"In Hiding" is a song by the American

rock Rock most often refers to: * Rock (geology), a naturally occurring solid aggregate of minerals or mineraloids * Rock music, a genre of popular music Rock or Rocks may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * Rock, Caerphilly, a location in Wale ...

band

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, ...

. Featuring lyrics written by 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 ...

and music written by guitarist

Stone Gossard Stone Carpenter Gossard (born July 20, 1966) is an American musician and songwriter who serves as the rhythm guitarist for the rock band Pearl Jam. Along with Jeff Ament, Mike McCready, and Eddie Vedder, he is one of the founding members of the ...

, "In Hiding" is the eleventh track on the band's fifth studio album, '' Yield'' (1998). Despite the lack of a commercial single release, the song managed to reach number 13 on the ''

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertis ...

Modern Rock Tracks Alternative Airplay (formerly known as Modern Rock Tracks between 1988 and 2009, and Alternative Songs between 2009 and 2020) is a music chart published in the American magazine ''Billboard'' since September 10, 1988. It ranks the 40 most-playe ...

chart and number 14 on their

Mainstream Rock Tracks Mainstream Rock is a music chart published by '' Billboard'' magazine that ranks the most-played songs on mainstream rock radio stations in the United States. It is an administrative category that combines the " active rock" and " heritage rock" ...

chart.

Origin and recording

"In Hiding" features lyrics written by vocalist

and music written by guitarist

. As shown on the DVD, '' Single Video Theory'', Gossard brought the guitar riff for the song to the band after recording it on a

microcassette The Microcassette (often written generically as microcassette) is an audio storage medium, introduced by Olympus in 1969. It has the same width of magnetic tape as the Compact Cassette but in a cassette roughly one quarter the size. By using ...

recorder, while Vedder held off on writing lyrics for the song until late in the album's recording sessions. Drummer

Jack Irons Jack Steven Irons (born July 18, 1962) is an American drummer. He is the founding drummer of the rock band Red Hot Chili Peppers until he departed in 1988 and is a former member of Pearl Jam and Eleven. Alongside his work with Red Hot Chili Pep ...

said, "I like "In Hiding" a lot...It's like a band track. It sounds like five guys just played a track together and I think that's pretty much what happened.""Pearl Jam Talks About New Approach To ''Yield''"

MTV.com MTV (an initialism of Music Television) is an American cable television television channel, channel and the flagship property of the MTV Entertainment Group sub-division of the Paramount Media Networks division of Paramount Global. Launched on ...

. February 4, 1998. Guitarist

Mike McCready Michael David McCready (born April 5, 1966) is an American musician known for being a founding member and lead guitarist of Pearl Jam. McCready was also a member of the side project bands Flight to Mars, Temple of the Dog, Mad Season (band), Ma ...

said, "Just something about it that strikes me. Even in the earlier demo stages when I heard it I knew it was something that had to happen."

Lyrics

Vedder's lyrics for "In Hiding" were inspired by the writings of

Charles Bukowski Henry Charles Bukowski ( ; born Heinrich Karl Bukowski, ; August 16, 1920 – March 9, 1994) was a German Americans, German-American poet, novelist, and short story writer. His writing was influenced by the social, cultural, and economic ambien ...

.Brownlee, Clint. "Still Alive". ''Seattle Sound Magazine''. March 2009. The writer was known to stay in a room for days at a time without coming out. The lyric page for the song in the album's liner notes features a quote by Bukowski attributed to "Buk" in place of the lyrics for the song. Vedder on the origins of the song:

"In Hiding" is actually written about Bukowski.
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 ...
gave me a quote that Bukowski had said to him once, and it was written directly from that. He told Sean that sometimes he just has to check out for a few days—no people, no nothing. So he goes in hiding, then he gets back and has the will to live once again. Maybe because society takes you down. For all the good things we offer each other, sometimes we beat each other down.

When asked about the song in an interview, Vedder stated it was about "a life fast." Vedder about "In Hiding":

The song was about taking a fast from life, doing anything to get yourself back in touch with something real. Abstinence from anything is cool, because the normalcy of life is deceptive: It's enjoyable for a while, and there are good moments, but sometimes that's not enough. You start questioning what's the point. By not opening my mouth I was able to get into that state. Jack called me at the end of it; he couldn't understand what I was saying. It took a minute to get my speech back.

Reception

Without being released as a single, "In Hiding" peaked at number 14 on the ''Billboard''

chart and number 13 on the ''Billboard''

chart in 1998. In

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its Provinces and territories of Canada, ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, making it the world's List of coun ...

, "In Hiding" charted on the Alternative Top 30 chart where it peaked at number six and stayed there for two weeks. "In Hiding" was featured in the ''

Cold Case ''Cold Case'' is an American police procedural crime drama television series. It ran on CBS from September 28, 2003, to May 2, 2010. The series revolved around a fictionalized Philadelphia Police Department division that specializes in invest ...

'' episode "The Long Blue Line" in 2009.

Live performances

"In Hiding" was first performed live at the band's February 20, 1998 concert in

Maui Maui (; Hawaiian language, Hawaiian: ) is the second largest island in the Hawaiian archipelago, at 727.2 square miles (1,883 km2). It is the List of islands of the United States by area, 17th-largest in the United States. Maui is one of ...

Hawaii Hawaii ( ; ) is an island U.S. state, state of the United States, in the Pacific Ocean about southwest of the U.S. mainland. One of the two Non-contiguous United States, non-contiguous U.S. states (along with Alaska), it is the only sta ...

at the Alexander M. Baldwin Amphitheatre."Pearl Jam Songs: "In Hiding""
. pearljam.com. Live performances of "In Hiding" can be found on various official bootlegs and the ''

Live at the Gorge 05/06 ''Live at the Gorge 05/06'' is a seven-disc live box set by the American alternative rock band Pearl Jam, released on June 26, 2007 through Rhino Entertainment/Warner Music Group. The box set documents the band's 2005 and 2006 shows at The Gorg ...

'' box set. A performance of the song is also included on the DVD '' Single Video Theory''. "In Hiding" is also featured on the 2011 official live release '' Live on Ten Legs''.

Chart positions

References

External links

Lyrics at pearljam.com
{{authority control 1998 songs Pearl Jam songs Songs written by Eddie Vedder Songs written by Stone Gossard Song recordings produced by Eddie Vedder Song recordings produced by Stone Gossard Song recordings produced by Jeff Ament Song recordings produced by Mike McCready Song recordings produced by Jack Irons Song recordings produced by Brendan O'Brien (record producer)