Understanding Even Flow
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- Опубліковано 21 гру 2023
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Growing up, I was never really sure what Even Flow was about. Something about butterflies, maybe? But over the years, as I've listened more closely and parsed more of the words, I've come to appreciate it much more as a powerful message about empathy and the struggles of homelessness. And for decades, Pearl Jam has been putting their money where their mouths are on that issue, raising millions of dollars to support programs aiming to end homelessness once and for all, so in honor of that mission, I want to talk about the song that started it all.
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Also, thanks to Jareth Arnold!
Some additional thoughts/corrections:
1) Donate to Everyone In: everyoneinla.org/get-involved/donate/
2) Most of the accounts I found of Vedder's story at the Home Show prominently featured the part where his friend Eddie died, but that seems to me to be missing the point. He spends a long time discussing their friendship, how they met, who he was, and even discusses a previous time that he thought he'd lost him but then found out he'd moved. He acknowledges Eddie's passing, but only briefly and only at the very end. It's a story about his life, not his death, so I focused my summary on that. Reducing it to "Eddie Vedder had a homeless friend who died" felt disrespectful, and in the space I had for it there didn't seem like a way to include that detail without making it feel like the point. Anyway, you can watch Vedder tell the story himself here: ua-cam.com/video/aaiw1DUTgQs/v-deo.html
3) The band (and specifically Ament) has talked about how they're not happy with the rhythmic feel in the recorded version of the song, so some of the stuff I discussed about time feel and locking in they would probably view as being mistakes, but in analysis I don't really tend to care much about whether something is a mistake or not. Whether or not this was planned, it has an impact on the experience of the listener, so I don't see the point in attaching value judgments.
4) On that note, Ament definitely screwed up the half-bar riff, as you may have heard. I decided I didn't care: It's not relevant to my analysis, and it's not really noticeable in the song, just the isolated track, so I figured I'd be nice and not say anything.
5) I should note that sounding painful isn't the only thing a major 3rd can do in a minor key. My point wasn't that that specific emotional affect is the only reason blues-based music does that, it's that they the major and minor 3rds have different emotional affects and blues-based music will often pick whichever one is a better fit for the narrative.
6) The verse does include some vocal ad-libs between the phrases, many of which do go to the root, but I don't really hear those as structural parts of the melody. You might, though, in which case more of the phrases do get resolved.
7) At the end, when I said "food kitchens", I think my brain just combined "food bank" and "soup kitchen". I don't know if a food kitchen is a thing, but food banks and soup kitchens are both good.
5:45 I’m hearing those two written A♮s after the first double stop as two descending double stops from the C♮ and E♮ down to A♮ and C♮
The freezer and the pantry could be viewed as household soup banks... the fridge is more like a payday loan or pawn shop.
Yeah, in cities with good logistics at least, usually there's a pipeline from the food bank to the soup kitchen, for stuff that won't last well til the next open day, or if there's an excess of something in particular. In Seattle, at the time of the Eddies' original friendship, there were free meals literally every day, somewhere in the city. Pike Place Market used to be a source of donations, and farmers markets too, both to food banks and soup kitchens. The Vietnamese Sandwich store in Pike Place would give out surplus to homeless people at the end of the evening.... Seattle may have been one of the best cities to be homeless in, in America, at that time... except for the weather... but the weather was also an equalizer, in a way. The rain and humidity in general frumped up the fancy people too, so almost everyone looked a little homeless most of the year.
I think a "food kitchen" is just a kitchen
Couldn’t even find this organization on charity navigator, a site dedicated to letting people know how legitimate a charity organization is.
This site is designed to show how much of the donations go to the actual people being “donated” to.
Sorry, I’m not buying it or giving a cent.
I know this song has several versions, and one has Vedder saying "I died. I died and you just stood there. I died and you watched. I died and you walked by and said no. I'm dead." at the end as everyone else is kind of noodling.
My drug addict brother gave me a tape of ten in 2000 when I was 5 years old. It was the first act of kindness he ever showed me. I associate this song with a turning point in his life where I learned he wasn’t a bad guy beyond the junk that had a grip on him. Today he’s a good man, and I value Pearl Jam as my favorite band because of that.
I don't think I ever considered how crucial Ament is to make this riff so big sounding - the guitars play in a rather high register, and the low D really gives it depth.
