song in my head I imagine her seeing her reflection in the glass of a display case and the image staring back at her is her younger self. For a moment, at least, she reconnects with everything she abandoned—the freedom and limitless horizons of youth. The song ends there, and like all their great songs they let the listener finish the story. Does she start her life over, or does she have this moment and watch it fade away.

I always pictured this song being about Eddie’s mother.

I always took this song a little more literally, and autobiographically for Ed. I think this is about a visit to a small town that he may or may not have visited as a small child, he's not sure. But this old woman (I always pictured an old waitress in a diner) strikes a deep, buried memory within him. He's unsure whether the memory is real or imagined, the way that memories from your very young childhood sometimes feel.

I also thought the line was "I'm not my father", as if the old woman may have have known Ed's father when he was a young man, and may think she recognizes him back.

Anyway, it's not about his mother. The subject of this song is someone he doesn't know and hasn't seen in many many years. Ed is relatively close with his mother and his mother's family (from what I understand from the family members of his that I've met).

When I say I think the song is about Eddie's mother, I think of it in terms of someone who lost their youth due to bad choices. It was betterman that really got me onto this track. But I think this cuz I don't think there are two characters in the song. She is singing to her reflection, her picture, or whatever it was that triggered her memories.

i was actually thinking about this song the other day and why i love it. small town is one of those songs that seems to get ripped here, but everytime ive ever seen it live everyone seems to love it. this is a real crowd pleaser at just about ever pj show.

this doesnt seem like a normal pj song that i would love or a highlight from a concert, but here's why it is: this is a song that all of my family/friends at the concert with will sing to and have a blast doing it. not all of the people i go to pj shows no all the words to "sad" or have any idea why seeing hard to imagine live is such a big deal, besides the fact that its a good song. alot of my friends and family love pearl jam for what they hear from me and on the radio, and small town is one of those songs. its a song that will make everyone in the building stand up and sing, and i love it for that reason, no matter how many times i see it.

I remember hearing this song on the first day that Vs. came out and instantly loving it. I was 14 at the time, and those quieter songs really helped me expand my tastes at that time and accept other types of music, like R.E.M. and Counting Crows which then led me further and further and further away from the mainstream and into all sorts of different areas.

I also remember getting the "Go" import single with the acoustic version of Elderly Woman that I read about in the big Rolling Stone piece at the time. It was such an exciting time to be a young fan of the band, before you could get rare tracks so easily on the internet.

Much like "Corduroy", somedays I like this song, somedays I don't. However, I was a BIG fan of it when it first came out.

classic pearl jam song... i was walking down the street at my school the other night and i passed a bar and it was playing... it was right at the "i just want to scream hello" part and everyone in the bar was belting out the lyrics... always good to have a pj moment like that

I love seeing this one live. Some people are sick of it....not me!!

We listened to this song (from Ottawa) tonight while we sat on the deck, watched the sun set and drank a beer...

It's a great song and I was super appreciative of being able to enjoy it in this way after Rita has disrupted and destroyed so many lives this weekend. I feel very lucky right now.[/i]

1,2,3,4,2,3


i seem to have heard this song, too many times ................


tired of AT!!!!

Fun song to play on the geetar.

This song is by far my favorite Pearl Jam song. I appreciate you guys posting it up for discussion. I was too young to be a pj rocker when they first got big in the early 90's so naturally it took me a while to catch up to everyone who's been listening to them for the past 15 years.
To me elderly woman is a beautiful song that lyrically opens your imagination to attach your own personal past to the love who left, to the one that has gone away. When I listen to the song I just appreciate Eddie's honesty with the feelings of love fading away. Its about growing so far out and away from a part of your life that was once incredibly dependent and connected to anothers, and the strange lonely feeling of looking back and seeing how it faded away.[/img]

Welcome to the board

i know most people think the crowd singing daughter at the begining is a great thing, and it is, but to me, it cant even come close to comparing to the crowd singing elderly.

im talking like culture clubs karma kameleon compared to the greatness of dhd

I always look at this song as being about Alzheimer's disease. Just the way the character bounces between familiarity and denial... Hearts and thoughts they fade... you know, how even loved ones become strangers.

Too much?

I think Eddie would have said something about that if it was what he had in mind, but that works. It actually makes the song sadder.

The line 'i swear i recognize your breath' really gets to me. If youve ever been in love with someone for a long time, the smell of their breath really is unique and one of those little things that is so special. I used to play this on guitar and sing it for my ex, so it has a lot of meaning for me, aside from being a really beautiful song.

this song has special meaning to me too, b/c during the line you quoted i yell "breasts" instead of "breath" to be an asshole.

Yeah, I think I have, too.

Admit it though; when they play this live, you can't tell me you don't get goosebumps when the lights go up at "I just wanna scream HELLO", and there are tens of thousands of arms and voices extended towards the stage. That's just fuckin magic.

in the toronto show, i had my digital camera so i took a few seconds of video of it just to have this part of "hello!" with the crowed and lights on - amazing!!