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Pearl Jam's Greatest Song
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1. Black (Ten, 1991) - I have visited and re-visited a link on YouTube in which a man named Martin Yedej, or "soymartino," plays an astonishing instrumental version of "Black" on an acoustic guitar. I have watched it on countless occasions and have never tired of it. He labeled it, "the song of my youth." I could not agree more.
"Black" is the ultimate Pearl Jam song. It encapsulates everything that makes this band great into five and a half minutes of musical bliss. When I hear it, I am filled with so many memories and so many emotions that it is just as overwhelming as it was when first hearing it as a much younger soul. Evoking feeling from the listener is arguably Pearl Jam's greatest strength, and no song in their catalogue is as full of feeling as "Black." Stone Gossard wrote the music, Eddie Vedder wrote the vocal melody and lyrics and Mike McCready has somehow instilled it with even more character than it first carried upon each solo he performs after its climax at live shows. Any description I offer from this moment onward could never do this masterwork its full justice. Anything I write will be imperfect in summing up what the song is, how it sounds, etc., because "Black" is perfect. The ambience of the track, the contrast of McCready and Gossard's guitar tones, the simple drumming, the soft, subtle instrumental touches throughout, the luminous piano melodies, the stooping bass fills, the background vocals (especially during the coda), the poetic genius of the lyrics and Vedder's vocals all provide the structure for the only song whose placement I was sure of when I began making my 160-song list. As many of you confessed when submitting your own Top 25 lists, I struggled to cram 80 to 100 of my favorite songs into my top 25, then especially to know where they all belonged once they made the final cut. Not once did I question my decision to place "Black" above them all. There was no question because "Black" is the greatest piece of music Pearl Jam has ever written, recorded and performed.
The greatest compliment I can pay to this song is that it has never once gotten old to me and furthermore, every time I listen to it, "Black" hypnotizes me, sending me into an altered state of existence. Its steadiness, rise and gentle intensity during its live codas (following McCready's masterful solos) are, as commentator Holyjammer worded it, "transcendental." Everything about this classic rock symphony speaks to anyone who listens to it, even some of the so-called "hardest" people I have known in my life. Even those who cannot understand English feel the passion within the music, a horrible, wonderful, jerking and concentrated magic that lives within each note and each word. It would likely be appropriate and accurate to label "Black" as melodramatic and perhaps even histrionic, but such presentations are the only kinds that make sense when one is attempting to work through the uniquely awful experience of unrequited and/or lost love. An unoriginal topic, of course, but leave it to Pearl Jam to turn the humdrum into their very own gift for their listeners.
"Black" is another one of those Pearl Jam songs that was a huge hit without ever being released as a single. It earned slots at number 20 on Billboard's Modern Rock Tracks chart and number three on the Mainstream Rock Tracks chart. The band fiercely declined the idea of releasing the song as a single for a number of reasons, likely its pop accessibility being the most important one. Eddie Vedder was obviously against the idea of music videos during this time, and stated that he believed "Black" would be watered down and lose its potential power in that format. He said, "fragile songs get crushed by the business. I don't want to be a part of it. I don't think the band wants to be a part of it." Supposedly, Ed even ensured that Epic had not released the song as a single by phoning radio stations and asking. As previously mentioned, the song circulated regardless of its official status as a non-single and radio stations such as my own (Indianapolis's X-103) played the living daylights out of it, and many still do to this day. So the "transcendental" nature of the song rests not only in the ears of the listener, but in the song's ability to be deep and vitally important to someone while also remaining hugely successful as a commercial product, a fact much to the chagrin of a stubborn, resentful band like Ten-era, young Pearl Jam. Focusing specifically on down and out, sad, lonely songs, try to find a catchier hook than the "doo-doo-doo-doo-do-do-do" falsetto vocal part in the outro. It is brooding, dark and depressing and yet still works as a "pop" hit. How dreadful, huh?
Stone Gossard's lone guitar plays a simple chord progression as "Black" opens, serving as the song's primary riff. His play sounds muffled, as if being heard through a phone line. Eddie Vedder's voice breaks out over it in one of his most famous wordless vocal melodies: "Uh-uh-uh-ay-ay-ayy-ay-aaayyy-uh-uhh!" Gossard's guitar sounds off one last time and silences for a fleeting moment, before Jeff Ament drip-drops his bass in a defining moment of his career, a timeless transition from the introduction to the first verse. The drums fall in and Vedder begins his greatest vocal delivery. Behind his roller coaster singing, Stone's guitar changes tones and becomes much cleaner than during the introduction. McCready makes his way into the mix, playing bluesy fills and frills while Ament and Krusen (on the studio version) play a simple, slow rhythm and an electric piano creates an inviting but broken atmosphere. When Vedder sings, "All five horizons," McCready sounds as good as he ever has, sounding, as he readily admitted, just like Stevie Ray Vaughan: "That's more of a Stevie rip-off, with me playing little flowing things. I was way into that trip—I still am, actually, but it was probably more obvious back then." It may have been obvious, but that Stevie Ray style sounded wholly unique and certainly fitting in the midst of everything his band was doing around him.
