During a time when it’s easiest and most acceptable to despair, Pearl Jam have conveniently shared a song that reminds us to “Expect the unexpected.” What’s so refreshing and exciting about that is they’ve done so in a way that speaks to that concept both lyrically and musically. I delighted (finally) in recognizing the musical context which supports this song; understanding that influences including David Bowie, Genesis, and Talking Heads all represented the idea of being radically unexpected, this song musically and lyrically fits that example perfectly. And finally, the song offers us a [en]light[enment] at the end of the tunnel.

“Confusion is,… to commotion
What love is,… to our devotion
Imperceptibly big, big as the ocean
And equally hard to control”

This verse as a whole seems to be about choice: while both commotion and love would ordinarily be things that would demand anyone’s attention, the feeling now is that both are too overwhelming (“Imperceptibly big, big as the ocean”), much less possible to control, so we have to choose which we focus on. The first two lines, “Confusion is to commotion/What love is to our devotion” suggests that commotion (or disruption) requires confusion as much as devotion needs love to operate. The lines “Imperceptibly big, big as the ocean/And equally hard to control” of course further describe the first two lines, though I find that it’s an interesting implication that love and devotion is hard to control (or that it needs to be controlled at all?).

“So save your predictions
And burn your assumptions
Love is friction
Ripe for comfort”

With “So save your predictions/And burn your assumptions,” he’s asking us to suspend our beliefs for the time being. (And that is not a typo: we are not suspending our disbelief because these are things that we have not yet thought about fully and rationally.) In “Love is friction/Ripe for comfort” I consider two scenarios: literally, sex; and metaphorically, I imagine it could mean that love or a relationship needs some friction/discord in order to ultimately be fulfilling and comforting. Beyond the personal relationship aspect of that, though, I can also see how that metaphor would work socially – it suggests that our society can create more loving, comforting communities if we honor and accept our differences (aka the ‘friction’ between each other). It’s worth noting that exact concept is one Audre Lorde shared: “Community must not mean a shedding of our differences, nor the pathetic pretense that these differences do not exist. …[s]urvival is … learning how to take our differences and make them strengths. For the master’s tools will never dismantle the master’s house. They may allow us temporarily to beat him at his own game, but they will never enable us to bring about genuine change.”

“Endless equations
And tugging persuasions
Doors open up
To interpretation”

This verse seems kind of funny to be…interpreting on its own. The concept of this verse returns us to the first, begging choice to be the defining focus. “Endless equations” and “Doors open up/to interpretation” seem to suggest that there are many different possibilities to consider overall, whereas “and tugging persuasions” is about feeling obligated possibly to the degree of exploitation. Again, however, this verse seems to be rather hopeful; with “endless equations” and even “tugging persuasions,” these lines acknowledge that, good or bad, there are many different ways to solve our [political and social] afflictions, some which feel too overwhelming to consider and others which feel much more urgent. (But can they involve both? is my question, then, without yet considering good vs. bad…)

“Expecting perfection leaves a lot to ignore
When the past is the present and the future’s no more
When every tomorrow is the same as before”

The chorus, as compared to the inlaid hope in the rest of the song, is a rather bleak return to reality – but at least it balances out the song. Though I’m trying to remain unbiased in my analysis (in vain, because all interpretations are based in perspective which means no interpretation can inherently be unbiased), I have to admit that this verse only reminds me further of America’s political climate and particularly the elections going on and choosing who will represent the nation. “Expecting perfection leaves a lot to ignore” suggests that even if we do expect perfection, even accepting the concept of perfection is still the equivalent of pulling the wool over our eyes because perfection is an impossible, wholly unrealistic expectation for anyone. It’s especially sharp to consider with respect to political leaders because when we (if I may call myself out? particularly liberals) expect “the perfect candidate” to exist, in doing so we would allow ourselves to be blindly devoted to these people when that’s not what we need – we need a leader we can hold accountable, and that’s impossible to do when expecting or believing them to be perfect because then they could hypothetically do no wrong. The line “When the past is the present and the future’s no more” perfectly reflects my despair, thanks Eddie reminds us that history has repeated itself (we did NOT learn from history) and thus it feels impossible to climb out of our collective hole of despair to imagine the future. And if we can’t imagine the future, then of course it’d feel doomed that “every tomorrow is the same as before.”

