Lost Dogs - Disc 2

Songs that mostly explore the themes of life, death and reflection.

Hi Son,

This letter to you is going to cover the second disc of Pearl Jam’s “Lost Dogs” compilations of B-sides and rarities. Unlike how I broke down disc 1, I’m going to change the format a little bit. I’ll still touch every track on the second disc, but won’t necessarily make every song a section of it’s own. The second disc is a group of songs that I covet more than disc 1. A lot of the tracks touch upon themes of life, death and reflection. It has a much more heavy feel. Suffice it to day, these truly are deep cuts in that fact they touch my core.

The beginning of disc 2 starts with an acoustic guitar. Already it’s much more raw than the feeling from disc 1. “How good is he? How warm are his eyes?” After the first verse, the rest of the band comes in along the acoustic guitar. Eddie’s vocals are very restrained throughout the entire song. When Stone wrote this song, he had wanted to name it around the chorus that was written as “the answers in Plato,” however when Eddie sang the words they sounded like “the answers in Play-Doh.” Stone ended up changing from “Plato” to “Fatal” and that would become the name of track 1. The song was an outtake on “Binaural” despite it being Tchad Blake’s (producer) favorite song off of the sessions. “Fatal” then transitions into “Other Side” (track 2). What I like about disc 2 are that the transitions are much more fluid than they are on disc 1. It’s another stripped down song, however the whole band comes in right away. “Other Side” is a beautiful song. When Jeff wrote this song, it was a tribute to his parents who were married for 42 years. The words to me really tug at the heart strings. A lot of the lines end in the ilk of “ain’t the same without you here," insinuating the song is for a deceased long-time partner. I honestly wish this had made the tracklisting for “Riot Act” over a few other songs that Jeff wrote (e.g. “Help, Help” and “Ghost). I just love this song so much. Track 3 is a song that I wrote about at length in another note to you. “Hard to Imagine” is just spiritual. I tried to think of an adjective for the longest time to describe that song and it came to me as I was writing you about your grandmother’s experience with cancer. The entire song is a crescendo that builds and builds. “Things were different then, all is different now. I tried to explain, somehow.” That line almost brings tears to my eyes everything I hear Eddie sing it.

Track 4, “Footsteps,” is a song that I recently went over for you in a recent note. The music was written by Stone and sent to Eddie as a demo for him to write lyrics over. That and two other songs (“Alive” and “Once”) were his audition into the band. “Footsteps” on it’s own is a song of regret and blame. The person is near death because of their past actions in life and the reason is because of someone else. It’s a song that just includes an acoustic guitar and harmonica that provide background to Eddie’s vocals. Track 5 is “Wash.” Like “Footsteps,” it was written in the era of the sessions of making “Ten.” When I hear the beginning of the song, it feels like dawn is upon us and the sun is rising. This song is a spectacular one as an opener to a set list. It was played as an opener a lot when the band toured to promote their Self-Titled album. There’s a “fast” version of the song as the opener to a set they played on New Year’s Eve in 1992. Eddie also gives “Marky Mark and the Funky Bunch” the middle finger. Mark Wahlberg can still fuck off. Track 6, “Dead Man” is a really dark song. In some ways is a sister song to “Footsteps.” The theme is a man who is on death row. It was written for the film “Dead Man Walking” starring Sean Penn who would later become an ally to Eddie and the band. It’s another really good song, but a haunting one.

The next four tracks are all Ten Club Annual Holiday Singles. I touched on the tradition the band used to give their fan club (Ten Club) every holiday season. Tracks 7 and 8 are the A and B-Side of the 1999 Christmas single. “Strangest Tribe” has a really unique key and includes a harpsichord. Stone wrote this song when the “Christmas spirit really took hold” of him “one November night.” The lyrics are pretty much describing the birth of Christ. From what I understand this is from the standpoint of the Three Wise Men. It’s interesting how they title this song “Strangest Tribe” to somehow insinuate an upcoming event that seemed somewhat conspiratorial. “Drifting” is a much more straightforward song in the since that has Eddie playing the harmonica. Another song that is stripped down. The theme of the lyrics are about “enjoying the things you have and not wanting more.” The next two tracks are arguably the most famous of the Christmas singles. I discussed these somewhat in length when I covered the Ten Club Annual Holiday Singles. The first Christmas single was “Let Me Sleep.” A song about wanting to go to bed before Santa arrives and being anxious for Christmas morning. When I checked on the price of the single back in December it was between $228.98 and $275.00. Let’s check it again.

