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From: "Andrew Thwing"
Subject: ADD: Rats by Pearl Jam
Date: Mon, 3 Nov 1997 16:09:57 -0800
"RATS" by Pearl Jam
transcribed by Andrew Thwing (andrewthwing@juno.com)
(h=hammer, /=slide up)
INTRO (bass arr. for guitar)
E5
e|--------------------------------------|
B|--------------------------------------|
G|--------------------------------------|
D|--------------------------------------|
A|--2--2---0-h2-2-----------------------|
E|--0--0-----------3-3--3-0-------------|
variation INTRO riff (use your ears)
E5
e|--------------------------------------------|
B|--------------------------------------------|
G|--------------------------------------------|
D|--------------------------------------------|
A|--2--2---0-h2-2-----------------------------|
E|--0--0-----------3-3--3-0---2/7--7---2/7----|
CHORUS:
A5 B5 C5
e|------------------------------------------------|
B|------------------------------------------------|
G|--2--2------4--4--------5-----------------------|
D|--2--2------4--4--------5-----------------------|
A|--0--0------2--2--------3-----------------------|
E|------------------------------------------------|
they don't scurry when something bigger comes their way...
OUTRO:
Bb5 C5 G5
e|--------------------------------------------|
B|--------------------------------------------|
G|--3-------------5---------------------------|
D|--3-------------5----------------5----------|
A|--1-------------3----------------5----------|
E|---------------------------------3----------|
then the two of us need look no more...
There is a little walk down from the A5 B5 C5 thing to the last
pattern. Just move the chord down the neck from C5 to Bb5.
USE THE INTRO FOR THE VERSES AND SOLO
a guitar plays E5
THE LYRICS:
They don't eat, don't sleep
They don't feed, they don't seethe,
bare their gums when they moan and squeak,
lick the dirt off a larger one's feet
They don't push, don't crowd,
congregate until they're much too loud,
fuck to procreate 'til they are dead,
drink the blood of their so called best friend
They don't scurry when something bigger comes their way
don't pack themselves together and run as one
don't shit where they're not supposed to
don't take what's not theirs
They don't compare
They don't scab, don't fight
don't oppress an equal's given rights,
starve the poor so they can be well fed,
line their holes with the dead ones' bread
They don't scurry...etc
(SOLO with verse chords)
They don't scurry...etc
They don't compare
Rats, they don't compare (this using A5 B5 C5 still)
Then the two of us need look no more (fading)
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Tab Discussion, Comments, and Critiques
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No Picture
D-backs, 2006 w Rhythm Player |
#1 by D-backs, 2006 world series champions! !! at May 26, 1972 at 12:22 AM EST |
| The irony is lost on me. because rats do most of these things, especially the ones in the first and second verses, only for some reason he turned it around and said they don't do that. rats do do all of these things. Thats why we hate rats. they steal cheese pack close together, fuck till they have so many babies that they are packed together and eat their dead and live in filth. He mut think they do compare, so why is he being sarcastic about it, or ironic? He must be being ironic through this song, or he has a totally warped idea of how rats act. maybe he was drunk when he wrote the song. | |
|
No Picture
nick Average |
#2 by nick coffeen at Apr 21, 1982 at 5:23 AM EST |
| Seems to me that this song is a jab at our behaviour as humans. By pointing out how rats behave in their own culture, it demonstrates how creatures with so much less capacity for thought can exist to be so much more thoughtful than us... | |
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No Picture
Average |
#3 by vix at Sep 5, 1991 at 8:31 AM EST |
| As far as this song being ironic, it is. The ridiculous of his lyrics that portray rats as civilized is a mockery of similar rhetoric that humans are civilized and superior. Vedder is using this irony to reveal the truth that humans are just as animalistic as rats - and maybe worse due to the calculated cruelty we exact on one another on large scales. | |
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No Picture
brandon Rhythm Player |
#4 by brandon q at Feb 20, 1995 at 7:30 PM EST |
| vedder is obviously comparing rats and humans. however, he is vague as to which trait belongs to which species, and whether he is condemning humans or not. for instance, "they don't scurry when something bigger comes their way." does this apply to humans? if so, that doesn't necessarily describe a negative trait. but, "starve the poor so they can be well fed" seems to be a jab at people. this song is really good and one of my favorites on vs., but its message is confusing. | |
|
No Picture
MysticCat Wanna Be |
#5 by MysticCat (Janis *johnny* Udodovs) at Mar 27, 1996 at 1:10 PM EST |
| I think it's difficult to know when he's talking about humans or rats for a reason. If you can't differentiate between the two, is there a significant difference? He's saying that humans act just like rats.. | |
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No Picture
Jake Wanna Be |
#6 by Jake Stewart at Jun 29, 1997 at 11:40 AM EST |
| SpookiePony nailed this one on the head. The first verse is why we are better than rats, and the second verse is vice versa, how rats are in turn better than us. The chorus is sort of both, though, because rats do all of those things besides comparing themselves to others. That is probably the gist of what Vedder is saying. That our fault is that we compare ourselves to others instead of trying to become a community and being happy and free. | |
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No Picture
Maggotkill Average |
#7 by Maggotkill at Jul 28, 1997 at 7:32 PM EST |
| Ahh, eddie vedder and his wonderfully angry but subtle left-wing politics. Lets face it, this guy hates the way the human race operates. And listning to these lyrics its damn hard to disagree with him, but..... They don't scam. Don't fight. Don't oppress an equals given rights. Starve the poor so they can be well fed. Line their holes with the dead ones bread. True Eddie, rats dont do these things, and we humans do. But on the other hand, rats dont cure diseases(actually they cause them), or play guitar like mike mcready, and i certainly cant remember the last time i heard a rat sing as well as eddie vedder. anyway, great song, one of the best on the Vs. album easily. 'they dont compare.' | |
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No Picture
Chris Wanna Be |
#8 by Chris H at Sep 15, 1999 at 6:25 PM EST |
| Look at it peeps. We are disgusted with rats. We think we are so superior to them, think they are one of the most foul things in the world. Think we are so much better, more civilized, sanitary than they are. The first verse points out the reasons why we feel this way. The second verse comes in to show us the error of our logic, that in our own way we are just as base, vile and savage as any rat. Its not so much about comparing us to rats, which it sort of does (and its a good comparison), as about pointing out our arrogance and inherent vulgarity that we must learn to subdue in order to truly transcend and become something more. An actual logical, enlightened, caring, responsible society. | |
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