Pearl Jam Songs... In Other Words Quiz

Answer: Glorified G

"Glorified G" was first played in public at the University of Montana, Missoula, in 1993. The song is one of several where bassist Jeff Ament, who hails from Montana, uses an electric stand-up bass. The Carruthers "Sub-1" model bass was used for Pearl Jam's "Saturday Night Live" performance of the song "Daughter."

Answer: Hard to Imagine

Pearl Jam put "Hard to Imagine" on a seven-year concert hiatus between 1998 and 2005. That's not as long as some of their other songs have hibernated. "Why Go" and "Deep" off of their debut album "Ten" weren't played live in concert between 1995 and 2003.

The song "Leash" from the album "Vs." had a very impressive streak: it was played in Boston in 1994 and then not played again until 2006... in Boston.

Answer: Spin the Black Circle

The first radio single off of 1994's "Vitalogy," "Spin the Black Circle" pays tribute to vinyl albums. The members of Pearl Jam are known to be fans of records, and have distributed some of their own songs on 45s to their fan club members in the past.

These holiday singles have also included cover songs, like "Sonic Reducer" by "The Dead Boys" and "Last Kiss," written by Wayne Cochran. Eddie Vedder located a copy of J. Frank Wilson's version of "Last Kiss" on vinyl at the Fremont Antique Mall in Seattle and decided Pearl Jam would cover the song.

It later became the 1998 Ten Club Christmas Single.

Answer: Red Mosquito

The eighth track off of 1996's "No Code," "Red Mosquito" was the byproduct of an unfortunate food poisoning incident for singer Eddie Vedder. Despite being hospitalized, he decided to play a Pearl Jam show scheduled at Golden Gate Park in June of 1995. Seven songs later, Vedder conceded and Neil Young took his place for the rest of the day.

The few remaining tour dates had to be canceled. "Red Mosquito" details Vedder's feelings of being trapped while ill. Several months after the incident, the song was performed for the first time at the Delta Center in Salt Lake City, Utah.

Answer: Given to Fly

The first release and ultimately most commercially popular track from PJ's fifth album, "Yield," "Given to Fly" has been played in concert well over 250 times. While that sounds impressive, compare it to "Even Flow," which has been played over 600 times in concert.

The B-side of "Given to Fly" included "Pilate" and "Leatherman," a song paying tribute to a famous 19th century vagabond who was always clad in leather.

Answer: I Got Id

"I Got Id" comprises half of the "Merkin Ball" EP, released in 1995, with "Long Road" accounting for the other half. These fantastic songs were cut from "Mirror Ball," the creative collaboration between Pearl Jam and Neil Young. Another Pearl Jam song notably cut from an album is "Brother," which was cut from the album "Ten." Fortunately, "Brother" found its place on 2003's "Lost Dogs," minus lyrics included on the original studio outtake.

The song nearly caused Jeff Ament to quit the band because he so vehemently disagreed with its exclusion from "Ten."

Answer: Crazy Mary

Our first non-Pearl Jam composition in the quiz, "Crazy Mary" was written by Louisiana-born country singer Victoria Williams. Also a guitar player, Williams was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis in 1993. Via Neil Young, Pearl Jam met her and along with other artists like Lou Reed, covered some of her songs for a benefit album called "Sweet Relief." "Crazy Mary" is one of many songs Pearl Jam has covered over the years.

Other notable covers include Mother Love Bone's "Crown of Thorns," Lou Reed's "Sweet Jane" and even Led Zeppelin's "Fool in the Rain."

Answer: Hail Hail

Pearl Jam is known for their interesting album art and concepts. "No Code" is perhaps one of the more complex layouts, featuring 144 individual Polaroid photos that make up the outside of the album cover. Twelve of these photos were used as lyrics cards with the photo on the front and the song lyrics and information on the back, but only nine of them came with each album. Oddly, despite the song having lyrics, the back of the "In My Tree" card is blank.

The "Hail Hail" card appears to have several lyric edits on it. Vedder often types the lyrics on a typewriter for the album insert and is known for handwriting changes over them.

The concept for "No Code" is credited to Jerome Turner... otherwise known as Eddie Vedder. Vedder has also gone by the alias "Wes C. Addle," an homage to his neighborhood: West Seattle.

Answer: Love Boat Captain

The beautiful keyboard melody in "Love Boat Captain" is provided by organist Boom Gaspar, who was credited for writing the song along with Eddie Vedder. In concert, Gaspar often rocks a Hammond B3 organ on songs like "Crazy Mary." "Love Boat Captain" makes reference to those who died in the 2000 Roskilde Festival tragedy in Denmark. Nine of Pearl Jam's fans were trampled to death when the crowd surged forward during the concert, resulting in the band changing their policy on mosh pits. Gavin MacLeod of "Mary Tyler Moore" fame also played Captain Merrill Stubing on "The Love Boat."

Answer: Oceans

One of very few Pearl Jam songs that received a music video, "Oceans" features shots of the band at a beach in Hawaii, as well as Hawaiian concert footage. The video was not released stateside after filming, and was first made available by the band on their 2001 DVD "Touring Band 2000." In one of the oddest musical implementations ever, a fire extinguisher was used for percussion sounds while mixing "Oceans" in England. That kind of creativity almost makes Eddie Vedder's accordion-playing skills look commonplace. Almost.

Thanks for playing my quiz and I hope you enjoyed it.