Song Analysis

Pearl Jam “Jeremy”

Peal Jam was one of the first grunge bands of it’s time. The band originated out of Seattle, Washington like most of the 90’s grunge bands in 1990. Eddie Vedder is the lead vocals, Jeff Ament on bass, Stone Gossard on rhythm guitar, and Mike McCready on lead guitar are all the original members of the band. Currently, former drummer of Soundgarden, Matt Cameron plays the drums for them. Most people considered Pearl Jam as a corporate crash on the rock scene. Pearl Jam is not like most bands in the sense of refusing to make music videos and not going with the “typical” type of music like other bands. Pearl Jam boycotted Ticketmaster which was considered controversial. Pearl Jam has outlasted most of the bands that came out of in the grunge era and are to most people one of the most influential bands of the decade. The song “Jeremy” illustrates teen angst and how it can be relating to the early 90’s grunge movement.
The song “Jeremy” is about a young boy who commits suicide. There are two true events of where the band came up with the idea. One of the events is when the lead singer Eddie Vedder read about it in a newspaper article. A fifteen year old name Jeremy Wade Delle shot himself in front of his English class in 1991. As the story goes he was told to go to get an admittance slip from his school’s office. Jeremy left his class and he returned with a .357 magnum revolver. He went to the front of the room and supposedly said “Miss, I got what I really went for” and sadly shot himself. His classmates described Jeremy as someone who was normally quiet and always seemed sad. The other event that caused Pearl Jam to write this song is when Eddie Vedder himself was some what involved in a shooting. A kid named Brian that went to his junior high school shot up an oceanography class and Eddie was in the halls when it happened. He used to pick on the kid and the two of them would get into many confutations. The song is about both of the two kids but mainly about Jeremy.


The whole song is about how some kids that get so depressed and sadly can not deal with it. Some people just get so sad and so stressed on everything in their life that they do not know what to do and they believe that this is the only way out. In the song it states “Daddy didn’t give attention, oh, to the fact that mommy didn’t care.” This illustrates how some kids either feel or are really being ignored at home and feel like no one cares about them and no one will help them with their troubles. It also shows that many people have problems at home that they never address then and they try to go on living their lives the “normal way”. Another part in the song it says “Jeremy spoke in class today”. This is referring to when Jeremy himself went in front of his class and shot himself. Jeremy going and doing that in class is basically showing us that he is trying to make a statement, and one of the statements was I dislike my life and now I need to end it. The next line in the song that is meaningful is when it says “clearly I remember pickin’ on the boy seemed a harmless little f*$#. Ooo, but we unleashed a lion.” This reflects on when Eddie Vedder and the kid Brian would get into fights in school. It also means that kids like to pick on kids, plain and simple. Some kids like to take it to a different level and actually make the other person feel bad and think that their cool just because they could make other kids laugh. The truth is people should never do that because you never know who your going to upset or whose feelings your going to hurt and what those people could do or will not do. The next important part in the song is “And he hit me with a surprise left.” This illustrates how when someone does hurt themselves the people that are around those people sometimes did not see it coming and do not know how to react to it. The last meaningful part in the song is when it states “Try to forget this…try to forget this…try to erase this…try to erase this…from the blackboard…” This can shows two things. One is the memory of the event of Jeremy going in front of the class and killing himself. It can also mean that when Jeremy killed himself and there was blood on the board and everyone in the class wanted to get ride of it and forget the whole thing even happened. Clearly, all teens have angst in their life and deal with it in different ways as presented in the song “Jeremy”.

“Jeremy” fits into my theme because the whole song is about stress/angst and how a person deals with it. All teens have stress and they all can not deal with an over load. There are many factors that can cause it. Some are school, family, friends, jobs, sports, ect. We all have a nervous breakdown sometime in our lives. The song illustrates how finally one day one kid could not take it anymore and decided to end his life just to maybe make himself feel better. It also fits in because “Jeremy” was revolutionary in the fact that it brought teen suicide into the light of music and known. Many people considered it taboo to talk about because it is personal but the fact of the matter is that teens should always talk about their problems so they can feel relieved and get all of it off of their chests.

There are many poetic devices in the song “Jeremy”. Some of them are the following. Throughout the whole song there is foreshadowing in the fact that you have to think of the worse possible thing that will happen when a kid does not like his life and people constantly put him down. The character of the song is Jeremy. He is also the protagonist. The next poetic device is mood. The mood in the song “Jeremy” is very sad and upsetting. The song wants the listener to put yourself in Jeremy’s position and think what is was like to go on day in and day out living what he had to live and seeing how you would deal with it. The song “Jeremy” is a narrative poem because it tells a story. When it states “try to forget this….try to forget this….try to erase this…try to erase this” it is an example of a caesura because when sung they take pauses when played. The climax of the song is when Jeremy decides to act on his thoughts and ideas and commit suicide. Another poetic device that is used is conflict. The conflict in the song “Jeremy” is when the kid is not getting the love and attention at home and when he is picked on in school. In this song the tone is what can happen with angst and stress it self and how people deal with it in different ways. The point of view of the song is put through the eyes of either Jeremy and what he went through and also the people that lived around him and how they were effected by him and his actions. When it says “ooo, but we unleashed a lion” it is referring to Jeremy and how he acted out. In the song the narrator is perceived as Eddie Vedder because he was the one that read about the kid Jeremy and went to school with Brian. Thus, this song is important because every person has demons and some people can not live with them but everyone has the ability to deal with them.

Jeremy lyrics

at home drawing pictures of mountain tops with him on top lemon yellow sun arms raised in a V dead lay in pools of maroon below

daddy didn't give attention to the fact that mommy didn't care king jeremy the wicked ruled his world

Jeremy spoke in class today Jeremy spoke in class today

clearly I remember pickin' on the boy seemed a harmless little f*$# but we unleashed a lion gnashed his teeth and bit the recessed lady's breast

how could I for get he hit me with a surprise left my jaw left hurt in dropped wide open just like the day like the day I heard

daddy didn't give affection and the boy was something that mommy wouldn't wear king Jeremy the wicked ruled his world

Jeremy spoke in class today Jeremy spoke in class today Jeremy spoke in class today

try to forget this (try to forget this) try to erase this (try to erase this)from the blackboard.

Jeremy spoke in class today Jeremy spoke in class today Jeremy spoke in, spoke in Jeremy spoke in, spoke in Jeremy spoke in class today