The End Lyrics from the Pearl Jam Album: Backspacer
Many of titles of the tracks from Backspacer share their title with other famous songs. In this case, The End may be a reference to The Door's song or even U2's One from Achtung Baby. One could describe the lyrics being part of an "aching love song".'
The End lyrics:
What were all those dreams we shared
Those many years ago?
What were all those plans we made now
Left beside the road?
Behind us in the road
Cause friends they come and go
People change, as does everything
I wanted to grow old
I just want to grow old
Slide up next to me
I'm just a human being
I will take the blame
But just the same
This is not me
You see?
Believe
I'm better than this
Don't leave me so cold
I'm buried beneath the stones
I just want to hold on
I know I'm worth your love
Enough
I don't think
There's such a thing
It's my fault now
Having caught a sickness in my bones
How it pains to leave you here
With the kids on your own
Just don't let me go
Help me see myself
Cause I can no longer tell
Looking out from the inside
Of the bottom of a well
It's hell
I yell
But no one hears before I disappear
Whisper in my ear
Give me something to echo
In my unknown future's ear
My dear
The end
Comes near
I'm here
But not much longer
Want to read more Backspacer Lyrics. Check out Amongst the Waves or Just Breathe.
Check out the lyrics to Pearl Jam's Lightning Bolt
Check out the lyrics to Pearl Jam's Lightning Bolt
This is the end, this is the end my friend.
ReplyDeleteBest Song Ever.
ReplyDeleteIncredible. Definitely Ed's best vocal track ever. Beautiful song.
ReplyDelete"How it pains to leave you here with the kids on your own" is the correct lyric.
ReplyDeleteThis song is so incredibly sad but beautiful. :(
ReplyDeleteI agree with one of the previous posts. Maybe the most beautiful song ever written. Steve
ReplyDeleteIt's actually
ReplyDelete"How it pains to leave you here with the kids on your own"
"I’m better than this – don’t leave me so cold"
I believe that the lyrics are "Looking out from the inside of the bottom of a well..."
ReplyDeleteshades of "indifference" STAND OUT TRACK LOVE IT
ReplyDeleteThis and Just Breathe like Eddie Vedder's solo album "Into the Wild".
ReplyDeleteBeautifull voice "just in place"!
Well said...
DeleteMy husband and I - longgggg time PJ fans - have a theory. We fear this may be the last album. I hope not, but really read those lyrics. He played this song last when we saw him on solo tour in Nashville this summer.
ReplyDeleteSame here. The missus and I will be seeing them in Oslo and Copenhagen in July. PJ concerts are the most natural high we can get
Deletehi everybody
ReplyDeletewell no need to be telling best song ever and those kind of things...
good rocknroll album
i never like it much at first listening with pearl jam and after a few ones it climbs to the top of my favourites...
i just wonder....
who's end is this song talking about?
@adrian....
ReplyDeletei would like to know too...but damn that this song it's pure poetry.
the last tracks are always my favorite, and they all seem to top one another. it was no different with this album, in my opinion. just an amazing edition to pearl jam's catalogue... and the most beautiful end to an album.
ReplyDeleteWish to see you in Serbia. Lot of us can't afford it to travel across Europe to see you. Hope this is not the last album from you. Thanks
ReplyDeleteI just need to say,
ReplyDeleteif are you gonna leave us here,
please leave a nice 4 hours grunge opera
a real and definitive final testament
to the 90´s and beyond....
I love this song! I wonder if it was inspired by the music of Chris Smithers 'cause it feels very similar to his music
ReplyDeleteConsider myself one of the biggest Pearl Jam fans ever as I have listened non-stop since Ten. I hate this album. It's depressing,generic,and worse than Riot Act in my opinion. I wanted to love it. I just can't. "Gonna See My Friend" is horrible. "Johnny Guitar" is retarded. "The End" is possibly the most depressing song I have ever heard. "Cancer in the bones???" How in the F can I jam to that or even enjoy that? Sorry folks.
ReplyDelete"The End" doesn't depress me. Death is unavoidable. And life is suffering...ala the Buddah. I actually found many of the verses touching in a positive way. Particularly the "whisper in my ear" verse. Is it sad? Sure...but alot of life is sad.
ReplyDeleteLove the album too....as with most of their albums this one grows on me with each listen...the live show north of Portland a couple weeks ago helped too! RED MOSQUITO
Sad, so sad that you can consider yourself a Pearl Jam fan and yet not enjoy this album. Of course, your opinion is your own and you are entitled to it. I too wasn't convinced that this was an album I could relate to as a fan. But, the more I listen, the more I love it! I'm ashamed that I even considered not giving it a chance. I can't turn my back on a band that has given me so much pleasure for so many years of my life, especially when it's a really awesome album!!! Thank you again PJ for touching my heart and soul. :)
ReplyDeleteAs an oncology nurse, this song hits home! Every paragraph has meaning. The sad truth is, this is life! Sorry if you can't "jam to it or even enjoy it......" but in typical Pearl Jam fashion, they ended the album with a song that is moving and thoughtful. TRULY BEAUTIFUL!
