About the Song

Track: Just Breathe

Length: 3:38

Album: Backspacer (2009)

Artist: Pearl Jam

Songwriters: Eddie Vedder

Favorite part: 

“Stay with me

Let’s just breathe”

© Universal Music Publishing Group

Here’s Why I Love It

Damn, I love this song. There’s nothing hooey about it. It’s as honest as a love song can get. Certainly romantic, but I feel bad for you if you think romance is hooey. Love without romance is like the night sky with no moon. It’s only to brighten by the unlasting and unnatural. You need romance. However, you don’t have to listen to this song from a romantic relationship standpoint. It can be observed as a man singing to anyone they love. The sentiment is multidimensional in that way.

“Just Breathe” is a song about gratitude, awareness, and triviality. It’s about a guy who realizes less is more. He recognizes the finality of time and confronts death with the first lines: “Yes I understand that every life must end / As we sit alone I realize someday we must go.” Ultimately, he sees that “just breathing” together is as important or more meaningful than anything else. You feel a nonchalant plea of vulnerability when he says “stay with me.” The combination makes the six words shared above so powerful (in a less-is-more kind of way). And the song ends perfectly. It comes full circle with the last couple of lines. (No, I won’t spoil it!)

Pearl Jam is an important band in rock history. Their album Ten shot them onto the national scene in 1991, and anyone who watched MTV in the 90s will remember their song “Jeremy” played incessantly. Along with Nirvana, they became the poster boys for Gen X, and helped to usher in the grunge era which impacted everything, musically and physically, that would come in the 90s and early 00s—style, attitude, and bands. 

Plus, I really like Eddie Vedder. He’s a good heart and cool dude. He’s got one of those voices that you instantly know is him. Go listen. You’ll dig the song, I’m sure.

Listen to the song and read the lyrics for full effect.

You can now listen to the Lyrics I Love playlist on Spotify. A new song is added with each edition!

*This article is part of the ongoing Lyrics I Love series: short interpretations of the meaning and story behind one song with lyrics that move me.