Vedder's last phrase of the first verse is, "has taken a turn," and here comes a pure, early example of the greatness of Ed and Pearl Jam. Just as his lyrics literally signal a turning point, the music immediately shifts as the band enters the first chorus. The guitars thicken and grow heavier into dark territory, the drums crash, and Vedder's voice becomes a harsh, growling moan of pain. A piano accompanies the guitars' beautiful melody, really popping out on the remixed version from this year's Ten reissue. This melody is the first appearance of what will come later, during the aforementioned "doo-doo-doo-doo-do-do" refrain, sung here in the phrase, "of what was everything."
The formula is repeated in the second verse, but Ed's singing becomes more desperate and sorrowful, particularly his fantastic phrasing of "I'm spinning, oh-oh-oh, I'm spinning." This might be a break-up song lyric, but a severe level of sophistication is present in lines such as, "I'm surrounded by some kids at play/I can feel their laughter, so why do I sear?" Nothing I have ever heard in a song has come close to this line in its ability to translate the way an aching heart seems to take over everything else, preventing one from enjoying anything positive in life. Nothing can create happiness or gratitude and it feels as though life has turned dark, "the pictures have all been washed in black," the loss of someone so important has "tattooed everything."
The chorus re-appears, fuller and meatier this time around, led in by Vedder's final line from the second verse, "How quick the sun can drop away-ay-ay-ay-ay-ay-ay," a seamless transition. The chorus grows this time, no longer ending on the "tattooed everything" line, but instead rising and growing as Vedder reaches his entire purpose for singing this song, a direct statement of, "All the love gone bad turned my world to black/Tattooed all I see, all that I am, all I'll be." Words cannot aptly explain the high this moment creates in the listener for these few moments, the piano and guitar working together in beautiful, mournful agony. Vedder then spills his entire soul on the record, creating the most emotional and greatest single moment in the band's entire run when he sings, "I know some day you'll have a beautiful life, I know you'll be a star/in somebody's else's sky, but why, why, why can't it be, can't it be mine?"
The instruments meld together in musical ecstasy as Vedder yells and screams wildly in hopeless despair, the song reaching a drawn-out climax. The "doo-doo-doo-doo-do-do" theme begins instrumentally first, then the falsetto, layered vocals join in, McCready's guitar rocking and crying simultaneously, Vedder overlapping it all with another vocal layer, wailing his tremendous, awful self-pity. The song fades out and eventually dies.
The lyrics speak for themselves, and to explain them any further than I already have would risk stealing some of their power. Instead, I will print them in full:
"Sheets of empty canvas, untouched sheets of clay
Were laid spread out before me as her body once did
All five horizons revolved around her soul
As the earth to the sun
Now the air I tasted and breathed has taken a turn
Ooh, and all I taught her was everything
Ooh, I know she gave me all that she wore
And now my bitter hands chafe beneath the clouds
Of what was everything
Oh, the pictures have all been washed in black, tattooed everything...
I take a walk outside
I'm surrounded by some kids at play
I can feel their laughter, so why do I sear?
Oh, and twisted thoughts that spin round my head
I'm spinning, oh, I'm spinning
How quick the sun can, drop away
And now my bitter hands cradle broken glass
Of what was everything
All the pictures have all been washed in black, tattooed everything
All the love gone bad turned my world to black
Tattooed all I see, all that I am, all I will be, yeah
I know someday you'll have a beautiful life, I know you'll be a star
In somebody else's sky, but why, why, why
Can't it be, can't it be mine?"
Live, the song rests near the head of the pack in terms of total times played, but nevertheless many of us feel almost cheated if the band fails to play it during a given show. When I went to New York for last year's two Madison Square Garden shows, I was sorely disappointed I did not get a "Black," even though the concerts were two of the greatest events I had ever witnessed or attended in my life (there's a good ol' ungrateful fan for ya). The song is an undeniable showstopper and one of Mike McCready's shining moments, his licks from the studio outing transferring into a new, improvisational solo with each performance. Vedder often gives audiences the, "I'm spinning, oh, I'm spinning," line, and rarely, offers up the last three lines (see Benaroya for stunning proof). But Ed's finest live contribution to the song is most evident in his ever-changing vocal performance ("I'm surrounded by some kids at play" from the MTV Unplugged show) and his ad-libbed outro lyrics, in particular, "We belong together," a phrase that is almost like a separate tag, a song unto itself.
