Pearl Jam: Release Meaning

Release Lyrics

I see the world
Feel the chill
Which way to go
Windowsill
I see the words
On a rocking horse of time
I see the birds in the rain

Oh dear dad
Can you see me now
I am myself
Like you somehow
I'll ride the wave
Where it takes me
I'll...

1. anonymous

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   Feb 3rd 2023 !⃝

   I think the song is about the anxiety and depression that eddie faced with the revelation about his biological father and how he is asking to be released from the troubles.
   
   i also think that the first verse talks about how he is stuck in the spot he is and wishes to be normal as he sees other people with perfect lifes.
   
   and the par where he says "ill wait up in the dark, for you to speak to me" is abou how his biological father knew who eddie was and yet did hardly any thing about it.
   
2. anonymous

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   Dec 27th 2022 !⃝

   In the first verse there is a feeling of being lost.
   
   Ending it all is being contemplated... which way to go... windowsill
   
   In the second, there is a decision... to ride the wave...
   
   The beseeching to be released... from the pain and what has caused him to come to the crossroads...
   
   ...as he decides to go on...
3. anonymous

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   Feb 11th 2021 !⃝

   For those poopooing those of us with faith who find meaning in this song in regards to God, in my case, at least, i knew it was about his father, and i know Ed’s stance on God, that doesn't stop me relating to the song when i am suffering from the depression that has plagued me, and it feeling like a song i have to sing to the Lord. Music is not a finite thing, lyrics speak come to people where they are and they relate them to what they need them to in their life to feel connection, and for me healing. Ed and Pearl Jam helped me survive my 20s without self destructing because i had it to hide in. Don’t disparage those who relate the lyrics of this song to their higher power. Music is transformative. Music is a gift from God whether you believe in him or not.
4. anonymous

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   Aug 6th 2019 !⃝

   Great song about loss and longing. Vedder lost his biological dad before he even knew who he was. People saying this is about God have no idea who Vedder is apparently. Don't insert your dumb religious interpretations into this beautiful song written by someone who believes religion is trash.
5. anonymous

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   May 22nd 2019 !⃝

   I think it's simply a song about living up to a fathers expectations but not getting there before he died. Or getting there and not hearing it before his Dad passed. Anyway, it's a great tune!
6. anonymous

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   May 7th 2019 !⃝

   I think it was about Ted Bundy & his girlfriend Liz
7. anonymous

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   Dec 9th 2018 !⃝

   Always come back to music of my youth and find more in it now then I ever did then. This makes me think of drug addiction and asking to be released in an intimate conversation with God himself. After all, music is what purpose it serves. Thank you for a song so that all of us can find ourselves in it.
   Thank you Eddie
8. anonymous

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   Feb 26th 2018 !⃝

   That is him, his Dad, and the Father. It happens how one chooses to create and then shall be created. It is who you are, only one source then gifted life from the Mother.
   
   Once in a lifetime, it happens at the highest energy power source, not at old age. He was with him then, ask Ed, And now.
   
   And as you are Alive the gift of who you are in this form is alive. Energy, constant, balance.. it is no fun when the struggle is over, nothing. The present is the gift, it is how you choose to invision and set a course.
9. anonymous

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   Dec 15th 2017 !⃝

   I think it's about someone holding there pain and releasing it weather a bad relationship. Me personally I haven't seen my daughter for years 15 years her mother was able to keep her from me and no matter what I tried to do no one would listen to me or help me more or less I hold the pain release that's the way I take it someone that holds the pain it's one of my favorite songs.
10. anonymous

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    Nov 8th 2017 !⃝

    This song is about Eddie Vedders dad. He lost him without even knowing there was something to lose. He is speaking of letting go of his anger and also letting go of his dad. "I'll wait up in the dark for you to speak to me", meaning the spirit of his father. This song is NOT about suicide, so whomever said that has no idea what they're talking about. It is simply Mr. Vedder "releasing" his hurt and anger and pain into a beautiful song about missing his father. LOVE YOU ED
11. anonymous

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    Sep 26th 2017 !⃝

    The song is about one's decision to end your their own life. Suicide. Release from the pain. Which way to go? Windowsill. Jumping off the roof of a building to become one with the birds and the rain......
    Possible that Eddie's father committed suicide, though I cannot be sure.
    Eddie Vedder/Seattle scene/Darkness
    Music can deeply effect the highly suggestible among us. Many people commit suicide with music set in the backdrop of the idea's inception all the way to the conclusion. Nobody wants to admit the importance of music while considering the concept of suicide. Nobody really cares.
12. anonymous

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    Jul 7th 2017 !⃝

    This song is Eddie himself trying to release his past. His past includes his father's death and him wishing he could have had a real father in his life. He's just trying to find who he is now looking back. Which way is he supposed to go? Which way are any of us supposed to go? What is the best path to take? It is a son and his father and they are a million miles away in their souls. He can't find anybody to look to in life. And with this fact he sees the world and he's terrified.
13. anonymous

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    Aug 30th 2013 !⃝

    The song is about his biological father and what he would thing of eddie if he was still alive hence why it says "oh dear dad, can you see me know?" and its also about god too
14. anonymous

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    Apr 28th 2013 !⃝

    It seems that Ed is talking about his own father and you can sub God in for that too. I am myself like you somehow as in the image of God. Wait up in the dark for you to speak to me. Release me.
15. Christopher Perry

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    Jun 19th 2011 !⃝

    While the others thoughts above are good and may be true, its also been said that this song was thrown together in a jamming session the band had during the Ten sessions and that Eddie just wrote the lyrics on the fly. But yes he must have got the thoughts from somewhere.

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