Footsteps Guitar Tab

Ver 1 Ver 2 Ver 3

Pearl Jam, " Footsteps ".
Tabbed by Adam Hall, rapsux39@hotmail.com.
This is my first tab and kind of rusty, so bare with me.
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-----0---------0----
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-1h3---1---1h3---1--
it does this sevral times and when he sings the chorus he breaks into this...
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-1-3-3-1-5-5-5-5-5-5-
-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-      x3
-2-2-2-2-4-4-4-4-4-4-
-3-3-3-3-5-5-5-5-5-5-
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then strum what is below once and reapeat whats above,
after you do that once go back to the begining.
-0------
-0------
-0------
-2------
-2------
-0------
HEY JOSH
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Tab Discussion, Comments, and Critiques


steven Lead Player	#1 by steven ratliff at Oct 1, 2007 at 5:19 AM EST
	just my opinion here- but the song clearly has nothing to do with an execution or his mother. Lets dissect it line by line- Don't even think about reachin' me...I won't be home. (double meaning, he isn't "home" mentally because he has gone insane due to his state of depression/ and also he won't be home because he is dead for he has commited suicide, as the gentleman said earlier in the lisytings here, the song is sung from hindsight, so he is dead before the song even starts) Don't even think about stoppin' by. Don't think of me at all.(same as above line) I did what I had to do. If there was a reason, it was you.(he did what he had to do, by commiting suicide, and the reason was her, a girl that left) Don't even think about gettin' inside. Voices in me head...but it says...(voices in his head reaffirming that he is insane) I got scratches all over my arms... One for each day since I fell apart.(scratches double meaning, insanity caused him to physically hurt himself, and eventually he slit his wrists) I did what I had to do. If there was a reason it was you. Footsteps in the hall...it was you. Pictures on my chest...it was you...it was you. (pictures on his chest are pictures of her that he was looking at as he lay dying) I did what I had to do, and if there was a reason, There wasn't no reason, no.(this is a huge line, here he acknowledges that there wasn't no reason, in other words, as we can all logically summise, anyone who would kill themselves due to the actions of another human being is clearly weak and fragile, and in this line he admits that she was merely the excuse he was looking for to commit suicide, when it was inevitable anyway due to the person he is) And if there's something you'd like to do, Just let me continue to blame you.(again, he admits he is blaming her, when he is the only one to blame for his weakness, and like all depressed people, deep down he knows that, i know this firsthand) Footsteps in the hall, it was you. Pictures on my chest, it was you. this seems like an easy one to interpret as far as i can see. the other theories about his mom and executions and whatnot are cool too, but they have gaps. this theory has none, which is why i support it.

Daniel Average	#2 by Daniel Johnson at Oct 1, 2007 at 8:41 AM EST
	I agree with the meaning of the guy sitting on death row. My favourite line is "One for each day since I fell apart". The calm in Eddie's voice compared with the rest of the song is spooky...he sounds positively schizophrenic.

chris Wanna Be	#3 by chris valverde at Oct 1, 2007 at 11:32 PM EST
	Listen to Temple of the Dog song "Times of Trouble." The music is exactly the same, the lyrics are the only difference. Interesting. Of course, Temple of the Dog included Mike McCready, Stone Gossard, Jeff Ament, and Eddie Vedder.

Alex Wanna Be	#4 by Alex Jurek at Oct 2, 2007 at 7:50 AM EST
	I heard it straight from Eddie Vedder's mouth. They performed the Trilogy in concert. It was on one of the bootlegs (I forget which one, maybe stockholm, somewhere in Europe,maybe). He said that he wrote the trilogy before he even met Stone and Jeff. He said it was about incest and a couple other things I can't remember (I think murder and something else). This song is definitely about being in jail awaiting death. He hates to reveal the meanings of his songs because he doesn't want to ruin any interpretations we might have of his songs. He said something like "I don't want to interfere with any interpretations you already have, but..." As for the scratches part, I took that to mean that he made a scratch for each day he had been in jail. It does say "I got scratches all over my arms... One for each day since I fell apart."

HIYA Wanna Be	#5 by HIYA at Oct 3, 2007 at 11:21 PM EST
	I have over 700cds and 1500 songs on my pc....this song is one of the best songs ever, and have been listening to it for 10 years now. I am aware of the Mamasan theory and have heard the three songs from Zurich Alive-Once- Footsteps , but like most of you, I have my own feelings and yes, ten years later, it still gets me emotional. The scratches on his arm are self mutilation....the result of a loss of sanity and control. The narraor can tell how long it had been since his breakdown by the amount of scratches on his arm. There is a sense of longing...pictures on my chest, and footsteps in the hall...its obviously something he still longs for and not something he wishes would go away. You might hear your ex lovers or someone who raped you's footsteps in your hallway if you are really missing the lover or in fear of the rapist.....but you would never keep a picture of your rapist on a chest in your room. I think it is a quiet eye in the storm of insanity that has come full circle after the failed relationship...to the acts of aggression that cause shame and cant be taken back...to the quiet longing and introspection you have in this song. And Yeah, it was written (music) by Mccready just like Times of Trouble.

