Pop Song 166 'Even Flow' Pearl Jam 1992

Pop Song 166 'Even Flow' Pearl Jam 1992

The stark lyrics by Vedder for "Even Flow" describe the experience of being a homeless man. The subject sleeps "on a pillow made of concrete" and panhandles passersby for spare change. In addition to being illiterate, he may also be mentally ill, as he "looks insane" when he smiles and struggles to keep coherent thoughts ("Even flow, thoughts arrive like butterflies/Oh, he don't know, so he chases them away").

At Pearl Jam's March 28, 1994, concert at the Bayfront Amphitheater in Miami, Vedder introduced the song by saying, "I thought I'd throw in a bit of street education while you still have an open mind....Right across the street there's a little homeless community that lives under the bridge. You should just know that those people ain't all crazy and sometimes it's not their fault. This song is called 'Even Flow'."

At the May 12, 2008, show in Toronto, Vedder stated that the song was written under the Space Needle in Seattle. At a subsequent show in Seattle on August 8, 2018, Vedder revealed that the song was inspired by a homeless Vietnam War veteran (also named Eddie) whom he befriended while working on the band's first album. Vedder wrote the song after learning that the man had died while the band was touring

"Even Flow" features lyrics written by vocalist Eddie Vedder and music written by guitarist Stone Gossard. Bassist Jeff Ament said, "I knew it was a great song all along, and I felt that it was the best song that we got the worst take of on the first record. There were a hundred takes on that song, and we just never nailed it."Drummer Dave Krusen said, "I was pretty green back then and 'Even Flow' suffered from too much fluctuation." He added that "it was really tough for me. I don't know why. Not sure why we didn't use that one from the demo as well, but I know it felt better."[3] Guitarist Mike McCready stated, "We did 'Even Flow' about 50, 70 times. I swear to God it was a nightmare. We played that thing over and over until we hated each other. I still don't think Stone is satisfied with how it came out."

An alternate version of the song was recorded with drummer Dave Abbruzzese in 1992 while the band was recording songs for the soundtrack for the 1992 film, Singles. This version was used for the music video,[6] and was used in single releases in the United Kingdom. This version can also be found on Pearl Jam's 2004 greatest hits album, rearviewmirror (Greatest Hits 1991–2003).