“I think music is the greatest art form that exists, and I think people listen to music for different reasons, and it serves different purposes. The best songs are the ones that make you feel something” PeopleArtMusicFeelingListenEddie Vedder Author:Eddie Vedder
“I think what happens is when something becomes successful, then a lot of people take credit for it in such ways that it takes credit away from you.” PeopleThinkingWayHappensSuccessfulCreditAway From YouBecoming Successful Author:Eddie Vedder
“These pop songs almost feel like tabloid journalism, in a way. It's c**p that people seem to like. And I don't know if it has meaning. I don't know if one of the pop songs of the summer has any fibre in it. People are consuming it, and is it healthy?... Maybe there's some healthy property or some restorative property that I'm not receiving. It seems like it has a really high fructose content.” PeopleIfsKnowsWayFeelsSeemsSongHealthySummerPropertyPopsJournalismReceivingConsumingTabloidsPop Song Author:Eddie Vedder
“It's important to have a life and spend time outside of those things [music and politics], in order to appreciate what you've achieved as far as just spending time with people you love, and doing things like painting.” PeopleImportantOrderPaintingAppreciateSpendingEnd TimesSpend TimeSpending Time Author:Eddie Vedder
“No music is going to stop the war. What's going to stop the war is a large amount of body bags, or a large amount of people in the streets, protesting it before it starts.” PeopleWarBodyStreetsAmountMusic IsBags Author:Eddie Vedder
“Sometimes I hear news about the huge dollars involved with CEO pay and corporate-management salaries, and I'm mystified at how someone can justify taking that much at the cost of other people's livelihoods. In a bizarre way, I'm almost kind of curious, like "How can they absolve themselves and enjoy their wealth?" I don't understand it.” PeopleWayKindSometimesEnjoyWealthPayHugeInvolvedCostNewsManagementDollarsCuriousCorporateJustifyCeoBizarreSalaryLivelihood Author:Eddie Vedder
“I just don't understand, if they see numbers [of CEO salaries]that represent people, how they can somehow skirt around that and morally justify taking or ruining those lives and leaving them with nothing. That, to me, is violent crime. It's certainly more violent than selling grams of pot to other adults.” PeopleIfsNumbersCrimeAdultsLeavingViolentSellingJustifyPotCeoSalarySkirtsViolent Crimes Author:Eddie Vedder
“One thing you might suggest to a young band is don't get involved in any kind of long-term contract because everything changes on a bimonthly basis: The way people hear music and access it, the way it is distributed.” PeopleWayKindLongMightYoungTermOne ThingInvolvedBandBasesAccessLong TermContractsThings ChangeGet Involved Author:Eddie Vedder
“I think a lot of things are written from experience, but then you become a writer and talk about other people's experience and you tell stories. I mean, you can't just tell your own story all the time.” PeopleThinkingMeanStoriesWritten Author:Eddie Vedder
“People say, "I'm tired of hearing about the war in Iraq. I'm tired of hearing about it." And it makes me realize how few people have deeper connections with it, as far as knowing people who have come back paralyzed or who have died, or families that have been affected . . . If they had a connection to it, then they wouldn't be tired of hearing about it.” PeopleWarRealizingTired Author:Eddie Vedder
“I've stepped back a few times and had these crazy epiphanies that we are blessed by having Barack Obama as a candidate at this time in our history. If we were ever to have a man of color become president - and it shouldn't be about that, and it doesn't need to be, because he's qualified on all levels - but if you do think about it, just in terms of that idea of unifying people, it's a huge positive.” PeopleThinkingMenPresidentTermCrazyBlessedBarackEpiphany Author:Eddie Vedder
“The interesting thing is that it seems like George W. Bush would have been happy being the president of anything. He could have been president of Major League Baseball. Less people killed. It wouldn't have affected the world on a planetary level. Sure, there would have been little things. There would have been scandals and kind of numbskull things here and there .” PeopleWorldKindPresidentInterestingBaseballLeagueLittle ThingsMajor League Author:Eddie Vedder
“I think music is the greatest art form that exists, and I think people listen to music for different reasons, and it serves different purposes. Some of it is background music, and some of it is things that might affect a person's day, if not their life, or change an attitude. The best songs are the ones that make you feel something.” PeopleIfsThinkingFeelsPersonsArtDifferentReasonMightFormPurposeSongAttitudeMusic IsMusicalBackgroundsListening To MusicBackground Music Author:Eddie Vedder
“Sometimes, whether you like it or not, people elevate you. It's real easy to fall.” PeopleRealSometimesFallEasyYou Like It Author:Eddie Vedder
“I realized in the early days I just didn't edit at all. But I think you become a little more cagey with your lyrics when you know more people are going to hear them and make assumptions about you as a person. Realizing that, you want to be a little more opaque.” PeopleThinkingKnowsWantLittlesPersonsRealizingI RealizedAssumptionEditsOpaque Author:Eddie Vedder
“I don't know how people do it these days - paparazzi and that kind of thing. That's something I can't even imagine.” PeopleKnowsKindI CanKnow HowImagineThese DaysPaparazzi Author:Eddie Vedder
“It's fun singing with other people who are really good singers. There's something kind of poignant about braiding a couple vocals.” PeopleKindFunCoupleSingingSingersVocalPoignant Author:Eddie Vedder
“I'd like people to be educated on the voting machines, making sure that our democracy isn't being hijacked by computer technology. There's no reason there can't be a paper trail on those machines.” PeopleReasonTechnologyDemocracyPaperComputerMachinesEducatedVotingNo ReasonTrailsComputer Technology Author:Eddie Vedder
“People on death row, the treatment of animals, women's right to choose. So much in America is based on religious fundamentalist Christianity. Grow up! This is the modern world!” PeopleWorldAmericaGrowsReligiousAnimalChristianityGrowing UpModernTreatmentWomens RightsModern WorldFundamentalistDeath RowTreatment Of Animals Author:Eddie Vedder
“On bended knee is no way to be free lifting up an empty cup I ask silently that all my destinations will accept the one that's me so I can breath Circles they grow and they swallow people whole half their lives they say goodnight to wive's they'll never know got a mind full of questions and a teacher in my soul so it goes.” PeopleKnowsWayMindI CanSoulWholeAsksGrowsHalfAcceptingTeacherEmptyBreathsCirclesMy SoulCupsKneesDestinationLiftingLifting UpEmpty CupSaying Goodnight Author:Eddie Vedder
“It's the ones without scars - those are the people you have to watch out for.” PeopleWatchesScar Author:Eddie Vedder
“It’s a song about first relationships and letting go. 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.” PeopleFirstsSaidEarthSongGrowsForeverHeardLetting GoUnrequited LoveHarshTruestUnrequited Author:Eddie Vedder
“If people don't like what I'm doing I really don't have time to hear it. I'm doing something good with my life and I challenge them to do the same.” PeopleIfsChallenges Author:Eddie Vedder
“I'm not ready to be that guy who can meet with world leaders and all that. It's tremendous what Bono does. I don't know if I could do it, not the way he does. I don't think many people could.” PeopleIfsThinkingKnowsWorldWayDoeGuyLeaderReadyIf I CouldThat GuyNot ReadyWorld Leader Author:Eddie Vedder