I think he's really underrated as an artist. His fretless work on Ten is gorgeous and unique and gives _so_ much depth and character to the songs.
Good choice on the mixing too...though not a hard one I suppose. Hard pan the guitars and center the bass. It just happens to push the entire thing so much harder. Like a good synergy. The mix preps this thing for liftoff.
@@benjamink7105so true
Lol, dafuck are you talking about?
As a long time fan and an awful bass player, I have always found Ament's contribution to PJ as crucial. I often (and admittedly incorrectly) think of it as Jeff and Stone's band with Mike and Eddie fitting in really well. (and of course their Spinal Tap drummer rotation).
Holy shit, I've been listening to this song for a decade, and that police siren/riff connection just hit like a truck. I think you might be right.
That riff always made me think of schizophrenia, not really police sirens. But the siren thing makes sense.
Its just generic blues rock soloing. Starting with a big bend is a staple of the genre
That "double stop" that Ament does at the end of the intro is sliding harmonics! Can only do it on a fretless.
true - and it is the first time you hear it in mainstream music since Tony Franklin with The Firm
you can do it on a fretted bass if you press after letting go quickly, it doesn't sound as good but it's still possible.
@@1yoshi426the problem is that as soon as you slide it over other frets it’s gonna sound like a normal slide
@@m1k3g3tz Funnily enough it's around that time fretless bass got onto some death metal records of all things. Death's Individual Thought Patterns album being probably the most iconic in this regard. The fretless is crazy there.
Even more amazing is he starts the slide below the nut, and somehow keeps it over the nut and doesn't lose the harmonics. I've been trying to replicate it , but it's super tough to get perfect.
The rhythm section of this song is incredible
It's a hell of a bassline to play
It's weird because, having been homeless for several months when I was 16 and knowing that it's the song's main topic, I somehow always hear it more from a mental illness standpoint as it's what I'm struggling with the most. I think Vedder paintd an incredible picture of somebody who's both very much in the present moment but also almost not there at all, disconnected from the rest of the world because of some kind of invisible barrier, and while my brain goes "that barrier is class" my heart wants to go "that barrier is neurodivergence"
Why not both?
It's definitely a bit of both. "Whispering hands gently lead him away" is very much about someone who's only vaguely aware of the things going on around and _to_ them.
@@captchagod64 it's one hundred percent both, I'm saying that I'm more sensitive to the second one despite having been homeless myself and that's kind of fucking with me
@@KindredBrujah first of all, oh hi fellow VTM fan
Second, to me this line isn't about not being aware as much as it is about indulging in escapism through something that's almost in between daydreaming and psychosis. It's very much possible that you're right actually if we take 12tone's telling of Vedder's story into account
Even though my main struggle is probably class conflict (not homeless but always poor and struggling) I agree that it points towards mental health a lot, especially with the chorus which I would argue most people will catch first based on repitition. "Even Flow, Thoughts arive like butterflies. Oh He don't know, so he chases them away. Someday yet, he'll begin his life again" this to me makes me think schizophrenia but that feels wrong. In the second version the line "whispering hands gently lead him away" might be why i think of it. I think of it as someone who can't hold a job or other commitments becuase he litterally wanders off chasing his butterfly thoughts, something I often did as a kid.
If you spend any amount of time in Missoula, Montana; you will end up having a chat with Jeff Ament. He is *truly* one of the nicest, must humble dudes I've ever had the pleasure of meeting. Most people don't actually realize they're talking to a rock god, because he just goes with the flow. He also has spearheaded a charity to put Skate Parks all across the state of Montana for kids to play at. The guy is awesome. Oh, and he plays in a pretty cool band that comes to town quite often too! :-D
Jeff inspired me to learn bass. After I started learning I picked up on "the greats" but Jeff will always be my number one. He's insanely skilled, broadly creative, and it thrills me to hear someone says he's as cool in person as he seems like he would be.
I've been both struggling on and off with homelessness, and a huge grunge fan, for pretty much all of my adult life, and you've just absolutely increased my appreciation for this banger by an order of magnitude. Thank you. And can I say, I think you did a great job at acknowledging the humanity of homeless folks. Thanks!
hang in there man, hope you're doing okay
Crack or tweak?
