Tuesday February 8, 2022 “You’ve Got to Hide Your Love Away” Pearl Jam (Eddie Vedder)
This song, written primarily by John Lennon, has been attributed to describing the life that their manager Brian Epstein was leading. Epstein was a gay man in the UK at a time when homosexuality was an imprisonable offense, think Oscar Wilde and his confinement in Reading Goal.
Today’s version of this Beatles’ tune comes from Pearl Jam, one of the most popular bands of the 90s and beyond, whose grunge style would seem to be quite distanced from the Beatles.
However Pearl Jam frontman Eddie Vedder has described himself as a huge fan of the Beatles and there are recordings of at least nine other Beatles songs that he has performed to back that statement up. He lists their 1968 album The Beatles, perhaps known better as the White Album, as one of his favorite albums of all time.
And Vedder remained a fan even after Paul McCartney punched him in the face in a Seattle bar. McCartney was telling a story about a previous altercation that he was involved in when he inadvertently hit Vedder.
“He hit me. He didn’t quite pull back the punch you see,” recounted Vedder in an interview aired on SiriusXM’s Beatles Channel. “As I was listening I was thinking, Paul McCartney just hit me in the face and it hurt. I think I remember tasting a bit of blood, he got me right on the side…and he apologized quickly, so it wouldn’t get in the way of the story.”
So if you’re drinking with Paul McCartney remember he is left handed so that is most likely going to be where that punch will come from.
Stay safe and well…and enjoy this Pearl Jam version of “Hide Your Love Away” recorded roughly thirty years after the original Beatles version which was included on the soundtrack from their movie Help.