Oceans (Pearl Jam song)

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“Oceans”
“Oceans” cover
Single by Pearl Jam
from the album Ten
B-side "Why Go" (live) / "Deep" (live) / "Alive" (live)
Released 1992
Format CD single, Cassette
Recorded March 27, 1991–April 26, 1991 at London Bridge Studios, Seattle, Washington and June 1991 at Ridge Farm Studios, Dorking, England (Overdubs)
Genre Alternative rock
Length 2:41
Label Epic
Writer(s) Eddie Vedder, Stone Gossard, Jeff Ament
Producer Pearl Jam, Rick Parashar
Pearl Jam singles chronology
"Jeremy"
(1992)		 "Oceans"
(1992)		 "Go"
(1993)
Ten track listing
"Jeremy"
(Track 6)		 "Oceans"
(Track 7)		 "Porch"
(Track 8)

"Oceans" is the fourth single from Pearl Jam's debut album, Ten (1991). It was released as a single in 1992. A remixed version of the song can be found on the "Even Flow" single.

Contents

[edit] Origin and recording

The song features lyrics written by frontman Eddie Vedder and music co-written by Vedder, guitarist Stone Gossard, and bassist Jeff Ament. The album's mixer, Tim Palmer, overdubbed a pepper shaker and a fire extinguisher as percussion on the track.[1]

[edit] Composition

The song is musically and texturally different from the rest of the album. Jeff Ament said, "When we were picking songs for Ten we thought it was important to pick the weirder moments, like "Oceans", because we wanted to be able to explore those areas down the line."[2]

[edit] Lyrical meaning

The song was inspired by Eddie Vedder's affinity for surfing. Following Pearl Jam's performance of the song at the band's 1992 MTV Unplugged performance, Eddie Vedder stated, "[that was] a little love song I wrote about my surfboard...no actually it's to somebody named Beth who hopefully I'll see tomorrow."[3]

[edit] Music video

The video clip for the song, directed by Josh Taft, was shot in Hawaii in September 1992.[4] It features fragmented clips of the band surfing interspersed with footage of the band on stage. The video was only released to areas outside of the United States in late 1992. The video clip for "Oceans" can be found on the Touring Band 2000 DVD as one of the Special Features.

[edit] Live performances

The song was premiered live at the band's May 17, 1991 concert in Seattle, Washington.[5]

[edit] Formats and track listing

Information taken from various sources.[6][7][8][9]

Compact Disc Single (US, Europe, Australia, UK, and Austria)
  1. "Oceans" (Eddie Vedder, Stone Gossard, Jeff Ament) – 2:44
  2. "Why Go" (live) (Vedder, Ament) – 3:30
  3. "Deep" (live) (Vedder, Gossard, Ament) – 4:24
  4. "Alive" (live) (Vedder, Gossard) – 5:46
Cassette Single (Australia)
  1. "Oceans" (Vedder, Gossard, Ament) – 2:44
  2. "Why Go" (live) (Vedder, Ament) – 3:30
  3. "Deep" (live) (Vedder, Gossard, Ament) – 4:24
  4. "Alive" (live) (Vedder, Gossard) – 5:46

[edit] Chart positions

Information taken from dutchcharts.nl.[10]

Year Chart Position
1993 Dutch Singles Chart 30

[edit] References

  1. ^ "Pearl Jam: 10 (with Tim Palmer)". Guitar World. December 2002.
  2. ^ Coryat, Karl. "Godfather of the "G" Word". Bass Player Magazine. April 1994.
  3. ^ Ten: Song Meanings/Album concept/Art Work/Technical Stuff. PearlJam10YearsAgo.no.sapo.pt. April 7, 2002.
  4. ^ Pearl Jam: Timeline. Pearljam.com. Retrieved on 2007-06-27.
  5. ^ "Pearl Jam Songs: "Oceans"". pearljam.com.
  6. ^ Oceans [UK]. All Music Guide. Retrieved on 2007-04-28.
  7. ^ Torreano, Bradley. Oceans [US]. All Music Guide. Retrieved on 2007-04-28.
  8. ^ Oceans Single. Lukin.com. Retrieved on 2007-04-28.
  9. ^ pjcollectors.com. Retrieved on 2007-04-28.
  10. ^ Dutch Single/Album Chart / Pearl Jam / Longplay. dutchcharts.nl. Retrieved on 2008-02-19.

[edit] External links

v • d • e
Pearl Jam
Jeff Ament · Stone Gossard · Mike McCready · Eddie Vedder · Matt Cameron
Additional personnel: Boom Gaspar
Former members: Dave Krusen · Matt Chamberlain · Dave Abbruzzese · Jack Irons
Studio albums
Ten · Vs. · Vitalogy · No Code · Yield · Binaural · Riot Act · Pearl Jam
Live albums
Compilations
Videos
Singles
"Alive" · "Even Flow" · "Jeremy" · "Oceans" · "Go" · "Daughter" · "Animal" · "Dissident" · "Spin the Black Circle" · "Not for You" · "Immortality" · Merkin Ball · "Who You Are" · "Hail, Hail" · "Off He Goes" · "Given to Fly" · "Wishlist" · "Last Kiss" · "Nothing As It Seems" · "Light Years" · "I Am Mine" · "Save You" · "Love Boat Captain" · "Man of the Hour" · "World Wide Suicide" · "Life Wasted" · "Gone" · "Love, Reign o'er Me"
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