You know Footsteps, Once and Even Flow are all about the same guy?
I think its likely Breath is also
"tell me you're american without telling me you're american"@@highatyt
The way the USA treats homelessness is so frustrating and exhausting. Just doing a quick web search, researchers estimate that governments pay almost as much to force people to sleep rough as they would to just *pay their rent* - and that's not even taking into account how much of their possessions the police will just destroy for no reason. Or the part where permanent residences unlock things like credit union bank accounts, that help people build *more* stability on top of having a safe place to sleep.
Thanks for talking about this song. I'd heard it before but I had no idea about this stuff.
It's never been about the money. It's about control and putting the boot to people that they see as "sub-human." They say it's about money of course to be able to sleep at night and go to church on Sunday and claim to follow Jesus's desire to help the needy; without actually having to do any of it.
@@playgroundchooserand, well, there's a whole other commentary on what exactly they consider "human," but that's exactly it. It's never about what they *say* it is, just about control
It's not just the US. It's most countries.
And now instead of taking care of our own homeless and veterans, we are bringing in more people and giving them places to live, money, etc. It's a plan to destroy the country.
Also how the Hell could Vedder hope his lyrics could inspire empathy when you can't fucking understand him?
The vast majority of homeless are drug addicts and giving them a “roof” wiuld do absolutely nothing. Many could get some help if they wanted to, but they’d rather drink and do drugs.
I'm just loving Pearl Jam's guitarists getting some academic level appreciation. Thank you, 12 Tone!
After the line “doesn’t know to read” I swear the guitar sounds like laughing. 10 is such a great album that only the hidden track is not played on radio.
Also, I feel like not mentioning McCready's whammy bar dips in the chorus is missing an important part of the puzzle.
I was hoping he would mention those! One of my favorite details.
The cover band I was in in college played tis song and those whammy dips were crucial to me as the guitarist...
Eddie’s quiet spoken word section is louder on the Ten Redux mix and can actually be heard (mostly).
i think the first lyric, 'freezin' as a tritone adds eerieness and sort of a little 'major' feeling which gets ripped away feeling like destruction of the 'major' feeling, beautiful start
"Unusual life choice." Way too real.
At 9:16, you missed a detail about the bass slide. It’s a harmonic double stop. After he hits the harmonics, he then slides his finger from behind the nut all the way up the neck to make the harmonics move up in pitch for so long.
Anyone else get the sense of cars passing by with the intro riff? It follows the Doppler effect of pitches rising as they get close to you that then drop as they pass you by.
Really nice interpretation 🙂
Seeing homeless people always breaks my heart a little. I bought one a coffee once. If I had more power, I'd say that nobody gets to own two homes until everyone has one.
I gave one 20 dollars and i saw him again on the same corner with a 6 pack of beer
@@Henry-se1uv why didnt he buy a house with 20 dollars
Homelessness ain't for sissies, that's for sure.
Who cares what he bought. Homeless people dont owe you misery.
@@Henry-se1uvdang. Should have put that 20 bucks in a hedge fund. ?????
I was at that show in Seattle when he told the story about Ed. The whole show really just had a gravitas to it, wish I could experience it again.
Understanding Even Flow is hard for me, but then again, it’s always been hard to understand what Eddie Vedder is singing.
Thank you everybody, I’m here all night.
On a serious note, brilliant reaction as usual!
ua-cam.com/video/7JGa_hMzUTg/v-deo.htmlsi=o5bOzRUqqBICfhkA this is the pj song he should break down. Be a good one for April 1st.
I typically listen to the version of this found on their ‘greatest hits’ album. What stands out in this version is the outro.
It’s a bit ham-fisted compared to the subdued panhandling you highlighted in this video, but at the end of the song, as the guitars cut off and the drums play a heavily syncopated fill resembling the rhythm of a drunkard struggling to stand up, Vedder speaks “I died. I died and you just stood there. I died and you watched. I died and you walked by and said no. I’m dead.”
Also, there’s the echo effect used on Vedder when he sings the “ohh”s at the beginning and end of lines. Sounds like the effect used in movies and tv when a character is hearing voices or having some break with reality. Just adding to the theme.
That poor solo elephant encased in carbonite!
Of all your sketches over the years, that one strikes me most, so few lines, evokes the subject, à la some of Al Hirschfeld's art. Nice!
