"Guaranteed" is a song written and performed by

Pearl Jam Pearl Jam is an American Rock music, rock band formed in Seattle, Washington, in 1990. One of the key bands in the grunge, grunge movement of the early 1990s, Pearl Jam has outsold and outlasted many of its contemporaries from the early 1990s, ...

vocalist

Eddie Vedder Eddie Jerome Vedder (born Edward Louis Severson III; December 23, 1964) is an American singer, musician, and songwriter. He is the lead vocalist, primary lyricist, and one of three guitarists for the rock band Pearl Jam. He was previously a gues ...

from the '' Into the Wild''

soundtrack A soundtrack is a recorded audio signal accompanying and synchronised to the images of a book, drama, motion picture, radio program, television show, television program, or video game; colloquially, a commercially released soundtrack album of m ...

(2007). It is the final track on the album, and also features a hidden track of "Guaranteed" (Humming Vocal) after about two minutes of silence following the regular version of "Guaranteed".

Lyrics

Like the other songs on the soundtrack, "Guaranteed" is based on the story of American wanderer

Christopher McCandless Christopher Johnson McCandless (; February 12, 1968 – August 1992), also known by his pseudonym "Alexander Supertramp", was an American adventurer who sought an increasingly nomadic lifestyle as he grew up. After graduating from Emory Univer ...

. After graduating as a top student from

Emory University Emory University is a private university, private research university in Atlanta, Georgia, United States. It was founded in 1836 as Emory College by the Methodist Episcopal Church and named in honor of Methodist bishop John Emory. Its main campu ...

in 1990, McCandless decided to give up all of his savings and travel across the United States. In April 1992, McCandless hitchhiked to

Alaska Alaska ( ) is a non-contiguous U.S. state on the northwest extremity of North America. Part of the Western United States region, it is one of the two non-contiguous U.S. states, alongside Hawaii. Alaska is also considered to be the north ...

to live in the

wilderness Wilderness or wildlands (usually in the plurale tantum, plural) are Earth, Earth's natural environments that have not been significantly modified by human impact on the environment, human activity, or any urbanization, nonurbanized land not u ...

with little food and equipment, hoping to live a period of solitude. Nearly five months later, he died of

starvation Starvation is a severe deficiency in caloric energy intake, below the level needed to maintain an organism's life. It is the most extreme form of malnutrition. In humans, prolonged starvation can cause permanent organ damage and eventually, de ...

near

Denali National Park and Preserve Denali National Park and Preserve, formerly known as Mount McKinley National Park, is a List of national parks of the United States, United States national park and National preserve, preserve located in Interior Alaska, centered on Denali (feder ...

. Director

Sean Penn Sean Justin Penn (born August 17, 1960) is an American actor and film director. He is known for his intense leading man roles in film. List of awards and nominations received by Sean Penn, His accolades include two Academy Awards, a Golden Gl ...

said that as soon as he heard the song he "just felt that for sure this is the musical voice of (actor) Emile (Hirsch's) character."Cohen, Jonathan
"Q&A: Penn, Vedder go where the "Wild" things are"

Reuters Reuters ( ) is a news agency owned by Thomson Reuters. It employs around 2,500 journalists and 600 photojournalists in about 200 locations worldwide writing in 16 languages. Reuters is one of the largest news agencies in the world. The agency ...

. October 26, 2007.

has said that the lyrics "Don't come closer or I'll have to go/Owning me like gravity are places that pull/If ever there was someone to keep me at home/It would be you" are for McCandless' sister, Carine.

Reception

Vedder won a

2007 2007 was designated as the International Heliophysical Year and the International Polar Year. Events January * January 1 **Bulgaria and Romania 2007 enlargement of the European Union, join the European Union, while Slovenia joins the Eur ...

Golden Globe Award The Golden Globe Awards are awards presented for excellence in both international film and television. It is an annual award ceremony held since 1944 to honor artists and professionals and their work. The ceremony is normally held every Janua ...

for "Guaranteed". At the 2008 Grammy Awards, "Guaranteed" received a nomination for

Best Song Written for a Motion Picture, Television or Other Visual Media Best or The Best may refer to: People * Best (surname), people with the surname Best * Best (footballer, born 1968), retired Portuguese footballer Companies and organizations * Best & Co., an 1879–1971 clothing chain * Best Lock Corporatio ...

. "Guaranteed" was also nominated for the 2008

Broadcast Film Critics Association Award for Best Song The Critics' Choice Movie Award for Best Song is one of the awards given to people working in the motion picture industry by the Broadcast Film Critics Association. The award notably recognizes not only songwriters but also performers as recipient ...

, and a 2008 World Soundtrack Award in the category of Best Original Song Written Directly for a Film. In The Netherlands, the song is heavily associated with the murdered crime reporter Peter R. de Vries, who used the first line of this song (“On bended knee is no way to be free”) as his life motto.

Music video

The

music video A music video is a video that integrates a song or an album with imagery that is produced for promotion (marketing), promotional or musical artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a music marketing device intended to ...

for "Guaranteed" was directed by

Marc Rocco Marc Rocco (June 19, 1962 – May 1, 2009) was an American film director, film producer and screenwriter. Marc Rocco was born Marc Daniel King in North Hollywood Los Angeles, to Harvey King and Sandra Elaine Garrett. Later divorcing King, Garre ...

. The video features Vedder in a dark room performing the song amid a series of floating still images from ''Into the Wild''. It premiered on January 7, 2008 on

VH1 VH1 (originally an initialism for Video Hits One) is an American basic cable television network that launched on January 1, 1985, and is currently owned by the MTV Entertainment Group unit of Paramount Global's networks division based in New Y ...

Live performances

"Guaranteed" was first performed live by Vedder at an ''Into the Wild'' post-screening party on the

Paramount Pictures Paramount Pictures Corporation, commonly known as Paramount Pictures or simply Paramount, is an American film production company, production and Distribution (marketing), distribution company and the flagship namesake subsidiary of Paramount ...

lot on November 2, 2007. He would go on to perform the song on his 2008 solo tour. It has also been performed once with Pearl Jam during their 2008 tour.. TwoFeetThick.com.

References

{{authority control 2007 songs Best Original Song Golden Globe–winning songs Eddie Vedder songs Commemoration songs Songs written by Eddie Vedder Song recordings produced by Adam Kasper Chris McCandless