SLS — “Love Boat Captain,” by Pearl Jam

Jim Adams is the solicitous host of Song Lyric Sunday.  Jim says:
This week we have a partner related prompt with Couple/Together/Us and hopefully this will work out for everyone.

Here are the “rules”:
• Post the lyrics to the song of your choice, whether it fits the theme or not. If it does not fit, then please explain why you chose this song.
• Please try to include the songwriter(s) – it’s a good idea to give credit where credit is due.
• Make sure you also credit the singer/band and if you desire you can provide a link to where you found the lyrics.
• Link to the YouTube video, or pull it into your post so others can listen to the song.
• Ping back to this post or place your link in the comments section below.
• Read at least one other person’s blog, so we can all share new and fantastic music and create amazing new blogging friends in the process.
• Feel free to suggest future prompts.
• Have fun and enjoy the music.

The information here is from a post I did back on 10/18/19.

Riot Act is the seventh studio album by American rock band Pearl Jam, released on November 12, 2002 through Epic Records. Following a full-scale tour in support of its previous album, Binaural (2000), Pearl Jam took a year-long break. The band then reconvened in the beginning of 2002 and commenced work on a new album. The music on the record featured a diverse sound, including songs influenced by folk, art rock, and experimental rock. The lyrics deal with mortality and existentialism, with much influence from both the political climate after the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks and the accidental death of nine fans during Pearl Jam’s performance at the 2000 Roskilde Festival.

The band supported the album with a politically charged concert tour in 2003. Riot Act was the band’s last album of all-new material for Epic… and has been certified gold by the RIAA in the United States.

Per wikipedia:
“Love Boat Captain” is a song featuring lyrics written by vocalist Eddie Vedder and music co-written by Vedder and keyboardist, Boom Gaspar.

According to Gaspar, the song initially developed out of a jam session he had with Vedder shortly after the two first met in Hawaii. He added, “He had a guitar. I had a keyboard. It was a small set-up. And we wrote.” When they were done, Vedder asked Gaspar if he was “ready to go to Seattle.”

Vedder on the song:
I had a little recording setup for when I wanted to get away and do some writing. He just showed up and we started playing. That night we wrote what turned into “Love Boat Captain”. Within an hour, we had this thing we put on the stereo and played it loud. It was probably about an 11-minute version at that point.

Bassist Jeff Ament said, “The demo to that was called ‘Boom B3’. We played a version of it, and then it got re-arranged.”

Drummer Matt Cameron on the song:
There weren’t any lyrics when we tracked it, so we did what we thought would be a good, tight instrumental version that would later have vocals on it. When we tracked it, I was like, ‘Huh? What’s this?’ It made no sense to me. But then when the vocals were added, it made perfect sense and it elevated the entire piece.

When speaking about the song, Vedder stated:
It feels a little strange talking about love that openly, but if you can’t do it now, when can you do it? Love is one resource that the corporations aren’t going to be able to monopolize. Which means there’s hope for us human beings yet.

Is this just another day, this God forgotten place?
First comes love and then comes pain let the games begin,
Questions rise and answers fall, insurmountable

Love boat captain
Take the reigns and steer us towards the clear, here
It’s already been sung, but it can’t be said enough
All you need is love

Is this just another phase, earthquakes making waves,
Trying to shake the cancer off, stupid human beings,
Once you hold the hand of love, it’s all surmountable

Hold me, and make it the truth,
That when all is lost there will be you,
‘Cause to the universe I don’t mean a thing
And there’s just one word I still believe
And it’s love

It’s an art to live with pain, mix the light into grey,
Lost nine friends we’ll never know, two years ago today
And if our lives became too long, would it add to our regret?

And the young, they can lose hope ’cause they can’t see beyond today,
The wisdom that the old can’t give away
Hey,
Constant recoil, sometimes life
Don’t leave you alone

Hold me, and make it the truth,
That when all is lost there will be you
‘Cause to the universe I don’t mean a thing
And there’s just one word that I still believe and it’s
Love, love love love love

Love boat captain take the reigns
Steer us towards the clear
I know it’s already been sung, can’t be said enough
Love is all you need, all you need is love,
Love, love
Songwriters: Eddie Vedder / Kenneth “Boom” Gaspar