Songs About Organizing: Eddie Vedder, the Redux

So, I was away this weekend with the biggest Pearl Jam fan I know. Potentially the biggest Pearl Jam fan anyone knows.  So I was obviously very excited to tell him that I had just written this great post about the song Society.

Well – turns out I was wrong, Vedder did NOT write that song, Jerry Hannan did. (My sincerest apologies, Mr. Hannan.)

However, this fan wanted to be sure that Pearl Jam got their organizing song credit and turned me on to Sleight of Hand, written and performed by Vedder and bassist Jeff Ament off their 2000 release, Binaural.

When he reached the shore of his clip-on world he resurfaced to the norm.
Organized his few things. His coat and keys.
And he knew realizations would have to wait.
Till he had more time. More time.

Isn’t that interesting?  For Vedder and Ament, organizing the coat & keys is part of ‘returning to normal.’  I feel that way too.

As for the “more time” – well, we all could use some of that.  But the surest way to find some is all about organizing your schedule — even if it means scheduling an hour of down time for those realizations.

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Songs About Organizing: Eddie Vedder

I’m starting a new theme here.  Every now and then I hear a song lyric that resonates with me on an organizing level.  Some are great motivators to get organized.  Some have to do why we have to get organized.  Today’s falls into the latter category:

It’s a mystery to me.  We have a greed with which we have agreed.  You think you have to want more than you need.  Until you have it all you won’t be free… I think I need to find a bigger place.  ‘Cos when you have more than you think, you need more space. – Eddie Vedder, Society, Into The Wild

I spend all day dealing with people’s stuff.  Closets, cabinets, drawers full of stuff — often, stuff that’s been forgotten — stuff that’s not being used.  I’m all for having useful items on hand, but remember – it’s not useful if it’s not being used.  And all that “useful” stuff that’s not being used is taking up space (often times, space that we don’t have to spare).

What did I take away from Vedder’s lyric?  We are a culture of consumers who have been trained to want more than we have.  If you stick to your needs and don’t get carried away with the wants, then you won’t need more space.

Thanks for letting me muse on this music,

Follow me on Twitter for a daily organizing tip! http://www.twitter.com/chaostheorynyc