Corduroy (song)
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| "Corduroy" | |||||
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| Song by Pearl Jam | |||||
| Album | Vitalogy | ||||
| Released | November 22, 1994 (Vinyl) December 6, 1994 (CD and Cassette) |
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| Recorded | January 1994 - February 1994 at Bad Animals Studio, Seattle, Washington | ||||
| Genre | Grunge | ||||
| Length | 4:37 | ||||
| Label | Epic | ||||
| Writer | Dave Abbruzzese, Jeff Ament, Stone Gossard, Mike McCready, Eddie Vedder | ||||
| Producer | Brendan O'Brien, Pearl Jam | ||||
| Vitalogy track listing | |||||
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| from the album Rearviewmirror: Greatest Hits 1991-2003 | |||||
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"Corduroy" is the eighth track on Pearl Jam's 1994 album, Vitalogy. Despite not being released as a single, the song managed to reach #13 on the Billboard Modern Rock Tracks chart. The song was included on Pearl Jam's greatest hits album, Rearviewmirror: Greatest Hits 1991-2003.
"Corduroy" begins with an eerie riff played as an arpeggio of the first two notes of a power chord. Then the song lifts off, proceeding with a structure of verse-chorus-verse-chorus-bridge-chorus-verse. Although not revolutionary, the song structure is not completely normal, as almost no lyrics are repeated (including choruses) and the fade-out of the song begins after a verse rather than the traditional ending of a song after the third chorus.
The song has become a concert favorite, although in concert it is generally played at a slightly faster tempo. Some live performances are preceded by a brief jam of Pink Floyd's "Interstellar Overdrive". Live performances of "Corduroy" can be found on the live albums Live on Two Legs and Live at the Gorge 05/06. Performances of the song are also included on the DVDs Touring Band 2000, Live at the Showbox, and Immagine In Cornice.
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The lyrical content can be interpreted in many ways, but one common theory is that they are about the pressures of fame. In an interview Eddie Vedder stated:
| “ | 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.[1] | ” |
Regarding the song's title, Vedder stated:
| “ | Yeah, that song was based on a remake of the brown corduroy jacket that I wore. I think I got mine for 12 bucks, and it was being sold for like $650. The ultimate one as far as being co-opted was that there was a guy on TV, predictably patterned, I guess, after the way I was looking those days, with long hair and an Army T-shirt. They put this new character on a soap opera, so there was a guy, more handsome than I, parading around on General Hospital. And the funny thing is, that guy was Ricky Martin.[2] | ” |
All information taken from various sources.[3][4]
| Year | Chart | Position |
|---|---|---|
| 1995 | US Modern Rock Tracks | 13 |
| US Mainstream Rock Tracks | 22 |
- ^ Hilburn, Robert. "All Revved Up (As Usual)". Los Angeles Times. November 20, 1994.
- ^ Modell, Josh. "Eddie Vedder of Pearl Jam". The A.V. Club. November 6, 2002.
- ^ Pearl Jam Artist Chart History. Billboard. Retrieved on 2007-04-28.
- ^ Pearl Jam – Billboard Singles. All Music Guide. Retrieved on 2007-06-11.