Oceans is a song by Pearl Jam. Featuring lyrics written by vocalist Eddie Vedder and music co written by Vedder, guitarist Stone Gossard, and bassist Jeff Ament, Oceans was released in December 7, 1992 as the fourth single from the band’s debut album, Ten (1991). Remixed versions of the song can be found on the Even Flow single and the 2009 Ten reissue.
Vedder on the song:
I remember for Oceans, someone asked me to put change in the parking meter for them. I went and did that and then I came back and was locked out. It was drizzling and I wasn’t dressed for an outing in the rain. I had a scrap of paper and a pen in my pocket, and they were playing this song (inside).
All I could hear was the bass coming through the wall, this window that was boarded up. So I wrote the song to the bass. I wasn’t even listening to hear the song at first. When I heard a break, I’d start pounding on the door…trying to get out of the rain. So as I was doing that, I thought, fuck it, I might as well write something.
Gossard on the song:
We wrote it, we played it and Ed sang it, which is another thing that he does. I’d never seen anyone engage with song writing the same way. Here’s the song, let me play it for you. It goes like this. Okay, theres a change here, let’s do it and he would sing it. I’d hear the melodies and I’d think, okay, he’s gonna write words or whatever and then I realized later that he actually had written the words right there. I couldn’t understand how somebody could do that. Since then I’ve met a lot of people that can do it so it was an eye opener but he does it better than anyone I’ve ever seen do it.
Drummer Dave Krusen on the song:
We originally tracked drum kit on that song. Then I added three tympani parts. I remember we were all in the control room listening to the tympani part with the drums muted. Someone commented how cool it sounded like that, so we kept it that way. I’m glad we did.
When the band joined the album’s mixer, Tim Palmer, in June 1991 in Dorking, England for mixing, Palmer overdubbed a pepper shaker and a fire extinguisher as percussion on the track. Palmer said:
“The reason I used those items was purely because we were so far from a music rental shop and necessity became the mother of invention.”
Tracklist:
- Oceans (Gossard, Ament, Vedder)
- Why Go (live) (Ament, Vedder)
- Deep (live) (Gossard, Ament, Vedder)
- Alive (live) (Gossard, Vedder)
Live tracks recorded by VARA Radio on June 8, 1992 at Pinkpop Festival in the Netherlands.
The music video for Oceans was directed by Josh Taft, who had previously directed the Alive and Even Flow music videos for the band. The video was filmed in Hawaii in September 1992.
The black-and-white video features scenes of the band members and other people in Hawaii, including Vedder surfing, Gossard driving, people swimming and running, and small planes flying.
It also features performance footage of the band filmed in Maui, Hawaii at War Memorial Gymnasium. The video was only released to areas outside of the United States in late 1992.
The video was not released in the United States as the band felt Ten was already too big. The video clip for Oceans can be found on the Touring Band 2000 DVD as one of the Special Features.
Pearl Jam
Eddie Vedder: vocals
Mike McCready: lead guitar
Stone Gossard: rhythm guitar
Jeff Ament: bass guitar
Dave Krusen: drums
