Your Top 5?

As a Pearl Jam Blogger I'm often asked what my favorite Pearl Jam song is.  My unwavering answer has always been "Black."  A much more difficult question though is, "what are your top 5 PJ songs."  It's hard enough to look over the discography and limit it to just 5 but what I've found more interesting as I've blog posted nearly the entire collection is that my top 5 songs change as my life does.

Like most people, I was a casual fan of Pearl Jam for years.  I always liked the music despite the fact that I had to mumble A LOT of the lyrics (Yellow Ledbetter anyone?).  One day I read the words to "Given To Fly."  From there I really started digging into a lot of the other songs and started to realize that the music I'd been mumbling along to for years was pure poetry.

Today, my top 5 are as follows:

Black – This is the song that put the Pearl Jam hook in me.  “I know someday you'll have a beautiful life, I know you'll be a star in somebody else's sky, but why, why, why can't it be, can't it be mine.”  Those lyrics have deep meaning for me and will likely keep this song at the top of my list forever.

Present Tense – This is a recent addition to my list but only because I had never taken a close look at the lyrics.  Every line resonates with me and evokes a primal, philosophical, contemplative mood.

I Am Mine – “I know I was born and I know that I’ll die, the in between is mine… I Am Mine.”  These are great lyrics to live by.  I always enjoy the opening of the song which seems to denigrate church goers, in my interpretation.

Given To Fly – Eddie Vedder said he sees this song as a 20 page cardboard fable book for children.  The religious overtones of the last stanza always inspire me.

Immortality – Although the lyrics of this song are amazing, this one really grabbed me when I saw the “Imagine – Live in Cornice DVD.”  There’s a part where Ed goes on stage alone to do a sound check and the music coupled with the location in Italy is just pure magic.  Click here to see that scene.

There are about 20 other songs that work their way in and out of this list as my life changes but for now, these are mine… What are yours?