Black cover by Shannon King

Disclaimer: I do not own nor did I create any of the instrumental/musical background or compose the melody or lyrics of this song. Credit is attributed to the original publisher/author and the only part of this creation I own is the voice singing the song to a karaoke version that was available via youtube.com. Thank you!

BLACK

Author: Pearl Jam

Singer: Shannon King

LYRICS

Hey, hey, yeah, uh

Sheets of empty canvas, untouched sheets of clay

Were laid spread out before me as her body once did

All five horizons revolved around her soul as the earth to the sun

Now the air I tasted and breathed has taken a turn, ooh

And all I taught her was everything

Ooh, I know she gave me all that she wore

And now my bitter hands chafe beneath the clouds

Of what was everything

Oh, the pictures have all been washed in black

Tattooed everything

I take a walk outside, I'm surrounded by some kids at play

I can feel their laughter, so why do I sear

Oh and twisted thoughts that spin 'round my head

I'm spinning, oh I'm spinning, how quick the sun can drop away

And now my bitter hands cradle broken glass

Of what was everything

All the pictures have all been washed in black

Tattooed everything

All the love gone bad turned my world to black

Tattooed all I see, all that I am, all I'll be yeah

Oh oh ooh

I know someday you'll have a beautiful life

I know you'll be a star in somebody else's sky, but why

Why, why can't it be, oh can't it be mine?

Ooh, ah yeah, ah ooh

Doodoo-doo-doo-doodoodoo, Doodoo-doo-doo-doodoodoo

Doodoo-doo-doo-doodoodoo, Doodoo-doo-doo-doodoodoo

Doodoo-doo-doo-doodoodoo, Doodoo-doo-doo-doodoodoo

Doodoo-doo-doo-doodoodoo, Doodoo-doo-doo-doodoodoo

Doodoo-doo-doo-doodoodoo, Doodoo-doo-doo-doodoodoo

Doodoo-doo-doo-doodoodoo, Doodoo-doo-doo-doodoodoo

Doodoo-doo-doo-doodoodoo, Doodoo-doo-doo-doodoodoo

Doodoo-doo-doo-doodoodoo, Doodoo-doo-doo-doodoodoo

Doodoo-doo-doo-doodoodoo, Doodoo-doo-doo-doodoodoo

Doodoo-doo-doo-doodoodoo, ooh ooh ooh

About Pearl Jam: "Pearl Jam is an American rock band formed in 1990 in Seattle, Washington. The band's lineup consists of founding members Jeff Ament (bass guitar), Stone Gossard (rhythm guitar), Mike McCready (lead guitar), and Eddie Vedder (lead vocals, guitar), as well as Matt Cameron (drums), who joined in 1998. Keyboardist Boom Gaspar has also been a touring/session member with the band since 2002. Drummers Jack Irons, Dave Krusen, Matt Chamberlain, and Dave Abbruzzese are former members of the band. Pearl Jam outsold many of its contemporary alternative rock bands from the early 1990s, and is considered one of the most influential bands of the decade,[1] being dubbed as "the most popular American rock & roll band of the '90s".[2]

Formed after the demise of Gossard and Ament's previous band, Mother Love Bone, Pearl Jam broke into the mainstream with its debut album, Ten, in 1991. Ten stayed on the Billboard 200 chart for nearly five years, and has gone on to become one of the highest-selling rock records ever, going 13x platinum in the United States. Released in 1993, Pearl Jam's second album, Vs., sold over 950,000 copies in its first week of release, setting the record for most copies of an album sold in its first week of release at the time. Their third album, Vitalogy (1994), became the second-fastest-selling CD in history at the time, with more than 877,000 units sold in its first week.

One of the key bands in the grunge movement of the early 1990s, Pearl Jam's members often shunned popular music industry practices such as making music videos or giving interviews. The band also sued Ticketmaster, claiming it had monopolized the concert-ticket market. In 2006, Rolling Stone described the band as having "spent much of the past decade deliberately tearing apart their own fame."[3]

Pearl Jam had sold more than 85 million albums worldwide by 2018, including nearly 32 million albums in the United States by 2012,[4] making them one of the best-selling bands of all time. Pearl Jam was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2017 in its first year of eligibility.[5] They were ranked at No. 8 in a reader poll by Rolling Stone magazine in its "Top Ten Live Acts of All Time" issue.[6] Throughout its career, they have also promoted wider social and political issues, from pro-choice sentiments to opposition to George W. Bush's presidency. Vedder acts as the band's spokesman on these issues.

Formation and early years (1984–1990)

Stone Gossard and Jeff Ament were members of grunge band Green River during the mid-1980s. Green River toured and recorded to moderate success but disbanded in 1987 due to a stylistic division between the pair and bandmates Mark Arm and Steve Turner.[7] In late 1987, Gossard and Ament began playing with Malfunkshun vocalist Andrew Wood, eventually organizing the band Mother Love Bone. In 1988 and 1989, the band recorded and toured to increasing interest and found the support of the PolyGram record label, which signed the band in early 1989. Mother Love Bone's debut album, Apple, was released in July 1990, four months after Wood died of a heroin overdose.[8]

Ament and Gossard were devastated by the death of Wood and the resulting demise of Mother Love Bone. Gossard spent his time afterwards writing material that was harder-edged than what he had been doing previously.[9] After a few months, Gossard started practicing with fellow Seattle guitarist Mike McCready, whose band, Shadow, had broken up; McCready in turn encouraged Gossard to reconnect with Ament.[3] After practicing for a while, the trio sent out a five-song demo tape in order to find a singer and a drummer. They gave former Red Hot Chili Peppers drummer Jack Irons the demo to see if he would be interested in joining the band and to distribute the demo to anyone he felt might fit the lead vocal position.[9]

Irons passed on the invitation but gave the demo to his basketball friend, San Diego, California singer Eddie Vedder.[10] Vedder was the lead vocalist for a San Diego band, Bad Radio, and worked part-time at a gas station. He listened to the tape shortly before going surfing, where lyrics came to him.[9] He then recorded the vocals to three of the songs ("Alive", "Once", and "Footsteps") in what he later described as a "mini-opera" entitled Momma-Son.[11] Vedder sent the tape with his vocals back to the three Seattle musicians, who were impressed enough to fly Vedder up to Seattle for an audition. Within a week, Vedder had joined the band.[9]

With the addition of Dave Krusen on drums, the band took the name Mookie Blaylock, in reference to the then-active basketball player.[12] The band played its first official show at the Off Ramp Café in Seattle on October 22, 1990.[13] They opened for Alice in Chains at the Moore Theatre in Seattle on December 22, 1990,[14] and served as the opening act for the band's Facelift tour in 1991.[15][16] Mookie Blaylock soon signed to Epic Records and renamed themselves Pearl Jam.[2] In an early promotional interview, Vedder said that the name "Pearl Jam" was a reference to his great-grandmother Pearl, who was married to a Native American and had a special recipe for peyote-laced jam.[17] In a 2006 Rolling Stone cover story however, Vedder admitted that this story was "total bullshit", even though he indeed had a great-grandma named Pearl. Ament and McCready explained that Ament came up with "pearl", and that the band later settled on "Pearl Jam" after attending a concert by Neil Young, in which he extended his songs as improvisations of 15–20 minutes in length.[3]" (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pearl_Jam).

About Shannon King: Born in St. Augustine, Fl, Shannon has a Master of Arts Degree in Applied Behavior Analysis from USF. She is currently pursuing a career in music, singing and writing with a focus in poetry, biographies, and inspirational messages.