I'm Open

Album: No Code (1996)
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Songfacts®:

  • Eddie Vedder says this Pearl Jam song is "like a mantra." It opens with a spoken-word passage where Vedder describes a man lying in bed, alive but feeling nothing. He then flashes back to childhood when he realized the moon wasn't really following him - the spell was broken.

    From there, Vedder repeats his mantra - "I'm open... come in" - closing with another spoken part where the man decides to dream up a new self.

    "It's about being open to whatever is out there," Vedder explained in the Pearl Jam book Twenty. "It's saying, 'I'm here. I'm listening for the message.' Maybe it's asking for a song."
  • Vedder wrote the lyrics with Jack Irons, who had recently joined Pearl Jam as their drummer, replacing Dave Abbruzzese.

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