Garland Rhythm Player	#6 by Garland Cross at Oct 4, 2007 at 5:42 PM EST
	after reading esm71480 it really got me thinking about this song. this was written around the time when eddie was really great friends with jack irons and jack has bipolar. he had to go to hospital for mental breakdowns after the death of a friend in 1988. that guy was hillel slovak. he took drugs very heavily and stopped for a european tour but when he got back to america he died of an over dose and beside him was a painting that had a burn on it it was a pic of himself but was all messed up. it could be about him and how john frusciante will do the same thing (as john took over hillels job as chili peppers guitarist). john still suffers from have scratches on his arms of durgs. just a thery of who i am but i personally have other reasons to this song that may make more sense just dont want to say. oh and if you like this song listen to john frusciantes album inside of emptiness its great but not as strong in places.

Eric Average	#7 by Eric at Oct 6, 2007 at 10:08 AM EST
	I actually wrote a my final paper in my Literary Criticism class on this song. The paper was 5 pages, but for a quick sum up, this is what I got from it: Obviously, this song is about guilt. "I did what I had to do." Third time through the singer changes it to, "Just let me continue to blame you." The girl didn't leave him. He drove her away. This song is written from a "hindsight" viewpoint. He knows he fucked up, but doesn't want to face it. This is one of my favorite songs of all time. Also, the statement above that McCready wrote this is false. Eddie wrote the guitar and lyrics for this song. It's pure Vedder, as if it's not obvious. Another thing I want feedback on is the "scratches." Anyone else tie this in with trackmarks from heroin use?

Matt Average	#8 by Matt Waas at Oct 6, 2007 at 7:25 PM EST
	Even with this being part of the mamasan trilogy, it can stand alone very easily without being about the end of a seriel killers life. I see it being about someone who was abused badly as a child and is , as an adult essentially a wreck, mentally ill even. "Don't even think about reachin' me...I won't be home. " that does not have to mean a physical home, i consider this to mean sort of out of your own head. I know when I have been in a deep depression I was almost commatose at times. "I got scratches all over my arms... One for each day since I fell apart. " clearly self mutilation IMO, I would scratch my arms up during those depressions. This song literally could be me at various points in my life.

No Picture Jon Wanna Be	#9 by Jon Leff at Oct 11, 2007 at 1:00 AM EST
	I always thought this song was about the drug overdose of Andrew Wood Obviously if he's dead he wont be "at home" and the "scratches on my arms" is the track marks from Heroin

phil Wanna Be	#10 by phil taylor at Oct 11, 2007 at 4:03 AM EST
	I honestly think the "scratches" are a refrence to self-mutilation.

Courtney Wanna Be	#11 by Courtney L. at Oct 11, 2007 at 11:24 PM EST
	Part 3 and final song of the mamasan-tirlogie first played as a whole in 1992 Zurich live.

Courtney Wanna Be	#12 by Courtney L. at Oct 14, 2007 at 4:02 AM EST
	I put the ideas of the masaman trilogy aside and just think of the song as a depressing song about a bad break up. I agree with what that guy says above, saying how he drove the girl away. To me, this song is hauntingly beautiful as someone once said. It's about the guy feeling really upset and suicidal after the girl whom he loved has left him and so he decides to leave everything and go into hiding. "I got scratches all over my arms... One for each day since I fell apart"- this is about self-infliction. the guy feels hopeless without his girlfriend so he cuts himself. "I did what I had to do. If there was a reason, it was you" - he disappears from his social life, his family and his ex-girlfriend who wants to be his friend. Ed uses his voice well in this song and displays pain in his voice. I think he killed himself in the end with a pixture of his ex-girlfriend on his chest. great song, really beautiful.

Jon Lead Player	#13 by Jon Shuffler at Oct 15, 2007 at 9:03 AM EST
	I like the pearl jam version a little better than chris cornell's version.

Harry Average	#14 by Harry Johnson at Oct 15, 2007 at 6:56 PM EST
	"and if there's something you'd like to do, just let me continue to blame you." it's like a brief moment of sanity in the song, when the speaker realizes that he's blaming "you" for his actions, when in fact there really was no real reason at all. for that small part of the song, he's acknowledging his own insanity. groovy.