Cecilia/Amanda

Here's my take on this song:

Cecilia is a hooker and a stripper ("dancing...in a place where lonely men make their opposites match"). She has a daughter (Amanda) and has vowed that she will stay away from drugs and clean up her life for her kid ("things you promised that you never did"). But she has been beaten by a Jon ("black and blue...", a hospital "patient in a party dress") and her pimp "Whitey" says that it will make her less desirable to the men ("she ain't a hit no more"). He sends her to get more drugs (the "daily score"), possibly from the narrator (Elliott??). This saddens the narrator. He is afraid that Amanda will follow in her mother's footsteps, and that he is contributing to this outcome ("she asked me can I fix it so YOUR record plays the rest of HER song" isn't just literal and the weird pronouns aren't accidental: "YOUR record"=the mother's lifestyle, "HER song"=Amanda's life.). Amanda wants to be a dancer like her mother, she looks up to her and asks the narrator about it but he obviously doesn't want to tell what kind of dancer she is. He wants to protect her. But in the end Amanda does become her mother. She puts on "a new party dress" (mirroring the party dress worn by her mother in the hospital after being beaten) and Amanda starts "dancing to a record YOU scratched" (aka living her mother's lifestyle) with her own version of a lying, drug dealing pimp (the "dealing amateur actor making opposites match").

All in all it's a sad story of the cyclical nature of addiction, abuse and exploitation. It's made all the worse because the scenes with the narrator talking to the little girl about dancing feel so innocent even as the 'dancing' and the 'records' serve as metaphors for the inevitability of her innocence being breached. And all sung to a poppy upbeat melody, just to underline the contrast one more time.

Heartbreaking and brilliant as only Elliott can be.

This song is about neglectful parenting

Well theres only 4 comments, so I thought I'd give my opinion. I think it's about a friend of his, who's a prostitute/stripper, who also has a child. One thing I don't understand is the age of Amanda. Because he says "If you got a little baby now, .." and then "she asked me can I fix it so the record plays the rest of her songs". The latter makes Amanda sound 5 or 6, and not like a baby.

Either way, I think Cecilia told Amanda she's a balarina or something, when really she's a stripper. "she asks me are you a pretty dancer, but I don't think I'm gonna answer". Also, I think Amanda's trying to copy Cecilia (kids do that). "Ah, Amanda put on her new party dress yesterday, dancing to a record you scratched."

Still don't know what "In a place where lonely men pay to make their opposites match" means. Like, I know what he means, but not really. Sort of. I don't know.

i cannot believe this song didn't make new moon, what the hell. this song to me is about a mother / drug addict who strips / prostitutes herself for a fix... it is a deep song, and i love the sound of it... maybe someday we'll get an official release of it.

They would only release songs between 1994 and 1997 on New Moon, this was probably recorded in 1998, I hope they release his 1997-2003 b-sides and rarities, it's amazing that even songs like this that may never see release are this good, it gives me goosebumps.

His demos always seem to be my favorite. I just realized this song is #1 most played in my i Pod, and that's saying A LOT considering how much I listen to Elliott Smith! I love the piano part!

i think its about a junkie/hooker friend with a kid whos dealer cut her off but he supplied her fix for sex. records are a metaphor for drugs again i think. the opposites match part is a reference paying for sex.