“The looser things get,… the tighter you become
The looser things get,… tighter
There’s not one man,… who’s greater than the sum
That’s not a negative thought, I’m positive

Falling down,… not staying down
Could’ve held me up, rather tear me down
Drown in the river”

The first two lines of this verse seems a little odd in conjunction with the rest of it, but I’ll make do to analyze it. Honestly, it reminds me of the fact that Vedder is a parent and I recalled his quote that he shared years ago about fatherhood: “I’m trying to break any chain of negative parenting that I might have survived. I know that she’s going to go through a time where she has to assert her independence. I’m going to have to just encourage that.” The first line of the verse speaks to his idea of encouraging independence – “The looser things get” – while grappling with the natural resistance of wanting control over that – “The tighter you become.” But more generally, “The looser things get tighter” details the tension and inevitable paradox that we all feel in recognizing that change is coming but that we don’t know what that looks like, for better or for worse. The rest of the verse is just as political as the earlier parts of the song – “There’s not one man who’s greater than the sum,” which reminds me of the current American president whose actions AND words narcissistically convey the idea that he’s greater and more important than the rest of the country. The next lyric, when paired with the previous lyric however, makes me think it could also be inspired by Vedder being a frontman – even vocabulary like ‘frontman/frontwoman/frontperson’ suggests that the person out in front is more important than those ‘in the background’ – and he’s admitting his privilege while communicating that his admission isn’t a “negative thought” or something to view as a negative thing (for example, the term “white fragility” exemplifies the antithesis of that). And to that he’s “positive, positive, positive.” 😉 Vedder’s underdog optimism makes a return in the line “Falling down, not staying down,” and his appeal for accountability is loud and clear: “Could’ve held me up, [rather] than tearing me down/Drown in the river”. Again, these lines sound rather political, urging for competent help – “Could’ve held me up” (consider the idiom “to hold someone up” which entails elevating someone to a higher level than they could previously reach!) – rather than repudiating him and purposely letting him drown in the river.

“Numbers keep falling off the calendars floor
Stuck in our boxes, windows open no more
Collecting up the forget-me-nots
Not recalling what they’re for
I’m in love with clairvoyants
Cause they’re out of this world”

I had the idea that Vedder was accidentally quite prophetic with the first two lines of this verse (about the current pandemic). Yikes. But seriously, “Numbers keep falling off the calendars floor” describes mortality and the idea that time is running out. The next line which is probably my favorite of the whole song, “Stuck in our boxes, windows open no more” relies, in my analysis, on two different idioms: 1) “stuck in our boxes” is like “Don’t box me in/don’t put me in a box,” so the lyric implores us not to judge, label, or limit ourselves to a specific, possibly preconceived, notion; and 2) “windows open no more” reminded me of “The eyes are the windows to the soul,” and if the windows aren’t open then the eyes are closed – to what’s arguably the most important surrounding situation. The next two lyrics depend on irony: “Collecting up the forget-me-nots/Not recalling what they’re for” which makes me think of a more personal reflection of the way Vedder has, as a member of a very successful band with a now-30 year history, inevitably collected many depictions of unforgettable moments and experiences but can now seemingly no longer remember what those depictions were for (also suggesting that what was supposedly unforgettable has become – thanks to mortality – forgettable). And if that was, at all, the inspiration behind those lines, it makes me think Vedder is once again addressing his privilege (to have the opportunity of having so many unforgettable experiences that they have, by now, become forgettable). Metaphorically, and especially politically since this song is so political, those ironic lines could be about the parts of history that we dutifully recorded so as to make sure we didn’t repeat it but whose meticulousness is rendered futile since we’ve repeated our mistakes (which is proven by acknowledging that we have forgotten history because we’ve repeated it). And finally the lines that first reference the song title: “I’m in love with clairvoyants/’cause they’re out of this world” means he’s ‘in love with’ people who keep an open mind and are open to the future and its possibilities (and those possibilities which may just seem “out of this world”), which also implies that he’s equally as accepting of what changes the future may bring as clairvoyants have to be in order to see the future.

“I know the girls wanna dance,…
Away their circumstance
I know the boys wanna grow,…
Their dix and fix and fire things”