ReplyDeleteVery nice song
ReplyDeleteI yell
It's hell
Should be the other way around though.
This is beautiful... I am left speachless. This song had me in tears.
ReplyDeletespeechless*
ReplyDeleteI love The End IT'S SO BEAUTIFUL
ReplyDeleteTOUCHED MY SOUL
As a husband who watched a wife and mother leave her family in the prime of life because of cancer, I really appreciate this song. Sorry if you can't rock to it but sometimes music means a lot more than "rockin out" I would think anyone who has listened to Pearl Jam beyond Ten would have a pretty strong feeling for that. It's an amazing song that touches on a subject that is sad and beautiful. Those times when a loved one is close to death do something to a relationship that is extremely difficult to express, and Ed does it marvelously in "The End" It really blew me away.
ReplyDeleteI love this album. It's by far my favorite PJ album, and I've listened to them since they were still fairly unknown. It's also their most commercial - which I can see would rub some long time fans the wrong way. But, being Ed's age, I guess the songs really hit a chord with me.
ReplyDeleteThe first time I heard this song, I couldn't help but wonder if Ed or another member of the band has a terminal illness of some sort. I know it sounds uber-dramatic, and I hate to even type the words, but what if? Amongst the Waves has an end of life ring to it as well.
Someone please tell me I'm a lunatic and reading way too much into things.
Mommie Dearest, sorry but I think Ed is saying goodbye for PJ. The whole album is about the band, the highs and lows, the fans and how Eddie feels about all these. I think he has found a new direction. Given Into the Wild and this one I would expect another Eddie Vedder album but maybe not for Pearl Jam fans. Mark Oz
ReplyDeleteI did not read cancer or terminal illness into a single lyric. The End is about moving on and not knowing what lies beyond yet being sorry for leaving behind as in the end of PJ. Amongst the Waves is inspired by new found freedom and peace and while not about surfing uses that imagery to evoke its message. Has anyone heard of metaphor in song?
ReplyDeleteSongs mean whatever they mean to who ever listens to it, thats the sign of a truly great song writer
ReplyDeleteThis song can mean anything you want too, it evoke's imagination with every word written in this truly meaningful song and probably PJs best album in a long time,if not the best yet!
ReplyDeleteIt feels to me that it may be a ghost writing of a cancer patient; another such terminal illness.
ReplyDeleteEither way. Freakin' sad. Very hearwrenching song.
I think this is one of their best songs and quite different from their other ones - unless someone cares to draw a comparison?
ReplyDeleteThis is a great song! I have listened to the album many times and did not pay much attention to "The End" until yesterday. As for the album, it definately has a more commmerical sound, but still PJ through and through... These guys are legends!!!
ReplyDeleteBob Dylan said, hey its just a song, don't take it too seriously. For sure more to come from Ed and company as they mature, solo or otherwise its all good. Art from the heart.
ReplyDeletethis is one really good album, the end being one of my favorites on it along with just breathe, force of nature & the fixer..
ReplyDeleteI had to cry when I first heard that song. These lyrics are deeply touching and true. And the older I get the more I know that life can be so cruel and mean and sad, and that scares me like hell. And I am sure that Eddie and the band feel the same.
ReplyDeleteI listened to Eddie's voice for so many years now and still I realize new facettes, he never sang like that before. I love that voice so much, it hurts. Like that song hurts. You can rock your ass of with PJ, but there are always songs, too, that are so beautiful and deep and I could never imagine PJ without them.
It made my cry...
ReplyDeleteEddie Vedder is such a brilliant on the things that he is doing! Beutiful song and album. Two thumbs up!
ReplyDeletePeople need to learn lyrics before posting them on sites...Annoying!
ReplyDeleteThe end of the age.... Christ is near. Are you ready?
ReplyDeleteBeautiful song even though that is probably not Vedder's meaning.
The best thing I`ve ever heard... Hope to see Pearl Jam in Skopje.
ReplyDeleteI think you all are right. I'm sorry because I don't control english as my own language (as a writer, trying to write in a different language, I’m so sorry!). This song talks about everything you all are talking about. And about many other things, too. About death, about cancer, about bones, about Pearl Jam. About a husband left from his wife, when he understands there’s nothing left to do, if her love has died. But; on this blog you are talking about Oasis, Coldplay, The Doors. I think these bands have nothing to do with this album. If one band lies behind this album, it’s The Beatles. The End is the last song of their last album. Along all ‘Abbey road’ both Lennon and McCartney – and even Harrison – give a own point of view about the band’s split. And their metaphores are still in our eyes. Pearl Jam just have Vedder as lyrics writer, and with his amazing words he’s providing for the lack of creative music, around the band. I wonder where McCready has lost his creativity, he was able to choke me anytime, years ago. ‘The end’ is not a depressing song: not if you don’t think it’s depressing Pearl Jam are going to separate. If I hope Ed Vedder is going to be farther better (deeper, at least!) than Paul McCartney as a solo singer, I’m pretty sure Mike McCready will not be half good as George Harrison.