As "soymartino" states, "Black" is, "the song of my youth," an inescapable truth of adolescence that carries on to adulthood. Nothing hurts in quite the same way as unrequited love, especially unrequited, lost love. "It's better to have loved and lost than to never have loved at all," the saying goes, but this song proves otherwise. "Black" reminds me how delicate love is as a raw emotion, and how we take it for granted until it is gone, only to realize how difficult it is to attain it again. I have risen from dark times to be the man I am today, and as performances of "Black" alter and grow over the years, I see my own reflection in their varied deliveries. "We belong together" has become "We didn't belong together" during many concerts over the past few years, a necessary evolution that reminds me that what I believed when I was 5, 10, 15 years younger is no longer my truth. Leave it to Pearl Jam to be a guide through life, in their words, music and message. Leave it to "Black" to be the greatest message of them all, the music always overpowering the hopelessness of the lyrics to create beauty where all one can often see is misery.
"Black" sits at the top of many of your own lists, an incomparable classic that provokes so much during each listen, as witnessed in your comments below:
"'Black' - 4, April 1994, Atlanta. At the end of the song, before the famous lines "we belong together," Ed sings something like, "Don't come back, I'll do it." It has been my #1 since...I have no words to describe that song...I can't wait for tomorrow's description." - Daniel/Brazil (I hope my description did it justice, Daniel)
"Black is definitely my number one, too. It's impressive how I always react when I listen to this song...it's just impossible for me to hear it without paying attention to the lyrics and in the feelings its music brings to me. And the last sentence in this song is something that I can't really explain, but I used to say that it is the sentence (more) full (of) feelings (than anything) ever sung...I just love this song..." - May
"'Black' is musically and vocally a masterpiece..and it deserves its spot very well...I mean 'Black' is the greatest song ever to be played on this planet." - Dipesh
"It has to be 'Black.' That's like the "white whale" in concert. If you get a setlist that has Black in it...then you caught a special night. McCready's solo at the end, after the final chorus...a$$ whipping at its finest." - Iowa Fan
"BLACK is ABSOLUTELY the GREATEST PJ SONG OF ALL TIME!" "'Black' should be #1" (Two separate comments on different days) - Dee Dee
"Aside from the fact that they did everything right on this track, there just aren't many lines in the history of music that can stand up to the power and raw, hard emotion of, 'I know someday you'll have a beautiful life, I know you'll be a star...In somebody else's sky, but why, why, WHHYYYYYY Can't it be, can't it beeeeeee miiiiiiiiine.'" - Ray
"'Black' deserves all the #1 it can possibly get. This song made me a fan of PJ. When I first clearly understood the words and the meaning they held for me...and when the words fell like salt on old unhealed wounds...I cried. 'I know someday you'll have a beautiful life, I know you'll be a star In somebody else's sky, but why, why, why' " - DD36
"Can't wait to see "Black" take the top spot (I know it will, it has to!)" - Joseph V Alfano
"The emotion during 'I hope you'll be a star, in somebody else's sky, but why, why, why! Can't it be, can't it be mine' is incomparable." - Rob S.
"I’m a metal head, so I’m more partial to the the heavier and/or faster songs." - Derek ...ranked "Black" 5th
"Going into this I knew Black would top the list..." - Tom
"...an obvious choice. Couldn't leave it out of top ten." - Paul
"The ultimate break up song for a desperate guy." - Craig C.
"Whether or not it's their best song (I can't really look at it objectively), it's here for sentimental personal reasons. I had been a Pearl Jam fan and already had the Ten cassette, but seeing Black on MTV Unplugged is what sent me over the top. It was the moment I knew that this band was going to play a special role in my life for years to come. I played my vhs tape of Unplugged so much that any live version I heard without the "we belong together..." part at the end sounded sadly lacking." - Ezra
"Pearl Jam could record for another twenty years but I can't see any other song replacing this as number one for me. I find this song incredibly beautiful. The music and lyrics blend perfectly. The imagery in the lyrics is exquisite-so evocative! I can't really even put it into words. It's hard for me to even imagine people not being moved by this song. I'm hoping it makes your top five." - Carla
"Melodramatic? Sure. Ever been in that emotional state over a lost or unrequited love? Absolutely." - Michael D.
Thank you so much for joining me on this journey. I have appreciated every single comment, message board post, e-mail (including some awesome essays...those of you who haven't, you will see your words in a posting sooner or later!), and page visit. You have made this a larger than life experience and have even occasionally brought tears to my eyes with your words. Thank you, thank you, thank you.
Stay tuned next week as the 60 Days of Pearl Jam continue with a countdown summary, a review of Chicago 2 (if only I could attend both nights!), the fan-voted Top Pearl Jam song compilation list and more. Later I will also be ranking the studio albums, examining the band's history and members and taking an intense look at the spiritual experience that is Live Pearl Jam. I hope you will continue with me on this wild ride, as we grow ever closer to the release of Backspacer. Thank you all one more time.
Review the entire countdown here: www.examiner.com/x-3940-Indianapolis-Pop-Culture-Examiner
Read my review of Backspacer's first single, "The Fixer," here: www.examiner.com/x-3940-Indianapolis-Pop-Culture-Examiner~y2009m7d27-Pearl-Jams-latest-gift
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