Album: Vitalogy (1994)

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• Once divided, nothing left to subtract
  Some words when spoken can't be taken back
  Walks on his own
  With thoughts he can't help thinking
  Future's above
  But in the past he's slow and sinking
  
  Caught a bolt of lightning
  Cursed the day he let it go
  
  Nothingman
  Nothingman
  
  Isn't it something?
  Nothingman
  
  She once believed in every story he had to tell
  One day she stiffened, took the other side
  Empty stares from each corner of a shared prison cell
  One just escapes, one's left inside the well
  
  And he who forgets
  Will be destined to remember, oh, oh, oh
  
  Nothingman
  Nothingman
  
  Isn't it something?
  Nothingman
  
  Oh, she don't want him (she don't want him)
  Oh, she won't feed him after he's flown away
  
  Oh, into the sun
  Ah, into the sun
  Burn (burn), burn (burn)
  
  Nothingman
  Nothingman
  
  Isn't it something?
  Nothingman
  
  Nothingman
  Nothingman
  
  Coulda been something
  Nothingman
  Oh, oh, oh Writer/s: Eddie Jerome Vedder, Jeffrey Allen Ament
  Publisher: Universal Music Publishing Group
  Lyrics licensed and provided by LyricFind

Comments: 13

• Snogs from PennsylvaniaI asked destiny to play a song for me, and said "The next song that plays shall determine what my ex-husband feels about me".
  As I view and scroll his social media, I see that he broke up with his third or more girlfriend since our six year marriage was torn by his cheating. This song comes on, "Nothingman", and Pearl Jam being his favorite band ever. This is one of their most torn self-sabotaging songs to define what I prayed upon.
  I revel and grow stronger each day after agonizing pain of being locked away from family, a prisoner of coercion and force.
  Free, although my traumatic bond still feels his shadow. With this newfound freedom, my child can finally play outside and interact with others. With this freedom, I can breathe and heal instead of breadwinning for a homebound dictator. Best of all, bedtime isn't a war of striking behind closed doors and my skin and hair are healing. My Nothingman, as much as you are always on my mind, I hope you have the days you truly deserve as you desired.
• Fabster69 from LaTo John R and April 1, 1996 from Bethlehem L.c.
  
  Holy s--t guys... you both really made some deep comments here. I bursted into tears as I was reading through this.
  Thank you for sharing your stories, they are so personal and so sad and I just wish I could hold your heart and feel that pain with you... I know it f--king hurts, and being left alone to deal with all that hurt is just brutal and so hard. Definitely some hard lessons to be learned when you let loose and speak out of rage. It is a coward act for a man to speak or act out of rage... I have been there on the edge myself, I have said horrible things and done some terrible ones because of that rage. I lost wives and friends by cheating on my wife and lying and destroying a family with a kid... so much hurt, so hard to try and patch it. I am learning my lessons, with some regrets. Now I look back and I see how much of a chicken s--t I have been... but I have learned to forgive myself through diving deep into that pain. I had to (SAFELY) let that rage out alone first (in a rage room) because the rage I carry is too violent and I have always been afraid that I would do something real bad. As the rage became allowed to express itself, I found the path to the pain I was feeling and by feeling that pain I found clarity.
  
  Trust yourself to go back to that pain and feel it with all its intensity
  
  Forgive yourself. It's gonna be ok.
  
