"Jeremy" by Pearl Jam

The song "Jeremy" by Pearl Jam is rightfully controversial. The song overviews how a tormented boy, Jeremy, decides to kill his fellow students to solve his problems. Other people may say that Jeremy murders the students and himself or just himself, depending on how a perosn interprets the lyrics. The speaker is a boy who tormetned Jeremy throughout the song showing feelings of regret and guilt.

The speaker opens the song with the description of a painting of Jeremy. In the picture Jeremy stands on a sun over dead bodies with his arms in a "V". This paints a description of Jeremy's thoughts to overcome torment form his peers by death, possibly meaning victory. "Daddy didn't give attention. Oh, to the fact that mommy didnt care." also mentions Jeremy's lack of parental support.

The speaker then sinks into discussion about his attitude towards Jeremy, proving more the situation as an antecedent. "Clearly I remember pickin' on the boy. Seemed a harmless...", describes the blame the speaker accuses himself of. The speaker also witnesses suprise by Jeremy, "Ooh but we unleashed a lion.....and he hit me with a suprise left." Jeremy left a lasting emotional scar on the speaker as well, "My jaw left hurtin'.....try to forget this...try to erase this." He obviously will never be able to forget what Jeremy's done.

The last piece of evidence leading us to believe Jeremy committed some form a murder comes from the line "Jeremy spoke in class today." The line simply does not mean he talked in class, it refers to him making a significant action in class, in this case murder. The speaker blames Jeremy's parents, peers, and himself for the gradual build up toward Jeremy's final actions. In my opinion Jeremy murded his classmates to feel victorious and the message, the most important, is not to tease anyone because you never know whats happening in their home life.