Alive - 2004 Remix

One of the earliest Pearl Jam songs, "Alive" was conceived when guitarist Stone Gossard was in a band called Mother Love Bone. He wrote the music and lead singer Andrew Wood wrote some lyrics - at the time the song was called "Dollar Short." When Wood died of a heroin overdose in March 1990, Mother Love Bone came to an abrupt end. Gossard and the band's bass player, Jeff Ament, teamed with another guitarist, their friend Mike McCready, and formed a new band that summer. They made a three-song instrumental demo at London Bridge Studio in Seattle while looking for a vocalist and drummer (Matt Cameron of Soundgarden played the drums) that included "Dollar Short." Jack Irons, a friend of Gossard's who played drums in The Red Hot Chili Peppers, was approached about joining the band, but he had another commitment. He thought his pal Eddie Vedder, who was making a name in the Southern California music scene, might be a good fit as the singer, so he gave Eddie the demo tape. At home in San Diego, Vedder wrote lyrics and added his vocals to the song and the other two on the demo using his four-track recorder. The band liked what they heard and made him lead singer. The version of the song with Andrew Wood's original lyrics was never recorded.

Eddie Vedder's lyrics went in a direction the band didn't expect, but they loved what they heard and quickly agreed that he should be their lead singer - only one other guy had been auditioned. Reflecting on how everything came together so quickly, the band credited timing and fate for Vedder's arrival. Eddie said it took him 12 hours to write and record the songs for the demo, and he could have easily blown it off.

Vedder's lyrics are about a boy who finds out his father is actually his stepfather, and that his real father is dead. He later revealed that the song was "a work of fiction based on reality," and the chorus of "I'm still alive" was what he considered his curse, as he struggled to deal with the strained relationship with his stepfather and the fact that his real father was dead. In an episode of VH1's Storytellers, Vedder explained that the interpretation of the song had changed, as fans would react to the chorus by jumping around and celebrating - they heard "I'm still alive" as a positive thing, an affirmation of life. Said Vedder: "When they changed the meaning of those words, they lifted the curse."