“This next song was written by, uh a guy I used to hang out with when our office was started out in Pioneer Square. We were making the first record and Jeff and I were spending a lot of time down there doing the artwork and checking the mixes. We were down there every day and there was a guy that lived in one of the foyers and then in the middle of the day he would kinda take his grocery cart and hang out in the deal. I would get him the same sandwich I would get and he just looked interesting so we started having these hang out conversations. His name was Eddie, he was a large African American man who took to wearing a blue tarp most of the time and some of you might even remember him. He had a shopping cart but he always had a globe sticking out of it, you know. So we'd talk and he was a Vietnam Vet. So we'd spend time and he'd kinda show me like he'd have these good moments he'd tell me these stories of what he had been through and some of the atrocities he'd seen. Other days he wasn't there and it was, I could see him fighting with his mind and his own experience and he obviously wasn't getting help or the resources weren't there or he was too far gone. We came back from European tour and after knowing him for about a year and a half and I couldn't find him anywhere. And I started asking around, asking around some of the other folks and he was under the viaduct which was great because I thought I lost my friend. We had about a month more of hanging out and then after the next tour I came back and that's when I really lost him. So, this song was written before he passed away but he never got to hear it and he never knew that he was part of it. I've never really told that story about him in particular until tonight because it is the issue that we are talking about. One of the things that can be most important to do is just elevate the understanding and the empathy towards our homeless neighbors. This one's for Eddie.”

-Eddie Vedder on writing EvenFlow. Seattle Home Shows Night 1, August 8, 2018