"Light Years" is a song by 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 co-written by Vedder and guitarists

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 ...

and

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 ...

, "Light Years" was released on July 10, 2000, as the second and final single from the band's sixth studio album, '' Binaural'' (2000). The song peaked at number 17 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 ...

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. The song was included on Pearl Jam's 2004 greatest hits album, ''

rearviewmirror (Greatest Hits 1991–2003) ''Rearviewmirror (Greatest Hits 1991–2003)'' is a two-disc compilation album by the American rock band Pearl Jam, released on November 16, 2004 through Epic Records. The album has been certified platinum by the RIAA in the United States. It wa ...

''.

Origin and recording

"Light Years" features lyrics written by vocalist

and music co-written by Vedder and guitarists

and

. The song was re-worked from its original demo version titled "Puzzles & Games", as the band felt the original version was too similar to the song "

Given to Fly "Given to Fly" is a song by the American rock band Pearl Jam. Featuring lyrics written by vocalist Eddie Vedder and music written by guitarist Mike McCready, "Given to Fly" was released to radio on December 22, 1997, as the first single from the ...

".DeCurtis, Anthony
"Do The Evolution"
''

Revolver A revolver is a repeating handgun with at least one barrel and a revolving cylinder containing multiple chambers (each holding a single cartridge) for firing. Because most revolver models hold six cartridges before needing to be reloaded, ...

''. May 13, 2000. Vedder on the song:

With "Light Years", Mike McCready had written some music. We were excited about it for a while, but when we got down to recording it, it was too nice, too right there—it was a little too close to "Given to Fly". We changed the tempos, and then one night Mike and I, after working on it all day and getting frustrated, just flipped it backwards, and in about 35 minutes it became "Light Years", with words and everything. It still has a fairly contagious chorus and melody, but it's just sideways enough to make me happy.

McCready on the song:

It was originally kind of a different vibe to that song and it kind of sounded like a song I had written before so me and Eddie kind of sat down and jammed on it one day and just two guitars and out of playing for about an hour it turned into what it is now. And it's kind of a cool, I think, melodic song and lyrically it's pretty beautiful and I have my interpretation about what the song is about and I think everybody should get what they want to get out of it."Jeff Woods with Pearl Jam for Radio Rock Network"
. ''Radio Rock Network''. May 15, 2000.

Bassist

Jeff Ament Jeffrey Allen Ament (born March 10, 1963) is an American musician best known as the bassist of rock band Pearl Jam, which he co-founded alongside Stone Gossard, Mike McCready, and Eddie Vedder. Ament wrote or co-wrote many of Pearl Jam's hits, ...

on the song:

It sounded nothing like what it sounds like now. Mike had a couple of riffs, and Ed really sat down and tried to write to it. He initially had some problems, and one day he came in on his own and had some lyrics that were really heartfelt. He ended up completely rearranging the song. It got played a million different tempos and a million different angles on the drums. That was a hard song; probably more so on Matt's end just because it took so long.Cohen, Jonathan
"Pearl Jam: Spreading The Jam"
''
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 ...
''. March 30, 2001.

Lyrics

At the

Pinkpop Festival Pinkpop is an annual music festival held in Landgraaf, Netherlands. It is usually held on the Pentecost weekend (''Pinksteren'' in Dutch, hence the name). If Pentecost falls on an early date in May, the festival is held later in June. Starting in ...

in 2000, Vedder dedicated "Light Years" to Diane Muus from

Sony Music Sony Music Entertainment (SME), commonly known as Sony Music, is an American multinational music company owned by Japanese conglomerate Sony Group Corporation. It is the recording division of Sony Music Group, with the other half being the ...

, a friend of the band who died at the age of 33 in 1997. He said there are "times you have got friends that don't fuck up at all and are great people. And then you just lose them for some reason. They are off the planet and you never had a chance to say goodbye. I only mention this because there was a person we used to know here and that was Diane and ah, we never got a chance to say goodbye. This is goodbye. And if you've got good friends, love them while they're here."

Release and reception

"Light Years" peaked at number 17 on the ''Billboard''

chart and number 26 on the ''Billboard''

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. Outside the United States, the single was released commercially in

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

Austria Austria, formally the Republic of Austria, is a landlocked country in Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine Federal states of Austria, states, of which the capital Vienna is the List of largest cities in Aust ...

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. Its Provinces of South Africa, nine provinces are bounded to the south by of coastline that stretches along the Atlantic O ...

, and the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Northwestern Europe, off the coast of European mainland, the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

. 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 ...

, "Light Years" charted on the Rock Top 30 chart where it peaked at number 21 and stayed there for three weeks. "Light Years" reached the top 60 in the UK and the top 30 in

Italy Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...

. In

Allmusic AllMusic (previously known as All-Music Guide and AMG) is an American online database, online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on Musical artist, musicians and Mus ...