ReplyDeleteAnyway: ‘The end’ stands to Pearl Jam, like ‘Something’ stands to The Beatles.
And in the end / the love you take / is equal / to the love you make.
Marco, from Italy.
Yes, truly another incredible song. If you really want to be taken to the next level with this song - you HAVE to hear the live version from the "Portland" show on 09/26/09 (It was really Ridgefield, WA. - a burb just north of Vancouver, WA. *Eddie even jokes, "Where the fuck are we?") Anyway.... Eddie does this song solo and, as usual with PJ, it completely surpasses the studio version.
ReplyDeleteLastly, I'd like to offer my own lyric (possible) correction
The line, "But no one HEARS before I disappear"
- I believe is,
"But no one HEALS before I disappear"
I have strained to try and tell on the studio version, and I admit - It could go 50/50 either way. However, if you treat yourself to that live version I talked about - I think you will agree when I say I'm about 99% certain that he says, "HEALS".
Please feel free to let me know what you think - I'm curious if anyone agrees.
cpr2112@live.com - Please put "PJ - The End" in the subject line if ya do!
Later - Q
Hi you all,
ReplyDeleteThis is a super song. The thouch in his voice reminded my of earlier days!! Just Great!!
I don't think that this is "the end" like some of you think. Maybe another direction to go ....
There grown ups now so wisdom comes with the time..... I hope.
Hopefully they will make the right choices and stay with us as PJ for a long time!!!
Roy
Having a family member battling cancer at the time of this show made this song mean so much more. Amazing lyrics that feel as though they've been somehow ripped right from our hearts at just the right moment. Whoever Eddie lost to have written this song had to have meant the world to him.
ReplyDeleteI love the song but i don't want Pearl jam to end, guys, you're breaking my heart!!!
ReplyDeletesigned - long-time fan from Brazil (and you promised to tour here again!)
My Mum died last Monday the 12th July from cancer and a having had Alzheimer’s for the past five years too; luckily she did not have enough time to suffer and died with us all by her side at home. Having held her hand and watched as she took her last breathe, this song has now taken on a whole new meaning since then, as too has, Amongst the waves & Just breathe. This link is worth a watch - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=990mPRb3T50
ReplyDelete(Andrew - Dublin - Ireland)
PIR Ma - 1936 - 2010
Just getting into Pearl Jam....
ReplyDeleteSpeaks to me right where I am.
thanks for your blog site!
This song makes me cry every time. If my father could've had one last song; I believe this is it. I lost him just about a year ago to suicide. Him & I loved music and now I feel like he speaks to me through some of the lyrics. Such a touching & moving song. There is something about Eddie Vedder's voice that reminds me of my father. Such beautiful music.
ReplyDeleteThe death singing with your voice does not afraid me.
ReplyDeleteLove you. Love your voice.
Forever.
Such a multifaceted song. It could be cancer, it could be a drug addiction, it could be suicide, it could be the end of a relationship. Having lost a friend to cancer I cried not during the song but listening to how it has touched all of your hearts. I love this just as much as I love every Pearl Jam song, but it makes me feel more than any other I have heard.
ReplyDeleteI can't believe nobody (that I could see) thought this theory. Losing your loved one because of alcohol. It just happened to me 8 months ago and this song is EXACTLY what I feel like. Every single lyric goes with it for me. Even the "caught a sickness in my bones". Like your parents passing it down to you. Just sayin...
ReplyDeleteAs someone who has watched a loved one suffer and die from cancer, I know this song reflects a similar experience, maybe being with Johnny Ramone when he passed, who knows? Everyone has to deal with death sometime and I think Eddie has truly captured the heartbreak and pain of a life cut short too soon. Does it serve as a metaphor for moving on? Possibly, The best music always means more than just one thing to one person, and that is more than true of PJ.
ReplyDeletesome wiseass here doesn't like the song, 'cause he 'can't jam to it or enjoy it'... and since when a song has to be all jolly and dynamic to be great?
ReplyDeleteYep, not the last song, Lightning Bolt yaaaaaaay
ReplyDeleteWhen Backspacer came out my son was diagnosed with a brain virus. While healing in the hospital, not sure what kind of virus it was or if he'd make it, I'd have to drive home every night to get change of clothes and toys. One of those evenings I turned on the stereo in the car and The End started playing. The song hit me so hard I had to stop the car on the side of the road and just lean over the steering wheel and cry. I wept so hard and screamed until I lost my breath. This song, for me, is about loss no matter in what form or shape it takes, and fighting that loss. Our kid got all well again but it was touch and go for a while. I'll tell you now, that song helped from not losing it in front of my kid to desperation, it kept me strong with him and we got through it. So for me the song is a signature of that fight, those dark days and the desperation of illness.
ReplyDelete