Soon Forget

Album: Binaural (2000)
Play Video

Songfacts®:

  • Running a tight 1:46, "Soon Forget" was written by Pearl Jam frontman Eddie Vedder and is just his voice and ukulele. The song happened spontaneously when he was trying to shake off a case of writer's block during the sessions for the Binaural album. To change things up, he refused to pick up a guitar, his songwriting instrument of choice. He tried piano, but then he looked over and saw a ukulele in the studio.

    "I looked over and saw this ukulele, and I said, 'Well, that's not a guitar,'" Vedder said in Pearl Jam's book Twenty. "So I didn't finish my assignment as prescribed, but I opened things up a bit. 'Soon Forget' probably took me 20 minutes, and it was done. And it has some merit to it."

    The song got Vedder's creative juices flowing again and he was able to complete the rest of the lyrics on his docket, including for the songs "Grievance" and "Insignificance."
  • The song is about how money can't buy happiness. It tells the story of a rich man who spends his time counting his money, but every day is one he'll soon forget.
  • Listen to this one with headphones on. It was recording using binaural techniques (this is where the album title came from) that make it sound like Vedder and his ukulele are in the room with you.
  • Want more Vedder on ukulele? Check out his 2011 solo album Ukulele Songs.

Comments

Be the first to comment...

Editor's Picks

Little Richard

Little RichardFact or Fiction

Was Long Tall Sally a cross-dresser? Did he really set his piano on fire? See if you know the real stories about one of rock's greatest innovators.

Tom Keifer of Cinderella

Tom Keifer of CinderellaSongwriter Interviews

Tom talks about the evolution of Cinderella's songs through their first three albums, and how he writes as a solo artist.

Who Did It First?

Who Did It First?Music Quiz

Do you know who recorded the original versions of these ten hit songs?

Movie Stars In Music Videos

Movie Stars In Music VideosSong Writing

Johnny Depp, Angelina Jolie, Mila Kunis and John Malkovich are just a few of the film stars who have moonlighted in music videos.

Devo

DevoSongwriter Interviews

Devo founders Mark Mothersbaugh and Jerry Casale take us into their world of subversive performance art. They may be right about the De-Evoloution thing.

P.F. Sloan

P.F. SloanSongwriter Interviews

P.F. was a teenager writing hits and playing on tracks for Jan & Dean when he wrote a #1 hit that got him blackballed.