  Love yourself
• John R from Pittsburgh, Pa.This song means so much to me,
  In 2010 i met a old friend from my early teen years, we reminiced about the past, the good times......" i was just coming off a operation & was on pain meds at the time"....... I had become addicted without knowing & my attitude & personality had changed...... i fell so inlove with her ...... in 2013 she broke away from me & it hurt so bad i couldnt handle it..... i said things ill always regret.... my words were so hurtfull ..... she hated me after that & totally blocked me from her life.....,
  But years later now..... in 2019.... i have broken free from my addiction... im a better man now..... and after all these years i still & always will love her..... i only wished that i could hear her voice just 1 more time.... to tell her how sorry i really am for ever hurting her.... i only wish i could somehow take back those painful words that i never meant to say.... i still dream of her & the dreams are so real...... my life is so empty without her..... she was my best friend... the only one who could ever understand me.... i miss you so much & just want to hug you so tight , look deep in those big beautiful eyes & tell you im sorry......you'll forever own my heart...... NOTHINGMAN.
• Cchelsiee from AustraliaHonestly this song is so simple but so deep. It's the kind of song you feel in your soul no matter how many times you listen to it. Sometimes I crave this song. Sometimes I won't listen to it for years but then it's like I NEED to hear it and I listen to it over and over. Eddie's vocals make it so powerful. It's massively underrated.
• Jordan from LaBethelem L.c. - Man I just read your Comment / Story and wow man. You completely had my undivided attention & I felt frozen while reading what you went thru. Idk what I'm suppose to say ya know like I'm sorry that happened to ya or thank u for sharing that but It made me want to write in response to what u said cause I could feel your words & how hard that can be for many ppl to see including myself but I hope ur doing well man and I hope you know that woman is grateful for You to this day & unintentionally asked you for something that would in turn change ur outlook on Life. You were a guardian angel to her in that terrible moment of her life & you comforted her & protected her so just know that bud! You also probably gained an appreciation for life as a result from that nite & that's a good thing.
  Be Blessed Man!
  Jordan
• K from Meaford OnIt might be the ghost of the elephant man, John Merrick with a gun, identity revealed, now he walks alone slowly fading, no sympathy left, no more blind worshipers, dead, GONE, back home
• April 1, 1996 from Bethlehem L.c.This song will always have a special place in my life. I was 17, driving in a remote area and came upon a woman running down the road waving her arms. I stopped and put down my window, assuming she had some car trouble. Everything after that moment changed my outlook on life, and what the world can do to you if you let it. Her husband had left a suicide note earlier that day and she found his car parked in a church parking lot within eyesight. I called the police from a nearby home, but they wouldn’t be there for some time. She hadn’t brought herself to look in the car, so I went alone. The windows were completely fogged, so I had to open the door. What I saw will never leave my mind. The revolver sitting in his lap still in his right hand. The white dress shirt. The blood. The thin mustache. The finality. Time had stopped. I don’t know how long I was there, and then I heard a voice approaching. She had followed me, even though I’d asked her not to. I had to physically restrain her as she flailed at me, trying to get to the car. It seemed like forever. She knew what was behind the foggy windows, and I knew she didn’t need to see it. The police finally arrived as we held onto each other in the parking lot. I made my reports to the troopers and was eventually just turned loose. No offers to speak with anyone about what I’d just been through. I don’t even think they notified my parents. Later that night I was to practice a Spanish dialogue for school with my friend. On the way to his house on yet another remote, dark road, Nothingman came onto the radio. It was like poetry reaching out to me through the darkness. I never made it through our Spanish session. As I went to get into my car to leave late that night, I froze. The windows were fogged and I couldn’t open the door. I just stood there, with the lyrics to Nothingman running through my head. It’s 2020 now, 24 years later, and I still have a hard time opening a car that I can’t see into. And every time I hear Nothingman, it takes me back to that day, that road, that church, and what was inside a Chrysler LeBaron that forced me to grow up a little sooner than I’d planned. He who forgets will be destined to remember.
• Tonya from IndianaWhat's the kingdom of heaven worth to you? Nothing and Everything undoubtly Samson and Delilah at her once believed in every story he had to tell then one day she's different and took the otherside once divided with nothing left to subtract some words spoken can't be taken back curses the day he let it go his secret and he who forgets will be destined to remember oh into the sun" Samson "son of the sun my burns burns eyes see one just escapes and ones left inside the well...God knew ownership the Black Pearl at worlds end on 10 album #5 #9 #2 evenflow at Delilah gives back 1 silver Dollar see connect-I-cut In God we Trust Not Even scissors and spice" Exotic Birds " Back-space-R ...The End
• Lily from Los Angeles, CaQuote from Vedder in a 1994 interview with the LA times about his girlfriend, soon to be wife, Beth Liebling: "...I just know that without her, I'd be a kite without a string, a nothing man."
  
• Sarah from Porterville, CaI too, love this song. I love all of their music, but yes this song is underrated! So powerful, I grew up to their music, and it plays in my soul on a daily basis..Great Band, Great people.
• Bill from Pierce , IdArguably the most emotionally powerful, haunting song they ever made. An overlooked gem...
• Raygun from Kathmandu, NepalThis is one of the best song i've ever heard...
  if it was a composed by any other band it wouldn't have been that much good..
  and Eddie's vocals are really heart feeling...
  i feel a chill in my heart when he sings shivering...the lyrics and the way Eddie sings is a perfect combination....like a perfect song...
  
• Bryan from Spring, TxOne of the most underrated Pearl Jam songs in my opinion...

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