Yellow Ledbetter


lyrics....who knows. A stab below (not the skyiscrape version)

Unsealed on a porch a letter sat
And it said I wanna leave it again
Once I saw her on a beach of weathered sand
And on the sand I wanna leave it again
On a weekend I wanna wish it on away
And they called and I said that I want what i said
And then I call out again
And the reason oughta' leave her calm I know
I said I know what I wear not the box or the bag

Can you see them
Out on the porch
But they don't wave
I see them round the front way
And I know and I know I don't want to stay
Make me cry

I see I don't know why there's something else
I wanna go my own away
I said I don't I don't know whether it was the box or the bag

Can you see them
Out on the porch
But they don't wave
I see them round the front way
And I know and I know I don't wanna stay at all
I don't wanna stay
I don't wanna stay
I don't wanna stay...

Previous Songs of the Moment
In My Tree
Red Mosquito
Porch
I Got Id
Release
Do The Evolution
Breath
Corduroy
Elderly Woman...
Leash
Hail Hail
Grievance
Love Boat Captain
Even Flow
Black Red Yellow
In Hiding
Can't Keep
Indifference
Insignificance
Whipping
Black
Smile
Push Me Pull Me
Rats
God's Dice
All or None

Always been a top 5 pj song for me, regardless of the lack of real lyrics. I don't mind the fact that they play this at the end of most shows at all. Always welcome to me. Matter of fact, I feel it's the most fitting end to a Pearl Jam show.

Of all songs tho, I feel this song sounds the most different live (if you discount the new 'in my tree'), compared with the studio version. So different, I can't choose which I like better. I'll just take them both.

One of my all time favorites, and a serious front runner for the most beautiful song they ever did. Eddie's vocals are amazing and the band is so tight. I've heard people describe Mike's playing as emotional before, and this song is an excellent illustration of that. There is so much longing and wistfulness to it, but there is a strength to it as well. It doesn't sound as ragged or desperate as a Nothing as it seems or All Or None (since we just talked about that one). It sounds like someone is trying to put on a brave front in the face of tragedy.

That it's a sad song is hard to argue. What its about is trickier, especially because these are the ultimate indeciherpable Pearl Jam lyrics. Given the 03 tour it is next to impossible for me to picture this as anything other than a song about war. I have three possible interpretations

1-A letter written home right before a soldier died

2-A letter written home after witnessing a friend die

3-A letter written home bemoaning the fact that the soldier was forced to leave his loved ones (it's hard not to see this as a guy who was just married or just fell in love) to go off and fight.


Some fan made a video for this song, and while it took way too long to get going it was a great concept. It's too bad they didn't make a video for this, even now. It would have been a much more profound political statement than Bushleaguer.

Regardless, it is a song about saying goodbye, and one of the best. It's especially striking because the entire sentiment is conveyed through feeling, instead of lyrics. A testement to the power of Eddie's voice and the ability of the band.


I love this song as a closer but I wish they'd play it clean.

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-691624774683269235&q=yellow+ledbetter

Just in case you hadn't seen that.

I'll be back to comment on this in a minute, I'm going to listen to the original, which means digging out the Jeremy single.

I hadn't seen it in a while. Thanks
Don't you have Lost Dogs? Or RVM?

just finsihed watching that. It's a better song clean. They should do it this way at the end of the shows.

Not on vinyl, no

this is by far the best song of the moment. good job stip.

its really hard to pin point my favorite pearl jam song, but if i had to choose this would be it. the combination of ed's voice and mikes guitar is amazing. i think the lyrics really take a back seat to ed's voice. its almost like it doesnt matter what he's singing b/c he's singing it so brilliantly.

i know alot of people get tired of hearing it close shows, but i dont think i ever will. i think its a great way to end the show, mike wails for a little while and ed just sings whatever he feels like. we joked around at the philly '05 show that some of us werent gonna make it to see yellow ledbetter. we all made it though, it was great.