The price went up! Again, a future Father’s Day gift idea! Track 10 needs no introduction. “Last Kiss” was written by Wayne Cochran & the C.C. Riders. The cover was featured on a charity compilation album “No Boundaries: A Benefit for the Kosovar Refugees.” The proceeds from the sale of that album raised about $10 million dollars for refugees of the Kosovo War. The song found its way to mainstream and is still their highest-charting single.

The next two tracks are very unique. Track 11 is “Sweet Lew.” This is a spite song. Jeff idolized Kareem-Abdul Jabbar. In 1994, Jeff was going to be on the same basketball team as Kareem for a game to be televised by MTV. Kareem snubbed Jeff when Jeff went up to introduce himself. As he describes it in the “Lost Dogs” booklet “the bubble burst.” The name “Lew” pertains to Kareem’s birth-name, Lew Alcindor.

Build him high, build him tall, a haiku with a basketball
Tear 'em down, one and all, 7'2" is a long way to fall

Sweet Lew, how's the view?
Sweet Lew, how could you?

The song very much has a “Red Hot Chili Peppers” feel to it. Honestly, it almost sounds like Anthony Kiedis is doing the vocal. Then we get to track 12, “Dirty Frank.” This is far and away the creepiest song on “Lost Dogs” and maybe the creepiest out of the entire catalog. Legend has it that the band was touring with the Red Hot Chili Peppers and had a bus driver that looked very sketchy. They wrote the song on the premise that their bus driver in his spare time may have been a serial killer. The lyrics almost describe the infamous serial killer Jeffrey Dahmer and even call out “Dirty Frank’s” name as “Dirty Frank Dahmer.” During the song they discover that Mike (McCready) has been eaten! This also has a very “Red Hot Chili Peppers’ feel to it. The song itself is somewhat of a white whale for dedicated Ten Club concert goers. It’s only been played 7 times according to livefootsteps.org and the last time coming on September 9, 2006. I’ve heard some grumblings on how much fans hope they play the song live again. Then we come to track 13, “Brother.” On “Lost Dogs” this is an instrumental written by Stone. It’s very good. Originally recorded during the “Ten” sessions, the band would reissue “Ten” in 2009 that included “Brother” with lyrics included. It ended up being a pretty successful mainstream hit for the band and really sounds like it would have slotted onto “Ten” effortlessly.

The final track is “Bee Girl.” This song came about around the release of “Vs.” The booklet tells Jeff’s story about they had to be at a “studio on Capitol Hill” to be interviewed for “Rockline,” which was a nationally syndicated radio program. Jeff said they went through “two bottles of real cheap Cabernet.” During one of the breaks of the interview him and Ed recorded the song which was only played by them once. Jeff went on to say “what you hear is a one-time only version of a song we had constructed on the spot fueled by a couple of riffs, a page of notes and the almighty red.” It’s a cute song. The lyrics are a bit nonsensical, but the song listens very easily.

Now, when I described “Lost Dogs” on my previous note I mentioned that the track list contained 30 songs. There are only 30 tracks listed on the back of the CD case. However, if you notice the length of “Bee Girl” it is stated as 9:55. “Bee Girl” really enjoy lasts a few minutes, so what is the other 5-6 minutes? If you wait until the 6:02 mark, you will find a hidden track. The track is an outtake from “Riot Act” called “4/20/02.” The significance of the date involves the death of Layne Staley. The date is not when Layne passed away, but the date that Eddie found out about his death. Even back in 2002, information did not spread as quickly as it does now. The lyrics are lamenting the fact that Layne died of an overdose. Eddie also sings the following. It sounds like he is telling anyone who made fun of Layne’s vocals can STFU. Layne had a very distinct voice, like Eddie, and there were plenty of critics out there who liked to take a jab at him because of it. For the record, Layne’s vocals were brilliant. No one has or ever will sound like him. That’s part of what made him great.

So sing just like him, fuckers
It won't offend him
Just me
Because he's dead

Mike was pretty close with Layne. In 1994 they formed a side project called “Mad Season.” They went on to produce one brilliant record called “Above.” Mike had been going through a lot of issues with drug abuse in the 90s, like Layne did. Mike had hoped that forming Mad Season would help Layne want to become sober having being around other sober musicians. Mike and Layne would compose the music for “Above” together in only seven days. It was another significant blow to an era of music that Pearl Jam was heavily involved in. Of all the B-sides and rarities on “Lost Dogs,” the hidden track “4/20/02” ended up being the heaviest and most heart felt of them all.

Love,

Dad

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