A Ballad For Me?

So it's been some time since my last post - err...like a few months shy of two years. Let's just say I've taken a little journey. Yeah, yeah - that's it. A journey...

OK. Off the top, the lyrics grabbed me first on this one.  It's funny how some songs grab your attention for different reasons - but it always comes back to the music in the end.  Deep, relevant lyrics that you can connect to on some level are just a plus.  Anyway, I connected with this one for one reason or another.

Riot Act by Pearl Jam

"All or None" is the dark, moody ballad that closes up Pearl Jam's seventh studio album "Riot Act". As music and songs are always open to different interpretations by every new person who listens, here is my take on this one:  life is cyclical.  Sometimes you feel like you just move in circles - never really getting anywhere.  It's about frustration.  Getting caught up. 

Eddie Vedder's melodic voice over-top Stone Gossard's cyclical (there's that word again), musical arrangement brings the lyrics to life and ties the whole song together.  This is one of those Pearl Jam songs that is filled with hidden energy that becomes unlocked when you listen through your headphones.  It's pretty fun to play on an acoustic as well...

By the way, the answer to fixing the cyclical problem in life - it's in the song.  For me, it's about this verse:

"To myself I surrender,
To the one I'll never please."

Anyway, if you haven't heard this tune, give it a listen:

All or None Lyrics:

It's a hopeless... situation
And I'm starting to believe
That this hopeless... situation
Is what I'm trying to achieve

But I try
To run on
Is all or none,... all or none

Here's the selfless confession
Leading me back to war
Can we help that,.. our destinations
Are the ones we've been before

I still try
To run on
But is all or none,... all or none

To myself I... surrender
To the one I'll never please

But I still try to run on
Oh I still try to run on
But it's all or none, all or none