Black

I'm currently hooked to this song right now ... it's not a new song by any means. It's "Black" from Pearl Jam's first album Ten. I've liked it for quite some time, but I borrowed the CD from a coworker and have been listening to it at work, and I just like it on a whole new level now. The lyrics are so poetic. Unfortunately, it's not really a song you can sing or has any lyrics that are resonant. But still, it's managed to keep me coming back for more for about a week now.

Actually, interesting story about that song. I had heard it on the radio for years and wondered what it was called. But of course, they never say the name of the song on the radio when you want them to. So for years, I wondered ... knowing that it was Pearl Jam, I tried downloading their singles to no avail. I remember hearing it in high school, so I knew it had to be pre-1998. Still, I had no luck. Normally, I just memorize a few lines from the song and Google it to find the song, but like I said, this song doesn't have any resounding lyrics ... just this repetitive beautiful, haunting piano/vocal part at the end. But I can't Google a tune! Then a few years ago, I heard it on the radio in Baton Rouge, and I emailed the DJ and told him the exact time that he played it, hoping that they had some kind of log of what they played. Apparently not. We emailed back and forth a couple of times as he tried to help me figure it out, giving suggestions of possible Pearl Jam songs ... none of which was my white whale. Finally, a few weeks later, they played it again, and my friend Dale was with me. We both memorized some random words in the song ("bitter hands" comes to mind), and after a little Googling, I finally found it! I felt kinda silly actually that it turned out to be on Ten which is only considered to be one of the most influential albums of our time (but I had never heard the whole thing until about a week ago)! Anyway, it turns out that "Black" was never really released as a single. I guess it was just one of those songs the radio started playing.

Okay, so another aside ... while posting this, I did some research on Wikipedia (as I always do) and "found out" that Pearl Jam used to be called Mookie Blaylock. "Found out" is in quotes because technically I had been told this several times when I was younger by my brother. He is such a good bullshitter that for all these years I refused to believe him because it just sounded like an absurd fabrication that he was persistent about. Why would Pearl Jam be called Mookie Blaylock ... an NBA basketball player? Well, for whatever reason, they apparently were. And apparently Ten was named such because that was his number!