submissions
| Elliott Smith – St. Ides Heaven Lyrics
| 20 years ago
|
Funny...when playing this song, it's impossible to "dress it up". You want to play it with your thumb and nothing else. That's one of the things I like best about this song. The only version I have now of this song is the one off the 1998 live in D.C. bootleg, and I think it is (as are the others on the disc) solo-Elliott at his best.
Best pairing suggestion: on the back porch, on a spring night, with Christmas lights, drunk on a wide mixture of alcohol, and looking upwards. The stars should be spinning. |
submissions
| Elliott Smith – I Didn't Understand Lyrics
| 20 years ago
|
I agree with pretty much everybody, and I'm glad this site is working again, because it didn't work where I am for a while.
This song is one of my absolute favourites. I can only listen to it when I'm alone and there is no chance of an interruption. I play in a band, and I remember specifically listening to this song once when I got home from a cross-country tour, during which Elliott died. I was driving home a day after getting back and I just parked on the backroads near where I live, watched the snow come down and listened to this song about 5 times in a row. The line "I waited for a bus..." really reminded me of leaving for a tour and leaving someone behind. It hit home then, whether that's what he actually meant or not.
Anyways, I remember sitting there and listening to that song and really wishing that my favourite musician wasn't dead. |
submissions
| Elliott Smith – A Fond Farewell Lyrics
| 21 years ago
|
This was the first song on this album to really grab me, and I still can't get enough of it. I think it really exemplifies his constant "leaps-and-bounds" growth as a songwriter. I can't say any more than to say it's perfect.
I wish there were more albums coming, and more "Fond Farewell"'s. I'm so glad I got to see him play live once...one of those things to be thankful for, I guess. |
submissions
| Elliott Smith – Twilight (Somebody's Baby) Lyrics
| 21 years ago
|
|
I love this song. It's one of his all-time best. The long synth-solo (or is it a mellotron? Anyone?) seemed very long at first, but it fits so nicely over all the chord changes. Now I really like it. I know it's just people's personal interpretations, but it does seem that almost every one of his songs reviewed on here ends up being "about drugs". I like to think the song is about a forbidden relationship--that's the most obvious thing. But it struck me in another way as well. Granted, it's too easy to find death references on this album, but that's what I did with this song. I think the song is about him being in a happy relationship, but already knowing that he's going to die. "Already somebody's baby" could simply mean that he's already spoken for, in that he's already decided what he's going to do. Anyways, that's just how I see it, but seeing it that way made the song even more sad for me. That's what made him brilliant---being able to just boggle us as to what he really means, but still keeping his songs so universally accessible. |
submissions
| Elliott Smith – Little One Lyrics
| 21 years ago
|
|
I totally agree with ACM...this does sound like the final track. Even the title line, "One more little one..." sounds like an ending. I know there are probably some Nick Drake fans that view this site, too, so when I hear this song, I think of the final track from Pink Moon: "From the Morning". Both songs have a certain finality, but also a peaceful acceptance of one's destiny. Regardless of it's place on the album, a great song. |
submissions
| Elliott Smith – Coast to Coast Lyrics
| 21 years ago
|
|
By the way....at the very beginning of the song, Elliott says something else....twice...right before the vocals start. Almost sounds like "Preacher.....Preacher". Could be "Push it.." Any thoughts? |
submissions
| Elliott Smith – Coast to Coast Lyrics
| 21 years ago
|
|
I just noticed the "That's why" line the other night for the first time while driving with the volume WAY up. All I could think was "What does THAT mean!?" I really like how the beginning of the song has that loop of music in which you can hear the main guitar and vocal melody foreshadowed. Is this the Rachmaninoff sample? If so, I think it's great that he "sampled" the riff from such an obscure source and made it his own. |
submissions
| Ben Folds Five – Silver Street Lyrics
| 21 years ago
|
|
I moved into an apartment last year and really regretted having that place after getting "settled in". I had just bought the Ben Folds Live album and couldn't stop listening to this song, even though it made me feel like shit for being where I was: alone in an apartment that was too small, on a street that was too quiet...I felt like shit but the song was nice company. |
submissions
| Ben Folds Five – Missing The War Lyrics
| 21 years ago
|
|
Amateurboy, I know your post was written almost two years ago, but it's bang-on to what I was going to write just now. Heh...good job. |
submissions
| Ben Folds – Rockin' The Suburbs Lyrics
| 21 years ago
|
The song is great, and funny, and you have to respect Ben for saying what he did. I take it as: he's sick of all this hatred and racial tension being perpetuated, and that he doesn't understand why people can't move on. Among other things, of course, but everyone else pretty much summed it up.
Oh, and the Preparation H thing...probably comes from spending most of the time sitting on a piano bench. I know drummers who have had the same problem. |
submissions
| Ben Folds – Fred Jones Pt. 2 Lyrics
| 21 years ago
|
|
I can't get enough of this song, either, and I've been listening to it for over two years now. It's great to listen to while driving, although for how much the song makes me zone out, it's probably not the safest idea. A very, very sad, honest, perfect song. |
submissions
| Ben Folds – Zak And Sara Lyrics
| 21 years ago
|
I've read Ben Folds' explanation as to what this song is about, but I'd like to say what I always thought it meant anyways. Please excuse the obvious holes in my interpretation:
I always imagined Zak and Sara living on different continents, but being around the same age. Sara was trying to make her own music, but simultaneously, Zak is sitting in England writing the songs that will someday become her favourites. Sara is psychic, or clairvoyant, or clairaudient, or something, but everybody just thinks she's crazy, so she holds it all in and goes a little berzerk one day, letting everyone know what she's seen. 1984 was obviously pre-rave culture, so she couldn't comprehend what she was seeing in her visions, but she could see Zak (I agree, as the DJ), and loved the music, even though it would be years until she actually heard it. Meh. I dunno. |
submissions
| Elliott Smith – Southern Belle Lyrics
| 21 years ago
|
|
To me, this one is the frustrated thoughts of someone who doesn't understand why a certain girl is going for the big, loud, redneck, tough-guy a--hole, when it's obvious he doesn't treat her well. He thinks he can offer her more, but the fact that he can't makes him angry. He sees her being tarnished and degraded by someone not worthy of her. And maybe, she even wants to be treated that way, because it's all she knows. I think it's also about being an outsider in a place where you're outnumbered by people with a more primitive mindset than yours ("I live in a southern town/where all you can do is grit your teeth"). You can't really do anything about it. Elliott grew up in Texas, by the way. |
submissions
| Elliott Smith – Everything Reminds Me of Her Lyrics
| 21 years ago
|
|
I have to agree...there was a lot more to his muse than drugs. It's too easy to jump to those conclusions. I don't even think the song's about any one thing in particular. The song has a nice rhyme scheme and some good imagery, too. I think it's just a good song about missing a girl, unless they edited the song from it's original version: "Everything Reminds Me of Her(oin)" |
submissions
| Elliott Smith – Independence Day Lyrics
| 21 years ago
|
|
The main guitar riff for this song is one of the best things I've ever heard on guitar. Elliott was a melodic genius, and I think the words really take a backseat to the melody in this one. Although the words are great, I always found them to be some of his most vague, which is still great because it leaves lots of room for interpretation. Very fun song to play, if you can figure out the right tuning. I'm not even sure if I have yet. Thanks... |
* This information can be up to 15 minutes delayed.
