Comments on: Cropduster

By: Believe You Me

Believe You Me — Fri, 21 Sep 2007 20:10:21 +0000

One of my top 5 songs from ‘Riot Act’.

By: slightofjeff

slightofjeff — Fri, 21 Sep 2007 03:53:45 +0000

This whole song represents what are, to me, some of Ed’s greatest lyrics. It’s like he’s channeling John Keats.

The first verse, especially, is just beautiful.

“Eyes, no eyes, there’s no difference….”

Loved this song on first listen. Loved it even more Live on the 2003 tour.

By: Kevin Davis

Kevin Davis — Thu, 20 Sep 2007 23:17:12 +0000

“Cropduster” is one of the most eccentrically engineered Pearl Jam songs yet, and I think it’s one of the shining moments on Riot Act. I believe Riot Act to be the band’s most thematically consistent record, and I’ve always liked that the album that was written on the heels of the most significant political event(s) in Pearl Jam’s history, and produced a handful of inward-looking, existential meditations rather than a bunch of political ranting, a few noteworthy exceptions notwithstanding. “Cropduster” looks to the cosmos for answers; it’s a song about being at the center of something ever larger. No matter what you think you know, you really don’t know anything. It’s all the other way ’round.

I’ve long believed that Eddie Vedder has to be one of the most spiritually confused people in the history of the world. In concert he has made statements that both renounce and accept the idea of a god, and his songs are chock full of sentiments which constantly place himself of the mercy of something infinitely larger. “Cropduster” plays with the idea of the universe as God, and I don’t know how sure Ed really is of everything he sings in it. In any case, I think it’s one of Ed’s most engaging lyrics, perfectly at home on Riot Act – which is, in my opinion, an album of great songs.

By: Scigatt

Scigatt — Thu, 20 Sep 2007 22:30:13 +0000

The thing about this song is that if you take it in really deeply, it affects the way you see other PJ songs, like how I see Brain of J(see entry).

By: NoCoder

NoCoder — Thu, 20 Sep 2007 16:38:15 +0000

Unfortunately, in an album full of bad songs, I think this one was the worst. I wanted to love it and I tried for years, but I just can’t get into any aspect of the song (save perhaps the very end). That said, I was always fond of the song’s title. It at least has that going for it. But if someone can find enjoyment in “cropduster,” far be it for me to deny him or her that.