My favorite version of all time is from State College 2003. My brother had just gotten back from Afghanistan (being in the army), and together we saw both shows in Camden on 7/5 and 7/6 of the same year. That weekend he became a Pearl Jam fan after witnessing them live.

Two days later he had to return to his base in Fort Bragg, NC, and was so impressed with the band he went to the nearest record store and bought all of their albums as well as the State College bootleg. He absolutely loved the version of Yellow Ledbetter on that boot, which had also been my favorite version from that leg of the tour.

In that version, Ed's lyrical improvs are about wishing the war away, having a brother sent to fight the war and the hope that he doesn't come back dead. Its true power would not be known to me until six weeks after that weekend in Camden when my brother got the orders that he was going to Iraq.

I made him a mix CD before he left to help him through the hell he would have to endure and remind him of our brotherhood. YL from State College was the last song. We both listened to that song fanatically while on different sides of the globe. He survived.

That version of the song helped give me hope and stay positive during such a troubling time. So for me, it will always be the definitive rendition of the song. It is pure magic.

great story frank.

my fav version is 9/1/00. yeah yeah i was there, but go listen to it, its great. it has my favorite improv line ever.

"heart is broken and there's nothing left to repair, i dont, i dont know whether it was the box or the bag, oh yea"

I love this song. Not too much, but still enough.

My favorite one is the Kitchener one. For personal reasons of course. Currently watching the Toronto 05 one on Google Video.

Of course you feel that way. This was your request.

if there's a song i would use to show the greatness of pearl jam this is it. find me someone who doesnt like this song...besides cal.

I love this song, but I don't often listen to it. Need to rectify this situation

I can still remember how giddy I was the first time I heard this one on the radio.

However, it would be nice to see PJ end a show with something other than this for a change.....like maybe Even Flow for example.

I remember when I first got the Jeremy single way back when in 1992 or 93, and one of my friends just thought this was the greatest thing that PJ had ever done. Personally, I never saw what the big deal was, I liked Footsteps A LOT better, still do.

It's a beautiful little guitar workout for Mike (copped from Jimi, but nice nonetheless), but the "lyrics" never really did all that much for me. Something about the opening notes just rub me the wrong way nowadays. Maybe it's the fact that on boots, they are always accompanied by a deafening roar from the crowd, one which I don't feel is fully deserved. I don't think it's because it's been played so much. I'm not one of those people who doesn't like songs simply because other people do, or because I've heard it a hundred times, as evidenced by the fact that I still get the tingle at the opening notes of Even Flow, which I never seem to grow tired of for some reason.

Whatever it is, I've always considered this to be one of PJ most overrated songs, right up there with Nothingman and Hard To Imagine. All good songs (except Nothingman), just overrated. And with this former "rarity" now one of only two songs to make both the Lost Dogs AND Greatest Hits albums, it is becoming more overrated as time goes by.

the greatest b-side ever.

just wish when played live ed would stick to the same lyrics. i bet he does not even know the original lyrics.
the song is even better when you hear it on the radio-i don't know why but it just is .

i really love the studio version of this, but i don't like it live. i love the lyrics and way eddie sings it in the studio, and i know, it's an improv song all along, but i can't stand his improv live. the 2003 versions were murder to my ears.

anyways, my buddy learned the lead part on guitar, and i learned the backup in college, and we used to play it while my other roomie played the bongos. it was kick ass.

I'm with you on Hard to Imagine. I think nothingman is a gorgeous song, but it doesn't seem to get as much love as I think it deserves on this board. I don't remember how it did in march madness last year but I guess that's a good way to check how overrated a particular song is (i.e.-In My Tree)

It's a good song, but I've grown tired of it. When YL comes on when I'm listening to a bootleg or watching a show, I usually turn it off. Played far too often I think.

I also have to mention that I don't enjoy the soloing at the end too much, which is a big part of the song.



I'm with you on this.