“Can’t Deny Me” is Pearl Jam’s first original tune since their 2013 album Lighting Bolt. They released the protest song as a fan club single. The scathing lyrics takes clear aim at the Trump administration with lines such as:
“Where’s your vocabulary?
Your ignorance is sinful
You plant your lying seeds
Watch as the roots take hold
The country you are now poisoning
Condition critical”
The band performed the song live for the first time on March 13, 2018 in Santiago, Chile. During the debut performance Eddie Vedder dedicated the tune to the student activists at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland Florida and all those that were participating in the nation wide school walkout that took place throughout America on March 14. Vedder also specifically singled out one student activist in particular, “We support you all, and Emma Gonzalez, we love you. We’d like to play this for them, and us.” Reflecting on the resolve of these vocal youths it is clear they are not going to allow themselves to be denied.