Sweet Lew

Album: Lost Dogs (2003)
Play Video

Songfacts®:

  • This song is about the basketball star Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, who was known as Lew Alcindor when he played in college for UCLA. He played most of his NBA career with the Los Angeles Lakers, winning five championships with the team.
  • Pearl Jam bass player Jeff Ament wrote this song and sang the lead vocal. The band recorded it during sessions for their 2000 album Binaural but it wasn't released until 2003 as part of the Lost Dogs compilation.

    "I never expected it to be on a record, but I thought it might have been a B-side," Ament said in the Pearl Jam book Twenty. "I believe it is known as the worst Pearl Jam song of all time!"
  • Pearl Jam aren't the first band to write a song about a Lakers star. In 1989, Red Hot Chili Peppers released "Magic Johnson," who like Kareem was part of the Showtime Lakers. Back in 1991, the Chili Peppers took Pearl Jam along as an opening act on their Blood Sugar Sex Magik tour.
  • Pearl Jam has played this song live just a few times, typically with Eddie Vedder dribbling a basketball while Ament sings.

Comments

Be the first to comment...

Editor's Picks

AC/DC

AC/DCFact or Fiction

Does Angus really drink himself silly? Did their name come from a sewing machine? See if you can spot the real stories about AC/DC.

Bill Medley of The Righteous Brothers

Bill Medley of The Righteous BrothersSongwriter Interviews

Medley looks back on "Unchained Melody" and "You've Lost That Lovin' Feelin'" - his huge hits from the '60s that were later revived in movies.

Queen

QueenFact or Fiction

Scaramouch, a hoople and a superhero soundtrack - see if you can spot the real Queen stories.

Chris Isaak

Chris IsaakSongwriter Interviews

Chris tells the story of "Wicked Game," talks milkshakes and moonpies at Sun Records, and explains why women always get their way.

Gary Numan

Gary NumanSongwriter Interviews

An Electronic music pioneer with Asperger's Syndrome. This could be interesting.

Joe Ely

Joe ElySongwriter Interviews

The renown Texas songwriter has been at it for 40 years, with tales to tell about The Flatlanders and The Clash - that's Joe's Tex-Mex on "Should I Stay or Should I Go?"