Corduroy (song)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| "Corduroy" | ||
|---|---|---|
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| Song by Pearl Jam | ||
| from the album Vitalogy | ||
| Released | November 22, 1994 (Vinyl) December 6, 1994 (CD and Cassette) |
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| Recorded | January - February 1994 at Bad Animals Studio, Seattle, Washington | |
| Genre | Grunge | |
| Length | 4:37 | |
| Label | Epic | |
| Writer(s) | Dave Abbruzzese, Jeff Ament, Stone Gossard, Mike McCready, Eddie Vedder | |
| Producer(s) | Brendan O'Brien, Pearl Jam | |
| Chart positions | ||
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| Vitalogy track listing | ||
| "Pry, To" (Track 7) |
"Corduroy" (Track 8) |
"Bugs" (Track 9) |
"Corduroy" is the eighth track on Pearl Jam's 1994 album, Vitalogy. It begins with an eerie riff played as an arpeggio of the first two notes of a power chord. Then the song lifts off, proceeding with a structure of verse-chorus-verse-chorus-bridge-chorus-verse. Although not revolutionary, the song structure is not completely normal, as almost no lyrics are repeated (including choruses) and the fade-out of the song begins after a verse rather than the traditional ending of a song after the third chorus. The song was included on Pearl Jam's greatest hits album, Rearviewmirror: Greatest Hits 1991-2003.
The song has become a concert favorite, although in concert it is generally played at a slightly faster tempo. Some live performances are preceded by a brief jam of Pink Floyd's "Interstellar Overdrive".
[edit] Lyrical meaning
The lyrical content can be interpreted in many ways, but one common theory is that they are about the pressures of fame. In an interview Eddie Vedder stated:
It is about a relationship but not between two people. It's more one person's relationship with a million people. In fact, that song's almost a little too obvious for me. That's why instead of a lyric sheet we put in an X-ray of my teeth from last January and they are all in very bad shape, which was analogous to my head at the time.[1]
Regarding the song's title, Vedder stated:
Yeah, that song was based on a remake of the brown corduroy jacket that I wore. I think I got mine for 12 bucks, and it was being sold for like $650. The ultimate one as far as being co-opted was that there was a guy on TV, predictably patterned, I guess, after the way I was looking those days, with long hair and an Army T-shirt. They put this new character on a soap opera, so there was a guy, more handsome than I, parading around on General Hospital. And the funny thing is, that guy was Ricky Martin.[2]
[edit] References
- ^ Hilburn, Robert. "All Revved Up (As Usual)". Los Angeles Times. November 20, 1994.
- ^ Modell, Josh. "Eddie Vedder of Pearl Jam". The A.V. Club. November 6, 2002.
