Yield - Side A

I tried to do this in one essay...I just can't.

Feb 03, 2026

Hi Son,

I’ve been torn on when I wanted to talk about this record. It’s my favorite album of Pearl Jam’s and I could literally write an essay about every single track on this album. I went on ad nauseam about “No Code.” As I mentioned, you would have thought it was my favorite record of theirs. However, this album immediately stuck with me after listening to it and “Given To Fly” was my favorite song of theirs for a long time. The main motivation is because the anniversary of this record. On February 3, 1998, Pearl Jam released their “back to form” album, “Yield.” I talked extensively about “No Code” and how that record seemingly turned off several fans from the early-to-mid 90s. After “Ten” the tracks on the next three albums (Vs., Vitalogy, No Code) were largely dominated by Eddie. A big part of the tension within the group was due to the lack of collaboration allowed from the other band members. If you remember my account of “Ten,” the music was largely written by Stone and Jeff. Their most successful album, albeit their debut, was written by other members of the band and yet they were kept outside of the writing process for the most part. Don’t get me wrong, “Vs.”, “Vitalogy” and “No Code” are still brilliant. However, there was a lot of great ideas not getting consideration from Jeff, Stone and Mike. Especially Mike.

The opening track will sound familiar to some. It’s one half of the inspiration of my Substack handle. “Brain of J.” is also my favorite opener on any of their records. It starts with one of the band members counting off in the background and then Mike blasts the main guitar riff followed by Jack destroying the drums. Eddie then comes in growling “Whooooooooo’s got the brain of JFK? What’s it mean to us now?” The majority of the time Jack spends slamming his sticks onto the drum kit. I can’t think of another performance any of their drummers have been so ferocious. That’s saying a lot considering Dave A. was renowned for his energetic play behind the drums. After the bridge, Mike has one of my favorite solos of any song in their catalog. Normally the band will slot an opener on their records with a lot of energy, but none matches “Brain of J.” in intensity. The song fades out to a blaring guitar riff and then calmly segues into “Faithfull.” I don’t think there is a transition between two tracks that I enjoy more than these two songs. The temperature comes down quite a bit in “Faithfull” for the first verse with one of my favorite guitar riffs playing behind Ed’s vocals. Then when it goes into the chorus, it’s ramps up quickly!

And echoes nobody hears, it goes, it goes, it goes
Like echoes nobody hears, it goes, it goes, it goes
We're faithful, we all believe, we all believe it

After the bridge, the tone comes back down to where the beginning of the song was. I know I went on-and-on about “No Code’s” first two tracks (“Sometimes” and “Hail, Hail”) but these two play together so perfectly for my taste. They are my PB&J of the Pearl Jam catalog.

For a long time, track 3 “No Way” was a skipper. Two reasons, the first because “Given To Fly” is right after it. Second reason is that it’s kind of weird and sticks out on the record. However, this song has aged like a fine wine for me. The song is just really groovy. The main riff is played by Stone throughout and honestly I could listen to that riff on a loop for hours. No longer do I skip “No Way.” Now we arrive at “Given To Fly.” This was my jam (no pun intended) for the longest time. It’s still top 3 (Present Tense, Not For You) and maybe it’s only because I have worn this song out. The feeling this song gives me is exactly what the title would suggest. I feel like I’m floating on air. It is four minutes of euphoria. The guitar riff is majestic. There has been some criticism that the music Mike wrote for “Given To Fly” resembles “Going To California” by Led Zeppelin. Robert Plant actually teased Mike about the resemblance of the music in an interview that Mike did on Plant!

"To repeat yourself as regularly as we do as entertainers, you know this, I mean how many times have you played 'Going to California'? Oh sorry, whatever your song is called [Mike laughs]. F--king hell, what is it called?"

Plant would eventually show up on stage during one of Pearl Jam’s shows in 2005 at the House of Blues in Chicago. After “Given To Fly” faded out, Plant took over the mic and sang “Going To California.”

I honestly don’t care how much it resembles the Zeppelin ballad, both songs are beautiful and each are one of my favorites in their respective catalogs. Then comes “Wishlist.” I used to play “Wishlist” for you when you were a newborn. You had this motorized rocker that allowed me to send over music by bluetooth to play while you slept. This song is probably the most beautiful song on “Yield.” The lyrics are brilliant because each line starts with “I wish I was…” with my favorite line being “I wish I was a sacrifice, but somehow still lived on.” That lyric really describes me more than any written by Eddie.

The music of “Wishlist” makes me feel like I’m standing underneath a star-studded night sky. I just envision that the sky is rotating and the light from the stars and moon shine down kind of like a disco ball. My imagination of this happening really peaks during Stone’s solo over the bridge of the song. You’re likely to hear “Wishlist” a lot on our turntable as you grow up.

Track 6, “Pilate” is a cool song that was written by Jeff. The lyrics of the song are based on a novel written in the Soviet Union between 1928-1940 by Mikhail Bulagov. The name of the novel is “The Master and Margarita.” Jeff references “like Pilate, I have a dog” during the chorus of the song. In an interview in Guitar World in 1998, Jeff describes the lyrics were inspired from the end of the novel.

…they talk about Pontius Pilate being all alone on a mountain with his dog. He couldn't sleep and he couldn't function. It really struck me hard, because at that point I was feeling very alone. I've always had this recurring dream about being old and just me and my dog sitting on the porch. It wasn't necessarily a sad dream or a premonition, but it did get me to thinking about why Pilate was so alone and freaked out. Then I realized he didn't get to finish his conversation with Jesus—that's why he can't function, because he didn't tie up the loose ends in his life.

One thing I’ve learned about Jeff Ament is that he is by far the deepest individual when it comes to artistry and spirituality. The reason why I am going over this song as much as I am, is because I think “Pilate” and the sister song “Low Light” on Track 10 really expose Jeff’s soul for the first time. “Yield” became somewhat of a spring board for his contributions as a lyricist and not just the music. A lot of his tracks are some of my favorites.

So far I’ve gone through Side A if you are going by the track list on LP. I told myself I would try to get through my experience with “Yield” in one essay, but honestly this is going to get very lengthy and there is so much I want to say about every track on “Yield” and also to touch upon the album art. I will finish this “Part 1” by mentioning the first Pearl Jam show that I ever went to (also your mother’s). One thing I am going to say is that I cannot hold a candle to several Ten Clubbers and other fans who have not only followed the band for longer than I have, but also largely that many long-time fans have seen dozens of their shows. It wasn’t until 2014, while we lived in Milwaukee, that I finally took the time and money to see them when they came through on their “Lightning Bolt” tour. The show was the day after my 33rd birthday. The fall of 2014 in general was freaking incredible (the Royals also made their first World Series in 29 years)! Anyway, halfway through the set the band plays “Brain of J.” then immediately followed by “Faithfull.” I absolutely loved this for all of the reasons I explained earlier. These two songs pair as well as any two songs I have ever heard. Then they play “No Way.” Hold on…are they playing “Yield” in its entirety?? Next song, you guessed it, “Given To Fly.” From that point forward they would play out the entire album (sans Red Dot, which was playing at the beginning of the show while they took the sage). It was unreal. I would later find out that was the first show they played “Yield” in it’s entirety. It’s also the only show they have done this. So while I don’t have the lengthy resume of a “typical” Pearl Jam fan, at least I (and also your mother) have that. I’ll go over Side B in my next post.