The Wiz: Live versions of Pearl Jam's "Betterman"

What connects Lou Reed, Pete Townshend and an English 1980s post-punk and pop band? "Pearl Jam"'s live versions of "Better Man"!

Whether you love the song or think it has been somewhat overplayed 🚜, experiencing one of its live incarnations at a "Pearl Jam" concert changes everything. You may find yourself its captive forever. Luckily, I have!

For years, the band has woven a little of "Save It for Later" by "The Beat", known in America as "The English Beat", into "Better Man". Usually it is brief: after Mike McCready's solo, Eddie Vedder leads a vocal exchange with the crowd, around 4:45 in the linked video. The borrowed refrain then builds toward an explosion 💥.

Don't run away, run away...

Runawayrunawayrunaway...DONT'T LET ME DOWN!

Here at Madison Square Garden:

https://youtu.be/_4BObpNQqNo

Sometimes Vedder treats us to a much longer passage. In September 2006, I traveled to Prague and finally saw one of the bands of my life. My dear friends and I, sharing the dream, heard one of those extended versions. It was rather like this performance from around 4:40, with those wonderfully moving verses fitting the rhythm, words and mood of "Better Man" perfectly 🎯.

https://youtu.be/HAerRLKud5w

Two dozen other dirty lovers

Must be a sucker for it

Don't need to cry my mother

Just let me come come to a decision on

Sooner or later you hit the deck you get found out

Save it for later don't run away and let me down

Sooner or later you hit the deck you get found out

Save it for later don't run away, don't run away and let me down

I know I've fucked up

I know We've fucked up

But please don't, dont' leave me now

Don't leave me now, don't run away,don't run away,don't run away,don't run away, run away...runawayrunawayrunaway

DONT'T LET ME DOWN!

I wondered what connected 1990s Seattle's "Pearl Jam" with this British 1980s band 🤔. After a little digging, I suspect another Briton provides a link: one of the band's idols, especially Vedder's, Pete Townshend of "The Who". He performed the song during his solo career. Here is an acoustic version:

https://youtu.be/NSWdug1HiCg

In several live videos, Townshend discusses its unusual guitar tuning, which he connects to Lou Reed's work in "The Velvet Underground".

A sample:

https://youtu.be/pQ0zMDJKkbg

The original "Beat" recording from 1982:

https://youtu.be/aRjANj__r2s

In the image 🖼️, clockwise from upper-right, a kind of chronological route to the performance:

Lou Reed and his guitar tuning during and after "The Velvet Underground"; "The Beat", the original performers; Pete Townshend, young and older, who covered the song; and finally our destination, "Pearl Jam" live.

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