"Love Boat Captain" is a song by the American rock band Pearl Jam. Featuring lyrics written by vocalist Eddie Vedder and music co-written by Vedder and keyboardist Boom Gaspar, "Love Boat Captain" was released on February 18, 2003 as a single from the band's seventh studio album, Riot Act (2002).

"Love Boat Captain" features lyrics written by vocalist Eddie Vedder and music co-written by Vedder and keyboardist Boom Gaspar. According to Gaspar, the song initially developed out of a jam session he had with Vedder shortly after the two first met in Hawaii. He added, "He had a guitar. I had a keyboard. It was a small set-up. And we wrote." When they were done, Vedder asked Gaspar if he was "ready to go to Seattle." Vedder on the song:

I had a little recording setup for when I wanted to get away and do some writing. He just showed up and we started playing. That night we wrote what turned into "Love Boat Captain". Within an hour, we had this thing we put on the stereo and played it loud. It was probably about an 11-minute version at that point.

Bassist Jeff Ament said, "The demo to that was called "Boom B3". We played a version of it, and then it got re-arranged." Drummer Matt Cameron on the song:

There weren't any lyrics when we tracked it, so we did what we thought would be a good, tight instrumental version that would later have vocals on it. When we tracked it, I was like, "Huh? What's this?" It made no sense to me. But then when the vocals were added, it made perfect sense and it elevated the entire piece.

The lyrics for "Love Boat Captain" tackle existential matters. "Love Boat Captain" references the 2000 Roskilde tragedy with the line "Lost 9 friends we'll never know... 2 years ago today." When "Love Boat Captain" is performed in concert, Vedder modifies the lyric to reflect the passage of time since the tragedy. There is also a reference to The Beatles' song "All You Need Is Love" from the 1967 album, Magical Mystery Tour, with the lyrics "I know it's already been sung...can't be said enough/Love is all you need..all you need is love..."

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