's review of the "Light Years" single, it was stated that "with earl Jam'smore enduring and darker tones set in place, fans of Pearl Jam receive a raw and sincere taste of the band's new musical and melodic direction, perhaps ignited with the additional presence of newcomer Matt Cameron on drums." ''

NME ''New Musical Express'' (''NME'') is a British music, film, gaming and culture website, bimonthly magazine, and brand. Founded as a newspaper in 1952, with the publication being referred to as a "Rock music, rock inkie", the ''NME'' would be ...

'' called the song "painfully beautiful" in its review of ''Binaural'', while Keith Cameron of ''NME'' said in his review of the song, "The specifics of what "Light Years" is about—the death of a friend, apparently—get subsumed into the song's plangent distillation of regret, thereby rendering it perversely uplifting, a trick only the most accomplished and sincere bands can execute with anything approaching conviction."

Christopher John Farley Christopher John Farley (born July 28, 1966) is a Jamaican-born American journalist, columnist, and author. Early life Farley was born in Kingston, Jamaica, and grew up in New York. He is a graduate of Brockport High School and Harvard Universi ...

of ''

Time Time is the continuous progression of existence that occurs in an apparently irreversible process, irreversible succession from the past, through the present, and into the future. It is a component quantity of various measurements used to sequ ...

'' described the song as "muted but passionate."

Live performances

"Light Years" was first performed live at the band's May 10, 2000, concert in

Bellingham, Washington Bellingham ( ) is the county seat of Whatcom County, Washington, Whatcom County in the U.S. state of Washington (state), Washington. It lies south of the Canada–United States border, U.S.–Canada border, between Vancouver, British Columbia, ...

at the Mount Baker Theatre. Live performances of "Light Years" can be found on various official bootlegs. At the band's

Chicago Chicago is the List of municipalities in Illinois, most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388, as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of Unite ...

concert on August 20, 2016, Pearl Jam dedicated this song to

The Tragically Hip The Tragically Hip, often referred to simply as the Hip, was a Canadian rock band formed in Kingston, Ontario in 1984, consisting of vocalist Gord Downie, guitarist Paul Langlois, guitarist Rob Baker (known as Bobby Baker until 1994), bassis ...

, whose lead singer

Gord Downie Gordon Edgar Downie (February 6, 1964 – October 17, 2017) was a Canadian rock singer-songwriter, musician, writer, poet, and activist. He was the singer and lyricist for the Canadian rock band The Tragically Hip, which he fronted from ...

had publicized his diagnosis with

glioblastoma Glioblastoma, previously known as glioblastoma multiforme (GBM), is the most aggressive and most common type of cancer that originates in the brain, and has a very poor prognosis for survival. Initial signs and symptoms of glioblastoma are nons ...

earlier in the year and who were playing the final date of their

Man Machine Poem Tour The Man Machine Poem Tour was a concert tour by the Tragically Hip in support of their thirteenth full-length studio album '' Man Machine Poem''. The tour consisted of 15 shows, the first held on July 22, 2016, in Victoria, British Columbia, an ...

that same night."Pearl Jam salute the Tragically Hip's Gord Downie during Chicago concert"
''

Entertainment Weekly ''Entertainment Weekly'' (sometimes abbreviated as ''EW'') is an American online magazine, digital-only entertainment magazine based in New York City, published by Dotdash Meredith, that covers film, television, music, Broadway theatre, books, ...

'', August 21, 2016.

Track listings

All songs were written by

except where noted. CD (US, Austria, and UK) and 12-inch vinyl (Austria) # "Light Years" (

, Vedder) – 5:07 # "

Grievance A grievance () is a wrong or hardship suffered, real or supposed, which forms legitimate grounds of complaint. In the past, the word meant the infliction or cause of hardship. See also * Complaint system * Harm Harm is a morality, moral and ...

" (live) – 3:29 # "Soon Forget" (live) – 2:06 * All live tracks were recorded on May 10, 2000, at Mount Baker Theatre in

. CD (Enhanced) (Australia) # "Light Years" (Gossard, McCready, Vedder) – 5:07 # "Grievance" (live) – 3:29 # "Soon Forget" (live) – 2:06 # " Do the Evolution" (video clip multimedia) (Gossard, Vedder) – 3:54 * All live tracks were recorded on May 10, 2000, at Mount Baker Theatre in Bellingham, Washington. CD (Austria and South Africa) # "Light Years" (Gossard, McCready, Vedder) – 5:08 # "Grievance" (live) – 3:30 #* Recorded live on May 10, 2000, at Mount Baker Theatre in Bellingham, Washington. 7-inch vinyl (UK) # "Light Years" (Gossard, McCready, Vedder) – 5:08 # "Soon Forget" (live) – 2:06 #* Recorded live on May 10, 2000, at Mount Baker Theatre in Bellingham, Washington.

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Release history

References

External links

Lyrics at pearljam.com
{{Authority control 2000 singles 2000 songs Epic Records singles Pearl Jam songs Songs inspired by deaths Song recordings produced by Eddie Vedder Song recordings produced by Jeff Ament Song recordings produced by Matt Cameron Song recordings produced by Mike McCready Song recordings produced by Stone Gossard Song recordings produced by Tchad Blake Songs written by Eddie Vedder Songs written by Mike McCready Songs written by Stone Gossard