Yellow Ledbetter
| Title | Yellow Ledbetter |
|---|---|
| Artist | Pearl Jam |
| Album | Lost Dogs |
| Release Date | August 1992 |
| Description | “Yellow Ledbetter” may very well be one of the most-debated songs in Pearl Jam’s repertoire. There are at least 4 prominent theories circulating as to the origin of the song title alone, including (but not limited to): It is derived from the name of an old friend of Vedder’s from Chicago named Tim Ledbetter. (This theory is strongly supported in Kim Neely’s definitive biography Five Against One.) It is derived from an old tongue twister in which you try to say “yellow better, red better” as fast as you can. According to an explanation on Songfacts, “Just a few times repeated, the words become jumbled and you get ‘yellow ledbetter.’ The reason they named the song this is because the lyrics are indistinguishable just like the tongue twister.” It is a tribute to Huddie Ledbetter, also known as Lead Belly. Lead Belly was a pioneering Blues musician in the 1930s and, later, a Rock and Roll Hall of Famer, who recorded much of his music while in prison (at first, for carrying a pistol, then for killing one of his own relatives in a fight over a woman). It refers to someone receiving a letter and finding out their brother had died in the war (these types of communications were often sent in yellow envelopes). This theory is heavily supported by Eddie’s variation on the words during the Live at the Garden version of “Yellow Ledbetter,” in which he purportedly sang, “I don’t know whether my brother will be coming home in a box or a bag.” Title aside, the lyrics of “Yellow Ledbetter” are fairly difficult to understand when heard live and even on the recorded version. Pearl Jam’s fan organization, the Ten Club, would regularly receive letters from fans begging them to provide some hint as to what the “real” lyrics were. Thus, when Epic released “Yellow Ledbetter” on a Japanese CD-single of “Daughter” in 1993, fans were scrambling to get their hands on the lyric booklet included with it. However, as Kim Neely points out in Five Against One, “Even the purportedly official lyrics were nonsensical… In fact, there never were any real lyrics. Eddie had simply improvised them during the one-take session, singing whatever phrases happened to pop into his head.” Today, this ambiguity still leads to the creation of many ‘misheard lyrics’ videos, dedicated to humorously interpreting whatever Vedder is saying. |
| Lyrics | [Verse] Unsealed on a porch a letter sat Then you 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, yeah On a weekend wanna wish it all 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 don't know whether I'm the boxer or the bag [Chorus] Oh yeah, can you see them Out on the porch Yeah, but they don't wave I see them 'Round the front way, yeah And I know and I know I don't want to stay [Post-Chorus] Make me cry [Guitar Solo] [Bridge] I see I don't know, there's something else I wanna drum it all away Oh, I said, I don't, I don't know whether I'm the boxer or the bag You might also like[Chorus] Oh yeah, can you see them Out on the porch Yeah but they don't wave I see them 'Round the front way And I know and I know I don't want to stay, oh I don't wanna stay I don't wanna stay I don't wanna stay, oh, no Yeah [Outro] Oh... Oh... |