Save You

This song finds Pearl Jam lead singer Eddie Vedder trying to save friends from their addictions and their demons. The band is from Seattle, where drug addiction claimed the lives of many of the band's friends and cohorts. Kurt Cobain, who was Pearl Jam's nemesis in some ways, was the most famous casualty, but other losses include the rockers Stefanie Sargent and Mia Zapata, and Andy Wood, who fronted a band with future Pearl Jam members Stone Gossard and Jeff Ament called Mother Love Bone.

In the Pearl Jam Twenty book, this song is described as "the tale of a mutually detrimental love-hate relationship." It's a band composition, credited to all five members. In the book, guitarist Mike McCready explains that it started with a riff he brought in. Drummer Matt Cameron really got into it, pounding away so hard his headphones came off in the middle of the take.

"Save You" was the second single from Pearl Jam's Riot Act album, following "I Am Mine." Two key events shaped their direction since their previous album, Binaural, in 2000. First, there was the Roskilde Festival tragedy on June 30, 2000, when nine fans in the crowd were killed in a crush. Then there was the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks. The band didn't tour in 2001 and detoured into various side projects, with guitarist Stone Gossard becoming the first member to release a solo album (unfortunately on 9/11). When they got back in the studio, they had a lot on their minds and a lot of material to work with.