Tremor Christ

this is a song about deciding between right and wrong

Winded is the sailor...drifting by the storm... Wounded is the organ he left all...bloodied on the shore... (The guy is tired of not having control of his life, his heart he left behind on the shore.) Gorgeous was his savior, sees her...drowning in his wake... Daily taste the salt of her tears, but...a chance blamed fate... (His girl was gorgeous, but he is leaving her behind in his wake. He is blaming his problems on Fate) Little secrets, tremors...turned to quake... The smallest oceans still get...big, big waves... (He kept his addiction secret, just had tremors to deal with, but now the tremors have become HUGE Quakes he cannot hide. The smallest amount of the addiction can turn Big, Big.) Ransom paid the Devil...He whispers pleasing words... Triumphant are the angels if they can...a get there first... (He paid money to the dealer which is refered to as the Devil. The dealer told him pleasing words. The angels can save him if they can get there first, meaning if he can get ahold of himself and think sanely before he needs another fix.) The next few lines are him changing his mind, wanting to get his life back. Then he turns the bow back and decides to go back to his girl, and put his faith and love in the tremor christ, which basically means he is going to try to deal with the tremors, and get help. Difficult song to understand.

Sounds to me like it might be about drug addiction or something that he chooses over a woman...he wants her but he's got a problem thats out of control

The subject of the song was in a loving relationship. He drifted through the storms, meaning he went with the flow of danger and failed to keep himself away from temptation. In a moment he has cheated on the girl, who was his savior. He watches her suffer from the wake of his actions.

He feels that generally he's a good guy. The devil tempted him this one time, he made a mistake in a weak moment but feels little real responsibility for it, like it was a natural thing to do rather than an evil act. Still he faces the consequences.

At the end of the song he's accepting this tendency to adhere to "evil" and his ability to wrong other people through what appear to him to be insignifcant actions. Rather than hate himself for it he's choosing to accept himself in this way, to forgive himself for being who he is. The christ connection is the forgiveness aspect as "forgiving" is the core christian philosphy.

Little secrets becoming big big waves is obviously about how the guilt of a small secret kept can ballooon and turn into so much more.

Great song.

I'm with Paving on this one. The moment this song affected me most was after misbehaving in a club the night before, pretty drunk eventhough I'm generally seen as a very calm and reserved, even shy person. I felt the guilt rise up when hearing this song. Very very strong lyrics and ofcourse vedder shows again that he is a poet as well as a raving madmann on stage lol. What a great set of things to be.

Gnar song. idk what to say about it...

I agree with seba I agree this song is about deciding between right and wrong, or good versus evil. Do you listen to the devil on your one shouder or the angel on your other shoulder. Also dealing with the impact of which ever decision you choose to make.

i'm not sure what this is about....losing faith in something, i think...but it is the GROOVIEST song ever: just listen to it and groove, especially in the beginning when the ament kicks in...good shiite

this song I think is about a guy who depends on a girl so much it's like she is his savior and when she leaves he just can't take it. Gorgeous was his saviour, sees her, drowning in the lake Daily taste the salt of her tears but a chance blamed fate. I think these lines back up my meaning. Just a thought

"i'm not sure what this is about....losing faith in something, i think...but it is the GROOVIEST song ever: just listen to it and groove, especially in the beginning when the ament kicks in...good shiite"

• He IS a brilliant bassist and I've always said this, even with his simple shit like in alive it just seems to fit so perfectly. I think all the members all very much click with each other.