To me this song speaks of meeting the one person you've searched for all your life, kinda like your soulmate. it's someone that you may have known at a young age, or from a past life, "i seem to recognize your face, haunting, familiar, yet i can't seem to place it". you've known this person before and have finally found them. i can't get anything further out of this really. i just see it as being reunited with an old lost friend and just wanting to catch up on the missed time and wanting to hold them and just scream hello, this huge relief of finding this person who may have meant something significant to you

Follow-up by PrlJade: I like your idea of this song being about finding your soul mate, but I always had a different view. The song to me is talking about the same person when they are older and looking back on their life seeing they have wasted it. This lady did nothing with her life, an elderly woman behind the counter. So I have this image of this lady who has to work in her ladder part of her life because she doesn't have enough to retire. The whole world went by and she sat idle: "all these changes taking place, i wish i'd seen the place but no one's ever taken me" Maybe a second person does walk into this story, who was someone this lady knew from school and is successful and has wealth. So you have a conversation between the two regarding their lives: "me, you wouldn't recall, for i'm not my former it's hard when, your stuck upon the shelf", so this 'elderly woman' may have had something holding her back from making her life more worth-while. She aged, but didn't have anything exciting in her life: "i changed by not changing at all" and she's stuck for the rest of her life living in the same place and feels alone there: "small town predicts my fate perhaps that's what no one wants to see", so now you have someone from the past that comes to see her and feel the excitement by the woman even through Ed's voice in this line: "i just want to scream...hello... my god its been so long, never dreamed you'd return".

Follow-up by Mamasan_Live_Through_This: See now to me Elderly Woman was always about finding the person you were meant to be with after not seeing them for the longest time and just being so happy to see them again. Be it a soulmate or someone from another life to me its about seeing the person you love after not seeing them for a long time. But the catch is that this person doesnt feel the same way so the longing for them is even greater now that they have returned."All these change takin place, I wish Id seen the place, But noones ever taken me" to me in this line Ed is talking about love. Love is something this person has never felt not cause he doesnt love anyone but because noone has ever loved them. I dont know thats how I feel about the song, to me its about the longing you feel for someone you love that doesnt love you in return but then again. I get that from alot of Pearl Jams songs

Follow-up by DTE420: i always this song about eddie going back to his old hometown after the hype the band got after the ten explosion. and he feels different at first. having trouble remembering everyone that he once knew. this line, "me, you wouldn't recall, for i'm not my former" really makes me think of that. that he's not the same person anymore and can't go back to being who he was because of the media attention his band is getting now. then the line. "i changed by not changing at all" i see as him thinking he's the same person now he always was but now the whole world is on his shoulder, so he did change by the attentioon he's got now. and now you have an emotional outburst, "i just want to scream...hello, my god its been so long, never dreamed you'd return, but now here you are, and here i am" he's where he belongs and it's a call to the people he once knew wishing he was back to being among them.

Follow-up by Bonafideyetcrazy: I'd have to say that this elderly women song has got some variation based on what I am reading. However, I am convinced that this song is about a man that returns to his home town and enters a small restaraunt where he sees a woman there that he knows from way back. She just can't remember who he is, but he knows who she is because they used to be in love(this is why she recognizes his breath). When she just wants to scream hello, she now has realized who this man really is. Sad to say, the fire is not there anymore because their hearts and thoughts have faded away. **It is possible that the man returned home to see if this woman would instantly remember who he is. When she doesnt, he becomes sad because she must not have loved him as much as he loved her.

Right from line #1, I can see this is about homelessness: "freezin', rests his head on a pillow made of concrete". He gets his money from people passing by, at least tries to get the money: "hand out, faces that he sees time again ain't that familiar". The people passing by give him funny looks when walking by, maybe they gave him like a quater or two, he's happy with the little money he gets, but we feel pity for him: "dark grin, he can't help when his happy looks insane". He sits day after day collecting the little money, while great ideas pop into his mind that could help him get off the streets, he could be afraid to take that step: "even flow, thoughts arrive like butterflies he don't know, so he chases them away". Evenflow, to me means a good flow of revenue, and making profits. So he's got ideas of something and doesn't act on them, but prays to a higher power for help: "prayin', now to something that has never showed him anything". From this praying, he's getting nothing. He's hoping praying will help him find a home soon from the cold nights ahead of him: "feelin',understands the weather of the winters on its way". Once again he's got great ideas, but doesn't act on them. All he knows is 'someday he'll begin his life, again'. The use of 'again' to me symbolizes, maybe last time he did act on his ideas of profits, lost all he had, and wound up on the the street. He's praying to god, letting ideas pass him by until: "whispering hands, gently lead him away". The man died on the street. Moral of the song: you fell down, you get back up until you find what it is you're looking for.

