Music Review: Pearl Jam "Daughter"

Pearl Jam

Daughter

Album: Vs.

Year: 1993

                A young woman deals with having an absentee mother in the defiant “Daughter.”

             An unflinching guitar opens the single, setting an intent tone. A plate of half finished scrambled eggs has been pushed to the center of the table.  Her fork and knife sit on the napkin, touching her right elbow as she stares outside the window inside her breakfast nook. Her imagination begins to paint memories in her mind. Her older sister is practicing the violin in the kitchen.  It’s the fourth time she played “Twinkle Twinkle Little Star.” At the table, her mother turns the page of her favorite book, “The Very Hungry Caterpillar” and claps for her older sister.  After hearing her mother say “caterpillar” she tries to pronounce the word herself and then tries to say the next one.  Her mother smiles at her, telling her what a good job she did and asking if she could read the entire sentence. (“Alone, listless, breakfast table in an otherwise empty room/Young girl, violins, center of her own attention/The, mother reads aloud, child, tries to understand it/Tries to make her proud.”)

              The sound of the phone ringing stops her thoughts. She shreds her napkin into tiny pieces, waiting for the answering machine to pick up. She’s not in the mood to speak to anyone today. Her mother’s frilly voice comes on, letting her know about aunt’s dinner on Sunday and ends her message with a curt reminder “to not wear those filthy Doc Martens again.” She sighs and walks to her family room. Of course her mother remembers every detail of what she wore the last time. However, as a child, her mother sat in the family room, watching her soaps, commenting on the character’s actions with a glass of wine in hand. She would shush at her older sister and her if they interrupted. Her mahogany painted family room, with its bubbles and chips, is bare. Her eyes get wet and she reaches for a Kleenex. (“The shades go down, it's in her head/Painted room, can't deny there's something wrong.”)

             In the chorus, her mother, with her overflowing wine glass,  spots her aunt’s tablecloth with red circles and lines, tells a story of how much she loved to twirl around the house, pretending she was a ballerina. She cuts her mother short, saying she would do that around her aunt’s house when she was taking care of them. Two hours later, she hugs her aunt goodbye, thanking her for the dinner, and heads to the car. On the way to the car, she is stopped by her mom. Her mom, slurring her words, tells her that “you are my daughter and it is how I remember it.” She tells her mom to back off and that she was drunk a majority of the time. She’s never really been a mother to her. She didn’t spend any time with her or her sister. There aren’t any photos of them that exist as a family. (“Don't call me daughter, not fit to/No picture kept will remind me/Don't call me daughter, not fit to/No picture kept will remind me/Don't call me.”)

              In the bridge, her mother has always tried to get the upper hand, playing upon her sympathy, saying she will get help and apologizing for what she hasn’t done. Each time, she hopes her mother means it. One day, she will be free from her mother, able to have her own life. (“She holds the hand that holds her down/She will, rise above, oh oh.”)

                    The chorus is sung again.

                     Part of the first verse ends the single. (‘The shades go down/the shades go down/the shades go, go, go.”)

 
               Vedder’s sullen, afflicted vocals are scarred; bearing the light marks of her mother’s scathing remarks. Given the song is from a female’s point of view, he remains nurturing and observant, protective of the young woman’s story he’s sharing.

          The complicated “Daughter” conveys the young woman’s alienation in a visceral vignette.