Pearl Jam – Black Lyrics

Track 5 on Ten
4. Why Go 6. Jeremy
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[Verse 1]
Sheets of empty canvas, untouched sheets of clay
Were laid spread out before me as her body once did
All five horizons revolved around her soul
As the earth to the sun
Now the air I tasted and breathed has taken a turn
And all I taught her was everything
I know she gave me all that she wore

[Hook]
And now my bitter hands chafe beneath the clouds
Of what was everything
Oh, the pictures have all been washed in black, tattooed everything

[Verse 2]
I take a walk outside
I'm surrounded by some kids at play
I can feel their laughter, so why do I sear
Oh and twisted thoughts that spin round my head
I'm spinning, oh I'm spinning
How quick the sun can drop away

[Hook]
And now my bitter hands cradle broken glass
Of what was everything
All the pictures have all been washed in black, tattooed everything

[Verse 3]
All the love gone bad turned my world to black
Tattooed all I see, all that I am, all I'll be yeah
I know someday you'll have a beautiful life
I know you'll be a sun in somebody else's sky, but why
Why, why can't it be, why can't it be mine
Track 5 on Ten
4. Why Go 6. Jeremy
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About Black

“Black” became one of Pearl Jam’s best known songs and is a central emotional piece on the album Ten. Despite pressure from Epic Records, the band refused to make it into a single, feeling that it was too personal and the feeling of it would be lost by a video or a single release. Vedder stated that “fragile songs get crushed by the business. I don’t want to be a part of it. I don’t think the band wants to be part of it."Vedder personally called radio station managers to make sure Epic had not released the song as a single against his wishes. In spite of this, the song charted at number three on the Billboard Mainstream Rock Tracks chart and number 20 on the Billboard Modern Rock Tracks chart in 1993.

Eddie Vedder explained in the Pearl Jam 20 documentary that this song is about first relationships. “The song is about letting go,” said Vedder. “It’s very rare for a relationship to withstand the Earth’s gravitational pull and where it’s going to take people and how they’re going to grow. I’ve heard it said that you can’t really have a true love unless it was a love unrequited. It’s a harsh one, because then your truest one is the one you can’t have forever.”

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