It's an indisputable fact that Perl Jam is a weirdly over and underrated band. You love them or hate them. The reality is they are perfectly fine. They've had some great songs (Alive) and some terrible songs (The album No Code comes to mind). Their best song, hands down, is Yellow Ledbetter. A large reason for that is the songs clear meaning.
Yellow Ledbetter is about a boy who in 1995 was tired of sitting in the car as his mom was making a grocery run. He was sitting at home, watching the Pacers Vs. Knicks in the playoffs, when his mom said she had to go to the grocery and he had to go with her. He protested, she insisted, he went. He sat in his seat and listened to a radio feed of the game as Reggie Miller scored 8 points in 9 seconds and caused Spike Lee to direct a series of terrible films.
The phrase "I don't want to stay" is what the kid is yelling in the car as his beloved New York Knickerbockers got their hearts shot out by a basketball god.
"I don't know wither I'm the boxer or the bag" is in reference to his mom spending an inordinate amount of time chatting with the store clerk about wither or not she needed to bag her items or if she would rather carry them out in a big empty box that was next to the register. They were close friends with a rich history of lively discussion. This one in particular was reminisced over for years.
"I see them round the front way" is a reference to his watching of all the terrible movies Spike Lee made after this game.
"Make me cry" is what Reggie Miller did to this poor child as his Knicks had their heart ripped out in this game.
This has since been named (by me) to be the greatest series of plays in the history of the NBA.
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