Pearl Jam

Released: February 27, 2001

Songwriter: Neil Young

[Verse 1]
There’s colors on the street
Red, white, and blue
People shuffling their feet
People sleeping in their shoes
There’s a warning sign on the road ahead
There’s a lot of people saying we’d be better off dead
Don’t feel like Satan, but I am to them
So I try to forget it any way I can

[Chorus]
Keep on rockin' in the free world
Keep on rockin' in the free world
Keep on rockin' in the free world
Keep on rockin' in the free world

[Verse 2]
I see a woman in the night
With a baby in her hand
There's an old street light
Near a garbage can
Now she put the kid away and she’s gone to get a hit
She hates her life and what she’s done to it
There’s one more kid that’ll never go to school
Never get to fall in love, never get to be cool

[Chorus]
Keep on rockin' in the free world
Keep on rockin' in the free world
Keep on rockin' in the free world
Keep on rockin' in the free world

[Electric Guitar Solo]

[Verse 3]
We got a thousand points of light
For the homeless man
We got a kinder, gentler machine gun hand
We've got department stores and toilet paper
Got styrofoam boxes for the ozone layer
Got a man of the people says keep hope alive
Got fuel to burn, got roads to drive

[Chorus]
Keep on rockin' in the free world
Keep on rockin' in the free world
Keep on rockin' in the free world
Keep on rockin' in the free world

[Electric Guitar Solo]

[Outro]
Keep on rockin' in the free world

Founded in 1990 in Seattle, Pearl Jam is one of the most successful bands out of the grunge movement, if not of the whole alternative rock scene from the early 90s. The group started with Stone Gossard (guitar) and Jeff Ament (bass), veterans of the proto-grunge scene, recording a demo along with local guitarist Mike McCready. Once the tape passed along, it attracted a San Diego-based singer, Eddie Vedder. Along with drummer Dave Krusen, they signed with Epic Records and released Ten in 1991, which by the following year was becoming one of the most successful debut albums ever.

Growing uncomfortable with success, the following albums went for a more anguished and experimental sound, and the band’s notorious activism had its most prominent case once they boycotted Ticketmaster, accusing them of price-gouging fans. In the meantime, various drummers passed through the band, with percussion only settling once Soundgarden’s Matt Cameron joined them in the tour for 1998’s Yield.

With 10 studio albums and various live recordings (including “Official Bootlegs” of basically every concert the band performed since 2000), Pearl Jam has sold nearly 32 million records in the U.S. and an estimated 60 million worldwide.

more tracks from the album

Tampa, Florida- August 12, 2000

From the album

Tampa, Florida- August 12, 2000 (2001)

Pearl Jam popular songs

Rockin’ In The Free World [Tampa, Florida August 12 2000]Pearl Jam

Pearl Jam

Tampa, Florida- August 12, 2000