Pearl Jam – Brain of J.

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  General Comment:I thought the song was about the folly of conspiracy theorizing. That is, obsessing about things like a president's brain is just a way to avoid real problems, and true action. Everybody assumes that the government, the Russians--someone--is behind the assassination. If we find out tomorrow that it was LBJ, or a grand government conspiracy, what then? Nothing. By focusing on things like the lost brain of a dead pres., maybe we should be considering and taking responsibility for our own malfunctions, hence the remainder of the album.

  Flag creatorcreatoron October 14, 2009   Link

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    Most comments make a lot of sense, but I think maybe you got it right.
    
    Specially if you consider the first lines, "who's got the brain, what's it mean to us now, it sound distrust but IT'S NO LIE".
    That's just like most people talk when they talk about a conspiracy theory.
    
    "The whole world will be different / relieved" may refer to the fact that when the conspiracy is proved (which never happens!), the world will be different and people will be relieved for finally knowing the truth.
    
    As for the messed up intro... well, it may sound a bit naîve, but I think maybe they did that just for "kidding", to begin the album in a different way.
    
    
    Nevertheless, AWESOME song, one of the most powerful songs I know. I'm glad I'll see them in one week!

    Flag GustavoPinhoon October 31, 2011  
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  General Comment:HAH, I didn't realize that the intro was "messed up", I just thought it sounded cool. This song is very catchy, and I didn't get the lyrics until now and I feel like an idiot for it.

  Flag $p$on May 17, 2008   Link

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  General Comment:Well, it's pretty obvious that the song is partly about JFK's missing brain (which will probably never be found)... Eddie Vedder, ever the visionary, sings that
  "the whole world will be different soon..." surely meaning that the monkeys will have their revenge on Seattle

  Flag Poo_Townon September 09, 2007   Link

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  General Comment:nevermind relieved is right according to the pearl jam site

  Flag jimithing361on May 09, 2007   Link

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  General Comment:I may be wrong but i always thought it was "Soon the whole world will believe him" and not "the whole world will be relieved"

  Flag jimithing361on May 09, 2007   Link

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  General Comment:the explanations above give a light about the meaning of the lyrics. But what´s the name meaning?. second verse is very clear though.
  Another doubt: why do they miss it up at the begining of the song in purpose? I think that´s one of the clues to understand the song. There must be an error, or something goes wrong, something they didn´t planned...

  Flag beatakeshion December 27, 2006   Link

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  General Comment:i think this song is about government corruption and how they make some people believe what they want through the spread of propaganda (You? You've been taught, whipped into shape, now they got you in line. Yeah.
  Stand behind the stripes. There will be order, so give it a good mind there.) somewhere deep in the federal archives someone has the brain,i mean its kinda hard to just misplace a dead presidents brain

  Flag bob_longon July 23, 2006   Link

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  General Comment:Probably because the rest of the album isn't as fast-paced as those songs :)

  Flag T-CAP75on July 03, 2006   Link

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  General Comment:Very cool song to lead off Yield, but for some reason, this song doesn't seem to fit with the rest of the album. And "Do the Evolution".

  Flag T-CAP75on June 30, 2006   Link

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  General Comment:this is a great song that really grew on me more than any of there other songs

  Flag richie8092on March 10, 2006   Link

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