Even Flow (6:19)

Cover of Ten

From Ten and 572 other releases

“Even Flow” is a song by the American rock band Pearl Jam. Featuring lyrics written by vocalist Eddie Vedder and music written by guitarist Stone Gossard, “Even Flow” was released in 1992 as the second single from the band’s debut album, Ten (1991). The song peaked at number three on the Billboard Mainstream Rock Tracks chart. The song was included on Pearl Jam’s 2004 greatest hits album, rearviewmirror (Greatest Hits 1991–2003). A remixed version of the song was included on the 2009 Ten reissue.

“Even Flow” features a funky riff by Gossard. The vocal line that appears in the main verse begins with a very prominent tritone interval. The song was performed in open D tuning.

McCready on the song:

That’s me pretending to be Stevie Ray Vaughan, and a feeble attempt at that. Stone (Gossard, Pearl Jam guitarist) wrote the riff and song; I think it’s a D tuning. I just followed him in a regular pattern. I tried to steal everything I know from Stevie Ray Vaughan and put it into that song. A blatant rip-off. A tribute rip-off, if you will!

The stark lyrics by Vedder for “Even Flow” describe the experience of being a homeless man. The subject sleeps “on a pillow made of concrete” and panhandles passersby for spare change. In addition to being illiterate, he may also be mentally ill, as he “looks insane” when he smiles and struggles to keep coherent thoughts (“Even flow, thoughts arrive like butterflies/Oh, he don’t know, so he chases them away”).

Tags

Everyone’s tags

More about this track…

Albums featuring this track (573)

Similar Tracks

  Track   Duration Listeners
  Pearl Jam - Jeremy 5:45 640,985
  Pearl Jam - Alive 6:25 737,259
Alice in Chains - Man in the Box 4:47 431,620
Alice in Chains - Would? 3:43 528,714
Soundgarden - Black Hole Sun 5:18 752,168
  Stone Temple Pilots - Plush 5:10 364,276

Listening Trend

660,620listeners all time
3,812,254scrobbles all time
Recent listeners trend:

Explore more

Listen to, buy or share

Buy

Send Ringtones to Cell

Freezin', rests his head on a pillow made of concrete, again
Oh, feelin' maybe he'll see a little better set a days, ooh yeah
Oh hand out faces that he sees time again ain't that familiar, ooh yeah
Oh, dark grin he can't help when he's happy, looks insane, yeah

MetroLyrics Full lyrics at MetroLyrics

Shoutbox

Leave a comment. Log in to Last.fm or sign up.
  • TheDarkSide73

    This is an Awful Recording, it sounds like it was recorded in someones garage...PLEASE Put The Album Version..

    18 May 2:24am Reply
  • LitchAzazel

    Hmm, this sounds abit faster than usual?

    15 May 10:32am Reply
  • Force59

    What a great song man

    10 May 5:37pm Reply
  • TheGhostMutt

    prefer the studio version but still great!

    8 May 7:34am Reply
  • Matt_Sick

    Great version on the 2006 Live in Marseille official Bootleg

    2 May 11:27am Reply
  • sonalturtle

    \m/

    22 Apr 3:20pm Reply
  • rhoads77

    too bad the quality of this live recording isn't better

    12 Apr 4:45pm Reply
  • LITEMAN54

    NICE VERSION OF THE TRACK;VERY EXCITING; PROBABY SPED U IN CONCERT

    9 Apr 7:18pm Reply
  • nicholsjoshua35

    Is this a live recording? Sounds like they speed up the song.

    29 Mar 7:38pm Reply
  • Too-Loud

    brings back memories of Guitar Hero 3 [2]

    20 Mar 1:34am Reply
  • LuanHCAlves

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cC3giuxQxmk GREAT cover of this song in a popular brazilian rhythm (Pagode). HUEHUEHUE BR BR

    10 Mar 3:11pm Reply
  • Jackal13

    I'm not sure if I'm overlooking something, but this definitely isn't the studio version of "Even Flow". I'm curious if anyone has knowledge as to what performance this had been recorded from with that said? I definitely prefer the studio version over this, as well as the "Live on Two Legs" version too, though this still supersedes the quality of the vast majority of most modern music, and strictly referencing music composition this is also probably my favorite Pearl Jam track to concur with everyone else who stated this ;-D.

    8 Mar 10:23am Reply
  • davidbowiegirl

    Good song

    28 Feb 5:13pm Reply
  • pretttylushx

    thoughts arrive like butterflies

    8 Feb 8:04pm Reply
  • bodidogg

    This is my human's favorite band!!!!

    31 Jan 8:32am Reply
  • donkukis

    Timeless Classic.

    25 Jan 2:02am Reply
  • LEM0NLiME

    this song is so majestic somehow

    9 Jan 2:46pm Reply
  • oldiesfanjohn

    Saw Pearl Jam on the 2005 tour with The Rolling Stones. One of the best concerts ever this ol' fart has been to. This song brings back the memories. ( :

    18 Dec 2012 Reply
  • Bizon

    http://issuu.com/rockaxxess/docs/decjan12-13 something for Polish fans - nowy numer ROCK AXXESS miedzy innymi z małym przeglądem dyskografii Pearl Jam ;) / the PJ article is in Polish only but most of the rest are also in English so you might want to check out the magazine anyway ;)

    18 Dec 2012 Reply
  • -Ohtar-

    Not good, LEGENDARY track ;)

    17 Dec 2012 Reply
  • All 731 shouts

Listening Now

Top Listeners