Oh Well, Okay

i'm kinda surprised no one mentioned all the references to pictures. it seems like he wrote this after looking through some old photos. i have a feeling they're pictures of himself, but it's not really clear, and they could easily be of anyone he cared about.
it seems like he's bored and looking back, and just can't figure out why he's been so sad for so long. i think the mention of "silhouette" and "bleeding color" are both referring to an old photo. and the imagery ("gone to black," "dying") he uses just help accentuate the sadness in the picture and in his heart. the part about the one trapped in his head is interesting ("With the one I keep where it never fades In the safety of a pitch black mind"). i'm not sure what picture he's specifically thinking of. maybe it's just a memory of himself in a really hard time that he can't let go of. it almost seems like he wants to hold on to his sadness, since he mentions "safety" of his mind. he doesn't want too let go of that image, even though it seems so depressing.
maybe the last lines about, "If you get a feeling the next time you see me/ Do me a favor and let me know" are to himself. Meaning, if my happy self comes around, come on in. I think he's tired of being so sad, even though he does like to cling to his depression at times. As he says, "It's hard to say/ Oh well, okay." I think this just means it's hard for him to always feel so depressed and apathetic about life and to be surrounded by so much melancholy, in his heart and in old photos.
I feel the same way. I miss you, Elliott. RIP

i interpretated it as "if you get a feeling next time you see me, do me a favor and let me know" opposed to "if you get a feeling, next time you see me, do me a favor and let me know" which your intepretation seems to have intepretated it. perhaps i didnt explain that in the best way, but both interesting.

You could almost say maybe he's talking to/about himself until "if you get a feeling next time you see me." like a monologue. Just a thought.

This reminds me of a past relationship I had with somebody, a melancholy person who never knew, through all my psychoanalysis and therapy with them, why things were the way they made them. It's been quite awhile now, but you don't usually forget things like that with people who seemed important to you at one time.

Sometimes, after all the shock, you just have these pictures that are fading slowly over the trust you figured was there. It used to be suffocating, but it's a passing face, and you just shrug it off.. "oh well, okay." Even though sometimes you're unsure if it was all just sympathy or if it meant something. If you cared about them, why would you want to just shrug it off like they'd want you to?

I guess one could dedicate this song to a brick wall.

More than a few devastating lines in this song. The ones with the most impact, in my opinion:

Climbing hour upon hour through a total bore With the one I keep where it never fades In the safety of a pitch black mind An airless cell that blocks the day

Tempting to assume "the safety of a pitch black mind" refers to self-numbing via drugs, but I'm wary of this; I think we all tend to read references to drugs in Elliott's songs, when he may have intended something else. As others have mentioned, the song is a vivid evocation of depression. If you've been there, you know what he means by a "pitch black mind." (This also fits with the earlier line: a daily struggle which feels endless, boring and pointless because of the inability to maintain interest, or feel pleasure.) When I hear him sing about the endless cell, I think of (metaphorical) self-confinement: what William Blake called "mind-forged manacles."

Elliott refers to picture(s) in "Sweet Adeline" also. Does he literally mean photographs (which can be cut apart with scissors, as the other song suggests), or pictures in one's head? Memories. Ones you'd like to keep, but most often would rather not look at.

Recently I read an excerpt from the autobiography of a doctor. (Here I'm thinking of what blackout2oo7 wrote.) At a symposium attended primarily by psychiatrists, she spoke of lying awake nights wondering about that mistake she might have made, the one which could cost a patient their life. Other attendees said they could sympathize: but that if you've never been a therapist with many patients who are suicidal, you can only begin to imagine what the worst of those sleepless nights are like. If I'm ever having doubts about therapy because of the financial cost, I try to remember how--more than once--my doctor has fought for my life.

Ethan's description of Elliott's voice, "clear water," is perfect. Some critics complain his voice is too even...not expressive enough. Have they never heard him sing live? Regardless...I don't think every singer needs histrionics to give a moving performance. Mark Eitzel for example; I like his music, but sometimes I wish he'd dial it down a bit.

I too have wondered whether the "you" is someone he knows, or whether this is an internal dialogue.

Every time, when that subtle key change happens, and he says with such emotions "if you get a feeling next time you see me... Do me a favor and let me know." I tear up. There is just so much...emotion. It's so easy to relate to, it almost hurts.

The song is about a painful breakup he sometimes revisits.

"I got pictures I just don't see them anymore..."

"Couldn't figure out what made you so unhappy Shook your head to say no, no, no And stopped for a spell And stayed that way"

He refers to the hurtful memory of that rejection - forever frozen in his mind. A memory he tries to lock away.

Oh Well, Ok is an almost Godlike composition. Elliott Smith was perhaps the greatest singer/songwriter who ever lived. With this song and album, he is at the height of his powers. Whether it's the gorgeous Beatles melodies or the crafted, intimate Sylvia Plath like lyrics, all artists should stop what they are doing and just listen - in awe.

Beginning with a Lennonesque imagine piano motif on the keyboard, the song wastes no time going for the jugular, as his incisive lyrics begin the "story". Emotionally, the music gradually builds, ending in a golden cascade of sound and pleading lyrics. The impact is both harrowing and beautiful. Oh Well, Ok perfectly captures Elliott Smiths gift - epic treatments of the personal and the intimate. His music beautifully expresses the human condition; full of beauty, joy, but also pain, regret, and failure.

someone close to him seems to have fallen into a bout of depression or maybe just apathy ("the bleeding color gone to black, dying like a day"), and the speaker is frustrated because he doesn't know how to help bring the life back to them. "if you get a feeling next time you see me/ do me a favor and let me know/ 'cos it's hard to tell/ it's hard to say/ oh well, okay." he's saying, if you ever feel like you can tell me how to help, DO SO, because it's so hard to stand here while you're hurting and be powerless.

it's a feeling of helplessness when trying to aid those you love, but can't. one of my favorite elliott smith songs...

this song reminds of my friend that died. alot of elliott smith songs do. but i started listening to his stuff long before it happened, so being depressed about something makes the music better. same thing with hot water music. actually the first time i heard this song was when i was at work, it happened to be 1 of 2 elliott smith songs on the quiznos playlist. its almost been my favourite song for a month, before that i'd pick 2:45 AM

can't offer much insight on this except i know it's about elliot, because in an article in spin magazine they talked about how elliot couldn't look people in the face, and he wore sunglasses and dark coats and stuff to kinda cover up who he was (hende "here's the silhouette"). i'm guessing it was a girl who couldn't take all the personal and personality problems he had going on