Vitalogy.
It was never officially released as a single, but regardless it still got radio play and reached #13 on the Modern Rock Tracks chart.
The lyrical content for “Corduroy” can be interpreted in many ways, but one common theory is that they are about the pressures of fame. In an interview, vocalist Eddie Vedder stated:
It is about a relationship but not between two people. It’s more one person’s relationship with a million people. In fact, that song’s almost a little too obvious for me. That’s why instead of a lyric sheet we put in an X-ray of my teeth from last January and they are all in very bad shape, which was analogous to my head at the time.
[1]
Vedder had a girlfriend before Pearl Jam became famous and he was faced with a choice. He chose Pearl Jam over the girl, he grew to regret that decision and wishes he could go back and change it.
Regarding the song’s title, Vedder stated:
Yeah, that song was based on a remake of the brown corduroy jacket that I wore. I think I got mine for 12 bucks, and it was being sold for like $650. The ultimate one as far as being co-opted was that there was a guy on TV, predictably patterned, I guess, after the way I was looking those days, with long hair and an Army T-shirt. They put this new character on a soap opera, so there was a guy, more handsome than I, parading around on
General Hospital
. And the funny thing is, that guy was Ricky Martin.