This is actually a love song / life philosophy song for me. It's about an individual, who has not developed any believes (A bridge that has not Been around or been stepped on ), who floats in the air (emotionally). And then that person sees everybody around him/her believing in something (this is the sad part of the song for me), they all truly believe and they of course all believe in the same thing (they believe in some religious god or they believe in money, it depends on my mude), they are truly devoted to their belief and they would even use physical force to defend their beliefs (the middle part has a bit of hostile tone). In that time the person thinks about wheather to believe or not, what to believe, considers the belief of the majority... Finally the person falls in love and realizes that your beliefs are not linked with everyone elses beliefs and the majority's beliefs are not neceserily right (for him/her at least), the person realizes you have to believe what you feel, so she/he decides to believe in Love, for he/she is in love at the moment. I understand the end of the song as like even if the momentary love connection does not hold, the person will continue to believe in Love and not switch to any other belief. A lovely song, it made me fall in love with Pearl Jam music.

i see this song as a person who is down but not beaten. physically he may be damaged. but his spirit remains strong. the lyrics paint the image of the physical defeat, the blood on the face and the hands bound together. but this person isn't going to surrender quite easily and continue battling with his heart. so it's trying to stay. your body might be giving up on you. but you can still live with your mind and soul.

I see this song as a story of a character's life. his life begins of pain & agony. it's about a change the person undergoes a change, a spiritual change. he leaves his past behind and everything that was with it. now he is a whole new person and wants to spread the message onto others (giving his love away). this song reminds of the story of jesus. despite all the perscution he went through. he didn't lose his hope in people and gave his love to them. even to those that killed him in the end. "but first he was stripped, and then he was stabbed by a faceless man, the fuckers he still stands" to me is the crucification story and then the resurrection. this song is really inspirational to me. to me it's always about being the best person you can be despite what trouble you might be going through.

Follow-up by Snobaud23:I totally agree with this one for GTF. I couldn't beleive the simmilarities between this song and the story of Jesus. In fact, the whole album seems to be very spiritual.

Follow-up by Pilate78: Yeah, i like Dave's interp of gtf too... i've seen that too and that yield is quite a spiritual album... i saw the lyrics similar to your interp and it being about Jesus... i see a visionary and a person that has seen something and has new purpose to his life... he wants to show what he knows the rest of the world... however the truth he holds isn't expected by everyone and he undergoes an oppression but he keeps faith in what he knows to continue spreading the message.

Follow-up by Sweet_Sugar69_2000: Wow! I totally see how this could be about the story of Jesus. In the beginning you have someone that could've tuned in and be like everyone else, but he tuned out and lived an outside life in the corridor all alone. He runs to ocean where he is encountered by his father being God and recieves his wings. So with his new wings he spreads the message on the people: "he floated back down cause he wanted to share his key to the locks on the chains he saw everywhere..." He could've just kept it to himself, but shared his love with the people. However, there was those who had problems with him proclaiming he was the savior and had him punished: "but first he was stripped, and then he was stabbed by a faceless man, the fuckers he still stands..." He is crucified but still stands in the hearts of those who followed him. He still continues to give his love away to the people. He's a human that was given to fly. He was just a regular man that in the end proved to be something extrodinary. You guys are great! I see how this song could very well be about Jesus now. It makes sense! =)

Ok to me this song is about someone who is being abused and has grown dependant on their abuser. Much like wives who are beaten by their husbands and feel they cant leave, Except in this case the abuser has decided to leave the person they are abusing and the person being abused is pleading with them to stay. Theyre pleading for them to stay cause they have grown dependant of their abuser and fear being alone. As fuck up as it sounds it happens to people, their minds get so fucked up that they feel the person that hurts them are the ones who can save them.

Right away I think Gods' dice is something we can't control and nothing we can do about it. The first few lines right away suggest something happening that is "not in our hands", it means giving up in the hope of changing your life's destiny, you 'resignate your luck'. So I get this idea of someone just thinking they were put on the world thinking their life is already pre-planned, but this person hopes God chose a good life for him, "roll 'em high...throw them again...all gods' dice", so you hope for the best but don't do anything to make it better. In the end this person recieves an awakening and sees if he/she wants a good life, they have to take it in their own hands, believe in yourself and don't just rely on a God, "a-designate my life, ah designate my view ah resignate my will, my will, my will, i will resignate my god". So you have to let go of this God and believe in yourself, your life isn't preplanned even before your born, you can change it at anytime that you want.

I think this song is about drug addictions. I see it as Eddie knew someone close to him getting into drugs, and Ed would suspect that to be the last person he'd ever see become an addict. Ed saw other people getting into drugs/alcohol to cover up their problems and see if it really works, but he didn't expect this person to get into it and is pleading with the person that this isn't their way and they've got to find a better way out. And I think the "speaking as a child of the 90s" line is Eddie talking about us and our growing addiction to drugs like his friend is getting into now.

Follow-up by Dte420: Just to add to your thoughts on habit. i think this was written during mike's alcohol problems during the vitalogy session and the band was crumbling apart. mike was on the verge of being fired by the rest of the guys. then he got help straightened out and got past his drinking problems

I see this song as looking and trying to find true love, and I guess get the sense it is about marriage, "bandaged hand in hand" and about really wanting to change for the better, "i could be new". So you have someone who may not be happy with himself, and it desperate for change and wanted to be loved, "i don't wanna think, i wanna feel". I think it's written by someone who isn't in love, but glad to see those around that are, "hail, hail the lucky ones, i refer to those in love". And that line also gives you the idea that only people who are in love experience true happiness. The first verse captures you right into the song, the second one makes warms you, and the third makes you wanna go find someone.