Tell me what you think the song "Jeremy" by Pearl Jam means....?

Question

(BTW I know what it means...I would like to hear your opinion...and how that song impacted you when you first heard it more than a decade ago....)

Pappy, look at my question list for tonight, there is no facisination for songs that talk about suicide. Smart ***.

lbarry posted an article from the Dallas Morning News (I presume)...

I remember this article when I was in high school...

Answer 1

THE STORY OF JEREMY
Richardson Teen-Ager Kills Himself in Front of Classmates
RICHARDSON - A Richardson High School sophomore, described as a loner who had been in counseling, fatally shot himself Tuesday in front of a classroom of about 30 students.
Jeremy Wade Delle, 16, who had transferred from a Dallas school, died instantly after firing a .357-caliber Magnum into his mouth about 9:45 a.m. police said.
Because he had missed class, the teacher in his second-period English class told Jeremy to get an admittance slip from the school office. Instead, he returned with the gun, police said.
He walked directly to the front of the classroom.
"Miss, I got what I really went for," he said, then placed the barrel in his mouth and fired, according to Sgt. Ray Pennington, a police spokesman. The shooting occurred before the students or teacher Fay Barnett could react, said school district spokeswoman Susan Dacus-Wilson. It stunned students and faculty members throughout the school at 1250 W. Belt Line Road.
Brian Jackson, 16, said he was working the combination on his locker just outside Jeremy's English class when he heard a loud bang "like someone had just slammed a book on a desk."
"I thought they were doing a play or something," he said. "But then I heard a scream and a blond girl came running out of the classroom and she was crying."
Frightened, but curious, Brian looked into the classroom and saw Jeremy lying on the floor bleeding.
"The teacher was standing against the wall crying and shaking," Brian said. "Some people were standing around her holding her as if to keep her from falling."
Another student, Howard Perre Felman, and 11th-grader, was in government class when he heard the shot. At first students joked about the noise, thinking that someone was playing around, he said.
"But then we heard a girl running down the hall screaming," he said. "It was a scream from the heart."
Sgt. Pennington said Jeremy apparently had given some thought to his actions because he left a suicide note with a classmate. Investigators would not disclose its contents.
Principal Jerry Bishop said Jeremy's class attendance had been sporadic. Mr. Bishop said he had met with the boy and his father to discuss the problem. Police said that Jeremy had been in counseling with his father, but they did not know the specifics.
Sgt. Pennington said police did not know where the youth got the gun and had no clue why he would kill himself in a crowded classroom.
The classmates who witnessed the shooting were immediately ushered to a secluded room for counseling.
About 30 members of the school district's volunteer crisis team arrived to counsel students.
Classes continued throughout the day. Some students were allowed to leave early, but counselors encouraged them to stay at school and discuss their feelings.
Few students knew Jeremy well because he had attended Bryan Adams High School in Dallas last year and had enrolled in the Richardson school in October. They described him as a loner.
"He was real quiet and he acted down at times. He acted sad," said Koury Kashiem, 15.
Lisa Moore, 16, said she knew Jeremy from the in-school suspension program.
"He and I would pass notes back and forth and he would talk about life and stuff," she said.
She said Jeremy wanted to discuss the boy she was dating and also mentioned that he was having trouble with one of his teachers. He signed all of his notes, "Write back." But on Monday he wrote, "Later days." "I didn't know what to make of it," she said. "But I never thought this would happen."
However, Sean Forrester, 17, remembered Jeremy as friendly with no outward signs of turmoil.
"He never looked like he had anything wrong with him. . .He always made a joke over everything," Sean said.
Jeremy was the son of Joseph R. Delle of Richardson, with whom he lived, and Wanda Crane. The couple divorced in 1979, according to Dallas County court records.
Mr. Delle could not be reached for comment. Ms. Crane, through a spokesman, declined to comment.
Tuesday's shooting was the first known teen suicide in a Richardson school. It was the first by a Richardson student since 1988, when student suicides prompted the creation of the crisis intervention program in May that year.
Three Richardson students committed suicide during the first half of 1988. They included a sixth-grader and two sophomores at J. J. Pearce High School. One of the sophomores hanged himself from a tree behind Mohawk Elementary School during a weekend.
In 1985, a 17-year-old Arlington student shot himself in front of four fellow students in the drama classroom at Arlington High School. Earlier, and outbreak of teen suicides in Plano, where eight youths killed themselves in 1983 and 1984, helped focus national attention on the plight of suicidal teen-agers.
Students and counselors agreed that the shock of Jeremy's public demise would have a lingering effect on the Richardson students, particularly the witnesses.
"They are going to go through a ton of sadness, anxiety and fear," said Sheryl Pender, a counselor with Willow Park Hospital in Plano and former director of the Suicide and Crisis Center in Dallas.
Staff writer Jeffrey Weiss contributed to this report.

Answer 2

My favorite Pearl Jam rockers are Brain of J and Blood. I also like Rats and Once a bit more on the raucus side. All in all, Vs. and Ten are good pick-ups to get going. I'm not a huge Pearl Jam guy, but those are good records. ************ Good call above on State of Love and Trust. I forgot about the Singles songs, both of which are pretty good but Breath is a little mellower, great song though.

Answer 3

The song is incredible.

It tells the story of a kid neglected by his parents and society.
Picked on by everyone and loved by none.
He finally acts out.

The video is intense as well.

Pearl jam always was and alwasy will be the best thing that came out of the Seattle grunge movement, next to Soundgarden.

Vedder and crew write some of the best songs around.

Deep, intuitive and thought provoking.

Anyone who listens to Pearl Jam just because they're cool isnt too bright.
The band is way too intelligent to just be cool.

They put on an incredible concert also.
Ironically enough, they didnt play Jeremy either, when they played Cleveland last year in May.

Answer 4

I agree, it is about child abuse. I never heard that it was also about Jeremy committing suicide, but that's possible. I always thought that when Jeremy "spoke" in class it was via some type of violence. All I know is that from the first time I heard it I cried. It's still hard for me to listen to.

Answer 5

Aw man I LOVED that song. I heard it and didn't really understand it until I also saw the video. I felt like Jeremy was a quiet kid probably like the Columbine or Virginia Tech kids. He never really said anything, until the day he came to school and unloaded on the classroom. I thought it was very powerful.

Answer 6

It's about a kid that was picked on and bullied in school who chose to kill himself in front of his tormentors. Not exactly a light hearted topic to turn into a rock song, but Pearl Jam added some great music and there you have it. It was a little unsettling to realize what the song was about, but it made me stop and think.

Answer 7

Who cares, it's just another, oh no don't commit suicide jingle. Sorry but my stance on suicide is just this:
If you are going to do it by all means do it, I'm not going to stop it. If you threaten to do it, you might as well do it anyway, because you will basically spend the rest of your life in an asylum, if you think about it, oh well that's your problem not mine. If you think about me while commiting suicide, thank you for not being selfish, AT LEAST YOU WERE'NT THINKING OF YOURSELF...FOR A CHANGE.

Answer 8

That is an awesome song.. I think it is telling a story about how rough a life can be..

Answer 9

to me it is the pain of adolesence and trying to fit in.

to me it is the pain of wanting to make everyone around you vanish.

to me...

it is about the way we all feel when we don't fit in...or don't feel happy in our environment.

sad that we have had to see this nightmare-reality play out in real life.....like in Columbine or Virginia Tech

Answer 10

If I remember the video right it's about child abuse, not exactly sure though.

Answer 11

Powerful stuff. Still makes my skin crawl. Gotta crank that sucker.