The curse of Alive

The song Alive, which was on our fist record (…) has been transformed through the years and it’s not so much how we play it or the arrangement but more, the interpretation. So the original story being told on the song is that of a young man being made aware of some shocking truths. One was that the guy he believed to be his father, while growing up, was not. And the hard truth number two was that the real father had passed away a few years before, as if adolescence wasn’t though enough. So when the mum reveals this information of the real father’s death it leaves the kid, who is not terrible stable and at that point in its development, plenty confused… (and I know this because I knew the guy… not well, but I knew him. I mean, the guy was me but I barely knew me then. To be honest, I was barely there to be known) so he takes all these news as a curse. “Fine, you tell me these secrets and I’m supposed to forgive but I got a figure a way to live with this and fine, the dad’s dead but I’m still alive and I got to deal with this”. So, it was a curse, the “I’m sill alive”. So, cut to years later and we’re playing to larger and larger audiences and they’re responding to this chorus in a way that you never thought. (…) so every night when I look out on this sea of people reacting on their own positive interpretation... it was really incredible. The audience changed the meaning of these words and when they sing “I’m still alive” it’s like they’re celebrating. And here’s the thing, when they changed the meaning of those words, they lifted the curse.

Eddie Vedder, on VH1 Storytellers, about the meaning of Alive