This reminds me what I love about Pearl Jam....what made them stand out.
They were a bunch of very talented musicians....who loved improvised chaos...and reigning that in.
Both Ten and VS are 10/10 albums that exemplify this....Ten is more hi-fi and pop while VS is more primal and dirty.
But both those albums work for me...because these gorgeous songs are being deconstructed and reconstructed every 10 seconds, and it's thrilling to listen to. There's always a LOT going on....yet the basic musical idea is very direct and clear.
You just broke down my favorite P.J. tune, and it's meaning, in a way that I never could have thought of...brilliant! Thank you!
"...I died...I died, and you just stood there. I died, and you watched. I died, and you walked by, and said 'no'. I'm dead."
Unrelated but I just now noticed 12 tone is left handed. Cool to see a left hander representing.
So nice my absurd habit of skipping directly to the end of videos has finally paid off! It's an X-mas miracle! lol. Great work on this and all your work man. Hope you have a great holiday season and best of luck with your travels in January.
The groove in this song is just incredible. That main riff will forever be one of my all time favorites.
The drawing for "solo" at 18:15 made me physically groan, aloud. Kudos, sir.
"It's not meant to last" bruv sketching the Apple logo 😂😂😂
how do you not have over a million subs the quality is so good
I've been homeless between 2017-18 in a 3rd world country, therefore had a reason to connect with this song much before knowing how deep were its bind with homelessness. As a musician I've also had my take on the experience but mine is much more dissonance-ridden and angry than Eddie Vedder's, I wish 12Tone could pick any song of my album to analyze, they're all on UA-cam and the lyrics are in the individual song videos. Also if anyone feel like helping a brother achieving their dream, take a look at it, I know it's not too pleasurable but it's true and how I felt most of the days. Much love. Greetings from Brasil 🇧🇷🤘
@12Tone please!!
😮😮😮
@12tone
heyyyyy plzzzzz
Ament's harmonic slide in the intro is amazing. Great fretless bass work.
Great take on this wonderful track. The foreshadowing is awesome, thanks for pointing that out. And thanks for highlighting Eddie's hidden character.
I find it more admirable that you were able to figure out the words to this song than anyting else.
I swear that even Pearl Jam dosent know the words to this song.
“Even flow.. gonna ride our motor bikes…” or whatever the hell he says
I've been playing that song for 20 years and you showed me things I didn't know. Fascinating!
I'm excited for all the vowels in the lyrics
The amount off musical knowlede and analysis that goes into these videos is mind blowing. And they're extremely well written too!! This is a very underrated channel!!
thanks for this. human lives have value, always.
12tone, you are one of the only channels to which I am subscribed. Meaning, you are different than others.
I was just playing Evenflow last night - picking through SG & MM's parts.
You are a peach.
Oh man, now this is a Christmas miracle! I missed your videos so much! Glad you are back
Thanks you for another great video. Enjoy the quiet at the end of the year and success with the work in Jan. Looking forward to after that
STEEZUS CHRIST SHREDDING FOR OUR SINS!!
My dude, your work is awesome! Thanks for everything you do!
I must have listened to this song a thousand times and never noticed eddie talking in the breakdown
I have been waiting years for this video
I am this days old when I learned that Evenflow is about homelessness.
Thank you 12-Tone for opening my eyes.
This has long been a favorite channel of mine, and using your platform to help fight homelessness just elevated it even further:-)
This is amazing! Great breakdowns, explanations, and background information. Both educational and entertaining. Fine work! Liked and subscribed.
I love this PJ song and to finally also hear you talk about a Pearl Jam song is wonderful. I hope to see you talk about Better Man one day, Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah or whatever you celebrate, and Happy New Year!
Honestly I love that there was so much thought and also so little thought put into this song all at the same time. Like foreshadowing the bridge riff is so cool. Then like not even really trying to play the same thing on unison parts. I honestly just thought it was a silly song that had funny vocals and was pretty easy to play on guitar hero
It's interesting to think that they probably didn't plan all the little nuances that you point out in this video when they were making the song. They just did what "felt right" for the tone of the song.
