Throw Your Arms Around Me
This song isn’t really played by Pearl Jam. It’s a song that Eddie does as a pre-set prior to the opening band’s set in order to reward audience members for showing up early. I think that it is one of Eddie’s most popular pre-sets. It’s a catchy tune with a very pretty, lilting melody that makes for a great sing-a-long. It is relatively obscure in the US, but it’s one of Australia’s most popular tunes. It was written by Mark Seymour for his band, Hunters and Collectors. They recorded a couple of different versions, but my favorite is the original. The song has such staying power that people as disparate as Neil Finn and comedy trio The Doug Anthony All Stars have recorded popular versions.
The story behind the song is a very interesting one. On the surface, TYAAM seems to be a love song. But Mark Seymour wrote it while recalling a very memorable one-night stand with a prostitute. Not exactly the stuff that romance is made of. The recorded versions of the song tend to feature pure tenor voices, very poppy production values and lovely, elaborate harmonizing vocals. Eddie of course has none of those things. He comes out with only his guitar. His voice is deep, smokey and has none of the lightness of other singers of the song. Yet TYAAM always becomes a joyful sing-a-long. I think that my favorite parts of this song are the wordless vocalizations that he does at the end. He lets his voice soar freely, sometimes not quite hitting the high note, but it’s a moment that feels intimate even when surrounded by 15,000 people. And that’s always welcome.
I felt very fortunate at my first Pearl Jam show in 1998 to catch a pre-set version of this tune. This post reminds me, as I don’t often enter into the “what song do you wish PJ would cover?” discussions, that a good choice would actually be “Wide Eyes” by Toronto musician Hayden.
Similar to C-13’s experience, this was the pre-show opener at the first Pearl Jam show I ever saw, also in 1998,…It’s a great opener and a perfect mood setter as far as I’m concerned. I enjoy the song musically moreso than I enjoy it lyrically, but that’s going to happen sometimes. I think I’ve been lucky enough to hear it live a few times since ‘98, but I would love to see it show up someday on a Pearl Jam Covers album….I would definately love to see an album of great covers performed by PJ. Of course, I don’t think that will ever happen, but oh well…
I just stumbled upon your blog after searching for Bu$hleaguer on the net. This is an absolute treat, and one of the best PJ fan-sites I have seen in a while. Thanks!
Thanks so much RS!
Similar to the first few comments, I heard this song first during a pre show, but it was a fast version, cant remember the date. I agree, it is a great mood setter and I love the end when he belts “i’ll shout it to the blue summer sky!”
I once made a casette of romantic Pearl Jam songs for a girlfriend, if you can believe it…I did it, and can barely believe it, such a 80s cliché, and it was around ´98, but yet, it’s true…and Throw Your Arms was the first and last song…and that casette was the last one I ever made for anyone…….