Long Nights

I find this song haunting.  The high, shimmering broken guitar chords contrast with the deep, ringing bass notes to create a mood and a sonic space.  The mood is pensive, wistful, full of longing.  Ed’s voice fills the space and the mood.  It is so gentle, so tender, like an adult lullaby.  The kind that an adult child might sing to a worried parent.  There are keyboard flourishes that also accent the mood.  Repeated notes that create tension and short runs that bring a sense of relief.  The chorus in particular still catches me off-guard despite the fact that I have now heard the song many times.  Ed brings back the falling motif that he so often uses, and this time it feels like falling into untroubled sleep for the first time in a long, long time.

As much as I love the music itself, the lyrics are equally haunting.  The song is about rebirth.  About leaving behind everything that one has known:

Who I was before

I cannot recall

The singer emerges from a long, lonely time into a new life:

I’ll take this soul

That’s inside me now

Like a brand new friend

I’ll forever know

It’s nighttime music, quiet and thoughtful, yet it’s also optimistic.

I’ve got this light

And the will to show

I will always be

Better than before

I’m not sure that I’ve ever been more moved by a Pearl Jam song.  I hope to hear this live someday.

~ by dierdre on November 16, 2007.