Pearl Jam's "Do the Evolution" is a modern take on the evolution of mankind. Written from a social perspective, the song critiques the conceit that humans are somehow "superior" because they are the most highly evolved, or complex organism on Earth. The complete lyrics for Do the Evolution are listed at the end of this essay. Pearl Jam's frontman, Eddie Venter, has quickly become the musical voice of Generation X His lyrics are almost always insightful and provocative, and often address important social issues. Do the Evolution is no exception to the rule, as Venter delivers a topical and pointed commentary on current status of what is arguably the most highly evolved animal on the planet: human beings.

From a purely scientific perspective, the process of evolution is simply change over time. Darwin sought to explain the process of evolution by putting forward the theory of evolution by natural selection. Darwin's highly accepted theory is that evolution occurs when a new characteristic of an organism makes the organism more successful in passing on its genes. For example, a male canary with a song that is more attractive to females will have a better chance of breeding with females. As such, the canary will pass on his prettier song to all his offspring. As such, eventually all canaries will have the pretty song.

Interestingly, we often hear about Darwin's theory as the "survival of the fittest." This is often misinterpreted to mean that the biggest, strongest, and fastest survive. However, this is not exactly what Darwin meant. He meant that the fittest, or most adapted for a particular environment would survive.

For example, in a group of chimpanzees,...

Unknown to the strong males, while they are fighting, as smaller, weaker, but sneaky male is mating with the females. The two strong males end up killing each other in their struggle. In this instance, the sneaky male is actually the fittest, because he is the best adapted to his environment, and as such his genes will be carried on to the next generation of chimpanzees.
In the song, Venter notes, "I'm ahead...I'm advanced. I'm the first mammal to wear pants. I am at peace with my lust. I can kill cause in god I trust. It's evolution baby!" In this verse, he echo's the common belief that human beings are "ahead" or somehow superior to other animals. His reference to pants can be taken to symbolize human civilization. He further delivers a scathing attack on religion, by suggesting that religion somehow gives humans the justification to kill.

In the next verse, Venter states "I'm a beast...I'm the man." This is absolutely true. According to the theory of evolution, human beings have indeed evolved from "lower" animals, or beasts. Venter is trying to say that although humans have a lot of the "good" qualities associated with mankind, they still retain a lot of the animal or beast instincts within.

The rest of the verse talks about "herd behavior." Here Venter notes that humans have never really learned to think independently. Instead we still rely on our animalistic "herd" instinct, and we never truly look at the consequences of our actions, to our environment, as noted in "On the loose, I'm a truck. All the rolling hills I'll flatten 'em out." Venter…