Always loved this song, so much I never really thought about in the meaning behind it. Truly a masterpiece
Great video for an incredible song from one of the best rock albums ever made. Thank you.
last two notes are the most important ones for sure! you may not be on the exact right board, but you can still have a good time.
excellent analysis as always. makes me realize too that i really should listen on good headphones more often
I always depicted this song to be in D mixolydian with the Bb being borrowed from the minor key and the guitars doing this blues thing using the minor 3rd instead of the major one. But I guess there is no right nor wrong. Great song, great analysis.
That's how I hear it too
If anything, the vocal line is the siren. BREEEEE-thennnn , FEEEEE-linnnn
Brilliant work as always! Thank you 12Tone for an amazing year of content and all the best for 2024! Btw, this video should have a million views :)
I always wondered what Vedder was muttering about under that guitar solo... decades later I finally have an answer
Thank you so much, this is the band that inspired me to be a musician ❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤
I was lucky enough to be at the first home show at Safeco. Fantastic show. I particularly loved Eddies rendition of Jack Whites "We're going to be friends"
funny, today Scott Sava of ssavaart drew Pearl Jam's Eddie Vedder, and he usually ends the videos on puns from the artist's lyrics. He chose to end the video on saying he found his "even flow"
fun little coincidence
Awesome analysis!
One of my favorites
Thank you 12 Tone.
19:45 i sang this in rock band so many times that I instantly knew what you were gonna talk about here
Thanks for yet another great analysis. The donation to Everyone In was a small price to pay that I know I for one should be paying more often, and independent of any sort of imagined transaction.
Bro, that's an incredible talent you have 👌
I always knew he said something under that section. Really cool to hear what that he did and what it means
I appreciated the doodle for "not meant to last". 💯
I literally played this the day you posted it
Dude hearing these isolated tracks is so awesome. What a song 🤘
Didn't expect Vincent Adultman at 7:45. Awesome breakdown of a song once again!
I hate how all of the Seattle band got lumped in together somehow. I'm a huge Nirvana fan and this is so much different than if you were to take apart Lithium or something.
I've always thought the opening riff sounded crazy and god damn I was right. I love the freedom of the two guitarists just sort of just playing around in a "space" rather than hitting specific notes at a certain time.
What's that? Jazz? Never heard of it.
Anyway, I never bothered to learn, but did wonder how the hell you play this on guitar and yeah turns out you need two people who are awesome at what they do performing organized chaos.
Hell yeah, love talking about pearl jam
OMG I never listened to your full end-of-video ramble before this one... I've been missing out! LOL :D
Great video! I've never heard that hidden lyric before.
Best outtro is best. 💜
Great vid! Love the series.
Btw, can we plz get a video on Parisienne Moonlight by Anathema? I love the band, and I think they deserve more recognition
Lovely explanation man!
I got to see Pearl Jam in concert at San Jose State Stadium. They performed for 3 hours! ❤
Great video. We have a lot of the same issues up here in Portland.
Ten is one of my favourite albums but I've always found trying to replicate those songs live with bands I've played with really challenging
Yea it’s crazy to think it was their first album yet easily one of their best
Great analysis and commentary -- there's a lot of stuff I never noticed in hundreds of times listening to this song. I laughed out loud at Vincent Adultman, by the way.
Unusual life choice..... Love it
I can't believe you didn't add "in the free world" at the end.
one of my favorite songs ever
dope video. stay woke 💜
Excellent video! As always. I wish you would have commented on that final chorus a touch more.
I love 10. There is just so much going on on all the song
Goated video, even by 12tone standards!
Spot on about 2024 looking to be another year, also.
best 12tone outro yet
wow wouldnt think of the police siren nor the quiet lyric by the end of solo (this is really powerful though quiet). thanks for this explanation to a very well known song xD!
I've always associated this song next to Jethro Tull's Aqualung. Would love to see a video on that if you haven't already
I've been a gigantic Pearl Jam fan since the 90s, seen them live 6 times and I've probably heard this song 1000+ times and I can't believe that I'm just now realizing that the lyrics are about Homelessness! 🤦
3:43 Appreciate the reference to the Spanish Inquisition (“Nobody expects the…”)
didnt expect that bojack reference at 7:44
Thanks for spoilering me on a song I have heard literally two thousand times. 😂
One of my favorite PJ tracks
Seems like it’s always rushed a tad when played live, and it’s just too fast
The recorded speed is perfect