"Rearviewmirror" is a song by the American rock band Pearl Jam. The song is the eighth track on the band's second studio album, Vs. (1993). Although credited to all members of Pearl Jam, it was primarily written by vocalist Eddie Vedder. The song was included on Pearl Jam's 2004 greatest hits album, rearviewmirror (Greatest Hits 1991–2003).
Origin and recording
"Rearviewmirror" was one of the first songs to feature vocalist Eddie Vedder on guitar. Vedder wrote the song.[2] Guitarist Stone Gossard said that the band played the song "exactly like he wrote it."[2] Guitarist Mike McCready experimented with an EBow on the song.[3]
At the end of the studio cut drummer Dave Abbruzzese can be heard throwing his drum sticks against the wall in frustration. This was in response to the pressure that was placed on him by producer Brendan O'Brien during the recording of the track.[4] After recording the track he punched a hole through the snare drum and threw it off the side of a cliff.[4]
Vedder finished recording the vocals for the song on the last day of recording for Vs. Vedder had an issue with the song being too "catchy."[5]
Lyrics
Vedder about "Rearviewmirror":
We start off with the music and it kinds of propels the lyrics. It made me feel like I was in a car, leaving something, a bad situation. There's an emotion there. I remembered all the times I wanted to leave...[6]
Reception
Regarding "Rearviewmirror", David Browne of Entertainment Weekly said, "For once, those rippling guitar chords wrap themselves around a real hook, and Eddie's clenched delivery is perfect for a song about the pain of leaving behind a hopeless relationship and moving on."[7] Paul Evans of Rolling Stone said that "when Vedder roars, 'Saw things...clearer.../Once you were in my rearviewmirror,' it seems that it's not only some personal sorrow that he's willing himself to tear beyond but the entire weight of the past itself."[8]
