Pearl Jam Song of the Week - Porch by Pearl Jam from MTV Unplugged

In 1992, Pearl Jam took their grunge sound to television. They had two very successful appearances with SNL & MTV Unplugged. The sixth song from the TV appearance, and 7th for the DVD release (with the Ten re-issue) was 'Porch'. Besides the obvious difference of the acoustic guitar, the song is extended with a long Mike McCready guitar solo & Eddie Vedder improv. Also without the electric, the guitar seems more rhythmic. The song is self edited by Eddie, but the political statement is not muted at all.

Outside of some incredibly young looking and long haired members of the band, the highlights of the video are as follows:

0:49 Eddie Vedder's growl (I'm not sure why this seems so much different than the album)
1:32 Mike McCready guitar solo (including Eddie Vedder falling off of his stool)
2:07 Jeff Ament's drum acrobatics
2:18 the guitar portion speeding up
2:25 Eddie Vedder starts his self tattoo "PRO-CHOICE" on his arm
3:12 Eddie begins his improv including "I want to live, I want to choose"
4:00 the wailing begins
4:19 the screaming begins

'Porch' by Pearl Jam as featured on MTV Unplugged

Commenter Periodix on SongMeanings.net summarizes it best on 08-25-2002:

"This song is actually a pro-choice anthem by Pearl Jam...it's tough to see that meaning in the song, but in their unplugged performance on MTV, Eddie stood on his stool and wrote "pro-choice" on his arm during the instrumental part...also, on an appearance on Saturday Night Live, Eddie sang the lyrics "a woman her every right...to choose...to choose...to choose...for herself".

I think he/she is dead on. Others argue that it's about a break up, but check out the lyrics from the middle verse. It certainly fits the politicizing of Abortion & Pro Choice Rights more so than a break up.

Excerpt from 'Porch' on Ten by Pearl Jam

All the bills go by, and
Initiatives are taken up
By the middle, there ain't gonna be any middle any more
And the cross I'm bearing home
Ain't indicative of my place

For more info on Pearl Jam try: wikipedia.org/wiki/Pearl_Jam

To purchase this on DVD, check the special editions of Ten on the goods page of pearljam.com

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