This is the verse I’ve been the most reluctant to acknowledge, personally, because I believe gender is fucked and it’s difficult to accept Vedder’s apparent effort here at minimizing gender to stereotypes. But acknowledging that it makes me the most uncomfortable means it’s probably even more important that I analyze it. So: “I know the girls wanna dance/away their circumstance” details [a note of sympathy starting with “I know”] his recognition of girls’ “circumstance” – which likely includes all matters of oppression that they must live with – and their desire to “dance” it away. As for the rest of the verse, “I know the boys wanna grow/their dicks and fix and fire things” is his recognition that the performance of masculinity, especially in American culture, is often reduced to the size of one’s penis, one’s ability to fix things especially in a physical/literal sense, and an obsession with guns and anything with the ability to shoot – or in this case “fire.” In pointing out these expectations, he’s obviously suggesting these things are problematic. For example, I can think of two ways in which girls wanting to “dance away their circumstance” could be problematic: 1) it suggests that girls are expected to overcome the obstacle of their oppression themselves rather than recognizing that female oppression will only disappear when boys and men hold each other accountable for their [starting with] misogynistic and sexist behaviors as well as recognize the ways in which they benefit from maintaining that oppression (and here I think is a good time to mention that the exact same gesture applies to racism and that most discernibly white people have the responsibility to dismantle white supremacy and end racism); and 2) “dancing away their circumstance” implies the use of an adverse coping mechanism – that they feel compelled to dance as a means of distraction from their reality. The rest of the verse merits just as much criticism: first, the obsession with penis size is not only transphobic (boys without penises are boys, FULL STOP) but it’s also a nocuous social construct that suggests not only that a man is more masculine if he has a big dick but also that he’s a better lover (society tells us the first part is true, hence it being a social construct and not fact, whereas the second part is easily disproved by all the men who don’t have big dicks but are nonetheless gettin’ laid!); second, there’s practically a worldwide acceptance of masculinity entailing that men are expected to fix things, but most often that’s in a literal/physical sense and that (per toxic masculinity) it typically ignores any emotional responsibilities, so the criticism there is that fixing things in all senses – literal/physical or emotional – should not burden one part of the human race more than another and that (presumably in line with Vedder’s activist values) it should be a responsibility of EVERYBODY regardless of gender; and third, this exists as commentary on the fact that the toxic traits of masculinity are responsible for nearly all mass shootings worldwide, and that historically wars are started and primarily fought by boys and men (“He’s the universal soldier, and he really is to blame” as Buffy Sainte-Marie sang).

“I know the girls wanna dance,…
Clairvoyants in a trance
I know the boys wanna grow,…
Their dix and fix and fire things”

The primary thing to point out about this verse is how it ends up heteronormalizing the song with the new distinction in the first half: “I know the girls wanna dance/clairvoyants in a trance” implies that girls are clairvoyants (not boys) and earlier in the song he sang “I’m in love with clairvoyants” which clearly announces: hello, I am heterosexual. (So if anyone was wondering…that’s what coming out as straight sounds like! Good for you, Eddie, at least you made that clear.) The line “clairvoyants in a trance” indicates that [girls] are the most poised to accept change, or are enlightened. And in juxtaposition with the altered lyric in the first half of the verse, the repetition of the latter half is reiterating boys’ immaturity and that they are not as accepting of change or as enlightened.

“Stand back when the spirit comes
Stand back when the spirit comes
Stand back when the spirit comes
Stand back!”

Just as the “clairvoyant” in the song represents someone (specifically a girl/woman in this context) with an open mind looking to the future, “the spirit” here represents the future. When Vedder warns to “stand back when the spirit comes,” he’s imploring us to stand back and accept/make way for the future and the changes it will inevitably bring – and I’d wager that this appeal especially comes from a place of privilege. That idea is supported by recognizing that the lyric is “stand back,” and standing back is an action specifically performed by a bystander – someone who observes a scene but does not intervene. On one hand, that could be a troubling ideal to consider because as a privileged person you have a responsibility to use your privilege to make positive change and stand up for what’s right; but on the other hand, assuming you are using your privilege on behalf of positive change and your advocacy has been acknowledged, at some point it is necessary to sit down (to “stand back”) and observe – and truly recognize – the motions for change offered by whoever you’re advocating for. In a simpler way it reminds me of the saying “pass the torch” – address what’s been done previously and what there is still to do, but then stand back and let a different group handle the situation. (Recall Pearl Jam’s most recent single before Gigaton or “Dance of the Clairvoyants,” “Can’t Deny Me.”)

“Took my love,… to have and to hold
Held me down in the river
Took my love,… to have and to hold
Drowning in the river”

Okay, so this part of the outro is very dark, can I say, perhaps unexpectedly so. But, as compared to the rest of the song, I think it’s still doing something politically; it’s about a deep betrayal. Particularly I hear “Took my love, to have and to hold/Held me down in the river” and I ask: who’s holding him down? “Took my love, to have and to hold” is obviously about whoever is [in the next line] holding him down, but if they took his love ‘to have and to hold’ (as the typical marriage vow goes), then the answer would be, in that vein, someone he trusts enough to marry. So politically/metaphorically, I still think that it’s about the government. As citizens, we’re supposed to trust our government and representatives to take care of us and believe they have our best interests at heart, but when we (America) have an administration like our current ‘leaders’ and think about how consistently they’ve failed us and our fellow human beings, the metaphor is obvious. However, there also seems to be a true story element to this, as it reminded me of the news story from 2019 of the Salvadoran migrant father and daughter who drowned in a river outside the U.S. border. Furthermore, it’s an interesting show of empathy that Vedder would lyrically take on that experience himself (“took my love … held me down in the river”) which, in comparison with the reference, is quite unnerving knowing he has daughters as well. While I’m dubious about that sort of undertaking (not that he hasn’t been critiqued for that sort of action in his songs in the past), it still seems to act as a gesture of pathos which would put him in someone else’s shoes and is a call to action for all of us to do the same.