Pearl Jam - The Fixer: A personal interputation

I picked up the new Pearl Jam album, Backspacer, over the weekend. I have to admit I was a little bit worried that I may not be able to enjoy it as much as I wanted to. Not because I expected a lesser effort from the band than they put out with their self-titled album, but because I've been on a Pearl Jam moratorium for a few years now. Pearl Jam was the one band that I shared with an ex I had dated for six years. We were both enthusiastic Jammers, attending some 13 shows around the country between 2000 and 2006. We went through a pretty brutal break up during the bands last tour. I guess I was worried that I would associate the new material with those memories and it would sap the enjoyment out of it.
The good news is that the whole album seems fresh to me and I don't feel even a twinge of emotional heartache when listening to it. By far, the earworm on the album is a rocker called "The Fixer". My take on the song is somewhat personal.
As men, it seems like we spend our entire lives attempting to fix things that are broken, like cars, computers, the right leg to the kitchen table, relationships. Do you see where I'm going here? I want to highlight relationships here. When there is a problem in a relationship, it is almost a natural instinct to try to 'fix' it. Example, a man forgets his wife's birthday. He attempts to 'fix' the problem by running out like a fool and buying her a bunch of roses. He didn't do it out of genuine love, but out of guilt. I was watching some God-awful daytime show like Maury the other day in which this guy had been caught cheating on his long time girlfriend. When he comes out on stage, he's a blabbering fool. He tearfully apologizes and gets down in that position, on one knee with the hand in the pocket. He proposes. She slaps him and runs off the stage. The curtain falls. What made this guy believe that proposing on the Maury Povitch Show after being called out for being unfaithful would be the perfect opportunity to ask this woman for her hand in marriage? Is the desire and need to fix things that break, like relationships, so strong that he didn't see the bad judgement he was making?
Women don't want things fixed. Well, not true, they do, but they also want to feel validated. They want to know that their anger isn't misguided or crazy. They want more than band-aids on a relationship that is hemmoraging. The sooner that us men understand that, the better we will all be.

Here's the lyrics:

Yeah, hey, hey
When somethings dark, let me shed a little light on it
When somethings cold, let me put a little fire on it
If somethings old, I wanna put a bit of shine on it
When somethings gone, I wanna fight to get it back again

yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, fight to get it back again
yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah

When somethings broke, I wanna put a bit of fixin on it
When somethings bored, I wanna put a little exciting on it
If somethings low, I wanna put a little high on it
When somethings lost, I wanna fight to get it back again

yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, fight to get it back again
yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah

When signals cross, I wanna put a little straight on it
If theres no love, I wanna try to love again

I’ll say your prayers, I’ll take your side
I'll find us a way to make light
I'll dig your grave, we'll dance and sing
What's saved could be one last lifetime

hey, hey, hey
yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, fight to get it back again
yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah
fight to get it back again, yeah, yeah, yeah
fight to get it back again, yeah, yeah, yeah
yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah

Comments

  1. Anonymous5:55 AM, September 24, 2009

    I just had a god awful break up, this song really held me up when I thought all I could do was fall down.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Drew Dallons10:31 PM, September 28, 2009

    Sorry to hear that. "Gone" from the Untitled album did that for me. Good luck!

    ReplyDelete

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