Eddie Vedder Is A Vampire :: essays research papers

Eddie Vedder Is A Vampire Although at first he may seem to be just your average angst ridden lead man for a popular rock and roll band, Eddie Vedder, the vocalist and lyricist for Pearl Jam, may very well be a vampire. Although it is impossible to tell, everything points to his being an immortal. An in depth analysis of his lyrics shows that Pearl Jam's second album, â€Å"Versus†, has been used by Vedder as sounding boards for the complex emotions and change of perspective that come with one's transition to vampirism. Other lyricists have used vampiric images before - for instance Sting, in Moon Over Bourbon Street, which was written in first person - but Vedder is unique in that his lyrics evolve over time as being indicative of his vampiric state. Either he has become a vampire, he believes himself to be a vampire, or he is leading a fictional double life, from which he draws inspiration for his lyrics.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  What exactly is a vampire? Numerous myths, folk tales, and works of fiction exist on the matter of what makes up a vampire, but if they do exist, vampires have been incredibly careful to conceal their presence from most people (supposedly following a law known as the Masquerade), and very little is known about them definitively. However, some basic facts are common to most sources. These are: vampires drink blood, vampires live forever if not killed, and vampires undergo grievous bodily harm if exposed to sunlight; this normally kills them.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Many other things about vampires, such as their aversion to garlic, their superhuman abilities, and their prohibition on entering abodes unless invited, are mentioned in some sources and not others, and so it is unclear as to how much of this applies to real vampires, and how much is pure myth.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Eddie's vampiric tendencies became apparent in the lyrics to â€Å"Versus†, Pearl Jam's second album. Pearl Jam's first album, â€Å"Ten†, contains no real evidence of vampirism, and his lyric writing style is subtly different from that in â€Å"Versus†. In â€Å"Ten†, the lyrics are often in ballad form, generally relating tales of normal people. The songs Jeremy, Alive, Deep, and Black were all number one hits in the U.S. from â€Å"Ten†. Eddie was not writing about himself in these songs, and was only assuming personas for the narrative, a standard device for composers of fiction of any kind. Thus, the lyrics were simply Eddie's view of the world around him, incorporating characters and situations which he could relate to.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Eddie's lyric writing style had change considerably in the second album, â€Å"Versus†.