Lyrics for Corduroy as interpreted by Ark

Corduroy Lyrics
The waiting drove me mad...you're finally here and I'm a mess
I take your riches back...can't let you roam inside my head
I don't want to take what you can give...
I would rather starve than eat your bread...
I would rather run but I can't walk...
Guess I'll lie alone just like before...

I'll take the firmist path...oh, and I must refuse your test
A-push me and I will resist...this behavior's not unique
I don't want to hear from those who know...
They can buy, but can't put on my clothes...
I don't want to limp for them to walk...
Never would have known of me before...
I don't want to be held in your debt...
I'll pay it off in blood, let I be wed...
I'm already cut up and half dead...
I'll end up alone like I began...

Everything has changed, absolutely nothing's changed
Take my hand, not my picture, spilled my tincture

I don't want to take what you can give...
I would rather starve than eat your breast...
All the things that others want for me...
Can't buy what I want because it's free... (2
x) Can't be what you want because I'm...

I ain't s'posed to be this far
Oh, to live and die, let it be done
I figure I'll be damned, all alone like I began...

It's your move now...
I thought you were a friend, but I guess I, I guess I hate you...

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Lucky1869_420
12-07-2001

Rated 0 
"It is about a relationship but not between two people. It's more one person's relationship with a million people. In fact, that song's almost a little too obvious for me. That's why instead of a lyric sheet we put in an X-ray of my teeth from last January and they are all in very bad shape, which was analogous to my head at the time", Eddie Vedder.




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flinkaflenkaflrsk
01-15-2002

Rated 0 
yups kewl quote :)
it is a really nice song and has the power in it, to make you at least feel at the slightest bit how that person feels

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qube
01-17-2002

Rated 0 
eddie vedder had a corduroy jacket he used to wear -- like in the jeremy video. The song title comes from one day when he saw a rip off of his jacket on sale in a store for a few hundred bucks. Hence "they can buy but can't put on my clothes"

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lookn_2b_inspired
05-01-2002

Rated 0 
Eddie bought a corduroy jacket from an op shop for about two dollars and then saw the jacket for sale at a shop for an expensive amount. This made Eddie think about how a rich man wouldn't wear Eddies jacket but would wear one that cost heaps more. Money makes people strange, doesn't it?

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KOOLKRIS
05-03-2002

Rated 0 
OKAY I THINK THE LYRICS ARE MESSED UP BIG TIME!!! IT'S:
"i don't want to take what you can give, i'd rather starve than eat your BREAD" not breast ?? what the hell were they thinking....

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krystonite
05-14-2002

Rated 0 
I love this song!

Whenever some one pissed me off, I play this in my head.. Sad but true.

"I would rather run, but I can't walk" sticks out in my mind...

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aldeayeah
05-28-2002

Rated 0 
first time it's "bread", second is "breast", at least in vitalogy... if you have bootlegs then it's another thing, poor eddie tends to mess the lyrics up (something that can be understood, given that there are 100+ songs to remember...). Ohhhh i love this song...

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KOOLKRIS
06-07-2002

Rated 0 
I AGREE... I WAS REFERRING TO THE FIRST TIME...
(HE SAYS BREAD)

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dimitri
06-15-2002

Rated 0 
i thought it was "i'll take the varmints path"...

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KOOLKRIS
08-16-2002

Rated 0 
NOPE

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lo
06-29-2003

Rated 0 
the song rocks! live versions are far better then the studio one!

PJ ROCKS!

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Regos the Sane
05-27-2004

Rated 0 
I don't think Eddie stuff up the lyrics when he sings live, I think he does it intentionally, as he does with most songs, when he wants to give a different message.

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veds
11-22-2004

Rated 0 
Don't fuck up what you could've had. That's my opinion on the song. I also like to wear corduroy, like Eddie did, especially back in the early years.

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stoolhardy
12-29-2004

Rated 0 
I don't get this song, but it sounds cool and it must be a great song live. It seems like the song is about rebelling, about biting the hand that feeds you. Yes, he is angry in the song, about something - no idea what.

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All5Horizons10
12-30-2004

Rated 0 
It's about the media. Yes, it's called Corduroy b/c he bought a cheap corduroy jacket and later it was advertised for a lot of money. It's about his feelings towards the media. "take my hand, not my picture" means to take HIM not "Pearl Jam's lead singer and rock star: EDDIE VEDDER!!" "spilled my tincture" a tincture is a color or shade used to distinguish metals from each other..he's saying he's not being seen as himself anymore..he's being seen in the mass of "rock stars". "I thought you were a friend, but I guess, I guess I hate you" when PJ first started out Eddie was known for being very friendly and respectful to reporters but once he realized that they were just in it to exploit him and make money..he ran away

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Artsy
01-02-2005

Rated 0 
im wondering in what context he means: cant buy what I want beacuse its free, cant be what you want because i am free..any suggestions?

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SomeoneNew
01-12-2005

Rated 0 
dmitri is correct -- first line of the 2nd verse is supposed to say "varmint's path", not firmest. It is clearly a "V" being enunciated by Eddie.

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Bellyfull of Swans
01-15-2005

Rated 0 
Artsy-
I think in the context of the song he means that the things that he wants: common courtesy, privacy, love, respect...are all things that cannot be bought with money...but the more money you have the less of those things you tend to get.

Cant be what you want because Im free....

that means that Eddie doesnt want to be your answer man or your dancing monkey because he is trying to live his own life.

Your Parents might have wanted you to become a doctor, but you wanted to be a ballet dancer-- you cant be what they want because youre free!

2 of the 3 times I saw them in concert they opened with this song!

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Artsy
01-15-2005

Rated 0 
thanx bellyfull

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SomeoneNew
01-15-2005

Rated 0 
I read in an interview in a mag a few years ago where Ed hinted this song was about fairweather fans. Basically those people who just follow a group's music when it's "in"...like those who listen to whatever is playing on MTV or the radio at the moment. But once the mainstream moves on, they drop the band for the next best thing.

These types of fans want PJ to play the corporate game, follow the trend, make the videos, be popular. But PJ was never about that and refuses to sell out. PJ can't be tempted by the money because they aren't about that. You can't buy them because what they want, to reach their fans through their art about real issues affecting our society today, that kind of fulfillment can't be bought. It's free.

The song expresses disappointment in those fans who don't see what PJ is about and were never true fans in the first place.

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Jammer Of Pearl
01-23-2005

Rated 0 
I get SOME parts of this song...i basically just like the tune of it..hey bellyful..Great explaining on some of the lyrics, i would LOVE to see these guys in concert like you! haha
Awesome song.

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jdevils3
02-01-2005

Rated 0 
Not to nit-pick, but its, "everything has CHAINS...absolutely nothing's changed."

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i love JF
02-19-2005

Rated 0 
why do peole always say things about the lyrics being wrong. they be what thay want them to be.
sorry i thought id say that.

this song has some amazing things in it and i think that it has something allot to do with something bad thats happening in the band.
not to put pj down but i just think that

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HailHailPearlJam
03-09-2005

Rated 0 
"I'm already cut up and half dead
I'll end up alone like I began"

I always liked those lines. One of the greatest grunge songs ever.

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Barry Burton
04-10-2005

Rated 0 
I swear this song's just about a guy who's been desperate and has finally found someone but they're selfish and treat him like dirt, constantly telling him what to do and how to be etc. Although i know that doesn't explain the name, its what it means to me when i listen to it.

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