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My Father's Son (2013)
"My Father's Son" is the third song from Pearl Jam's tenth album, Lightning Bolt. The song was first played on Buffalo, New York, 12 October, 2013 and it was composed by Eddie Vedder, Jeff Ament and Mike McCready.
Analysis[]
A common background on the band's poetry, once again Pearl Jam, and specially Eddie, play on the relation between father and son. The protagonist admits his father was a genius, but also a psycopath, and since he inherited his genes, he is the next in line. He is also not proud of his mother, who "never got a top dollar", but despite this, the song would never exist. All this ancestry gets him desperated, bound to fail, coming from two people that couldn't give him a genetic future, and he asks himself if he can quit all of this thing by his own will, being a "volunteer amputee".
Maybe inspired by the same personal conversation that was present in Alive, it is implied another dialogue between a lost son and a father that never existed, this time changing the family members. Also implying artificial insemination that generated this son, the real father left his family in regret of them.
The protagonist seems very hurt, with wounds unhealed by the unforgettable hide of his father. After some time, once again resembling Alive, his father died and now there are no lifetime connections with father and son, the latter being free to be himself. With all the worng things he inherited, now he must build his own legacy and admits "sailing" by his own on life.
Music & Lyrics[]
I come from genius and I am my father's son
Too bad he was a psychopath
And now I'm the next in line
Then there's dear mother, yeh shirley
She's a work of art
Never got top dollar, but she gave us all our start
Can I get a reprieve?
This gene pool drowning me
Can I get a release?
I'm a volunteer amputee
From the moment I fail
I call on DNA
Why such betrayal?
Got me tooth and nail
Yeh, How's about one conversation
With nothing else left to be had?
With this your young long lost son
And his never had dear old dad
Forget the insemination
And for that, I'm supposed to be glad?
What a pity you left us so soon
To climb your mountain of regret
Can I get a reprieve?
This gene pool dark and deep
Can I get a release?
Can I volunteer amputee
From the moment I fail
I call on DNA
Why such betrayal?
I gotta set sail
All the bright lights shining
As you're trying to breathe in thin air
Cannot forget your hiding
Collected wounds left unhealed
When every thought you're thinking
Sinks you darker than a new moon sky
Far away lights rising
In the whites of your eyes
Now father you're dead and gone
And I'm finally free to be me
Thanks for all your fucked-up gifts
For which I got no sympathy
Now I'm living in a war torn place
Hear the bombs, a 5th Symphony
Thanks for this and thanks for that
I gotta let go legacy
Can I get a reprieve?
This gene pool drowning me
Can I beg a release?
Can I volunteer amputee
From the moment I fail
I call on DNA
Why such betrayal?
I gotta set sail