| Elliott Smith – Suicide Machine Lyrics | 15 years ago |
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It's absurd how Elliott's family chose to exclude this amazing song from Basement. It has nothing to do with suicide, yet they put songs like King's Crossing and Little One on the album? I think the song pretty clearly is a sarcastic remark at peoples' (critics, fans, etc) expectations of him and his music. Everybody wants him to be this suicidal, sad guy all the time, and to write only sad songs. The fact that this song has a happy rhythm to it is the ultimate slap in the face to those people. Practically everybody that knew Elliott in person has said that he wasn't a sad or depressed person for most of the time; sure he had low points, everyone does, but he was a joker and a fun guy to be around. I'll point out some specific lines to support my thoughts. "Baby got a place in the sun selling people shade." Despite the fact that he may be happy, he's selling sad songs to people. "Everything's alright / Except for how it seems." Everything is alright, but because of the songs he writes people view him as being in some sort of unending depression. It seems like he's not alright. "I don't think I'll ever know anyone besides you / But it's no surprise. / I know what you want, / I got what you need." He realizes he'll probably never be able to escape the sad sack assumption of his life. He knows people want that, they want the sad songs, and he knows he's perfectly capable of writing what people see as 'sad songs'--even though he never considered them as such. I could look at more lines but I think it's pretty obvious. |
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| Conor Oberst – Synesthete Song Lyrics | 15 years ago |
| Genuine synesthesia doesn't come from drugs, it happens on its own. | |
| Conor Oberst – Synesthete Song Lyrics | 15 years ago |
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Obviously about zombies. "They got my house surrounded I'm the only one I trust" "The evils of this world are at your doorstep Let me enter, friend, understand We have come to the convergence Now all the paths combine" |
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| Songs: Ohia – Farewell Transmission Lyrics | 15 years ago |
| mwagner5, I think you mean "Long dark blues." | |
| Smog – Palimpsest Lyrics | 15 years ago |
| I think the last stanza makes sense if you think of it in relation to the southern bird simile. When winter comes the birds will leave their nests. When the narrator sees them leave, he sees that as his best opportunity to leave too. Because he feels out of place already, he's almost too embarrassed to leave and get more judgments from those around him. But, again, with everyone leaving their nests for the winter no one will be there to criticize him as he finally leaves. | |
| Cat Power – Song for Bobby Lyrics | 16 years ago |
| Bob Dylan. | |
| Elliott Smith – See You in Heaven Lyrics | 16 years ago |
| Rumor has it that this is an alternate version of "Suicide Machine", one of the songs that Elliott's family chose to remove from the Basement tracklist before it was released. | |
| Bonnie 'Prince' Billy – Today I Started Celebrating Again Lyrics | 16 years ago |
| I think some of his other songs seem to suggest he's almost happier when he's unhappy and alone, as strange as that sounds. Like he's used to being unhappy that it's an old sort of comfort. I think this song is about that too. "Life is a tribute to you / And so is dying / And celebrating in this way / To die is what I'm trying." So perfectly worded. | |
| Bonnie 'Prince' Billy – Grand Dark Feeling of Emptiness Lyrics | 16 years ago |
| Favorite song on the album, one of my favorite Bonnie songs. I think it's fairly obvious what it's about given the subject material of most of the album. | |
| Bonnie 'Prince' Billy – After I Made Love to You Lyrics | 16 years ago |
| There has never been, and never will be, a more beautiful 'sex' song. | |
| Bonnie 'Prince' Billy – Wai Lyrics | 16 years ago |
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A bunch of his songs talk about children, and maybe a wife. Can anyone confirm either of these for me? I really want to know for certain. An unborn child, as mentioned in the very first line? Very, very sad song. Very good song. "I've found the hard way love is true." A lot of the time when couples have an unborn child they're forced to become even closer and love each other more than they have before to be able to get through such a hard time. How amazing is Will? Geez. |
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| Bonnie 'Prince' Billy – Today I Was an Evil One Lyrics | 16 years ago |
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Is Will married? A lot of songs seem to suggest it, especially this one. I think this is about how he maybe spent a late night out with his friends, getting drunk and being an 'evil one', and feeling guilty about it when his possible wife notices. He's more upset with himself than she is with him, so if he allows himself to see the love she has to offer (he refers to god as a female, suggesting how she is really important to him) then he will be made 'good' and realize he doesn't need to go out late to be happy. A lot of little things seem to support this. "As I had spent good time with greed / And giving was rejected" In the past he had spent a lot of time being selfish, and doing things for himself and didn't care about doing anything for anyone else. But when/if he got married that had to change, and it did - at least until this slip up of being an 'evil one'. And the last stanza is the best. His hands are metaphorically tainted, maybe he even did something as bad as cheating on her? Having blood on your hands is very often symbolic of being guilty of something bad. He can fix the problem by withdrawing, by leaving the relationship and he won't feel guilty and he won't be cheating, and claim from false completeness - he'll only be happy on a shallow level, not truly 'complete' feeling. Or he can accept the love and sweetness of his wife - the god in his life - and realize that he doesn't really need anything else to be happy. I probably am looking into too much, but it seems to work. I couldn't imagine Will doing anything so bad like cheating on someone, so it could easily just be a narrator, not himself. But still, I think it fits. |
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| Bonnie 'Prince' Billy – Song For the New Breed Lyrics | 16 years ago |
| Pregnancy? Childbirth? I definitely think so. | |
| Smog – Ex-Con Lyrics | 16 years ago |
| Great song. It's about not fitting in, but not necessarily being an outcast. The narrator does things that everybody else he knows does - very simple things that people take for granted like going to the grocery store or getting dressed up. But when the narrator does it he feels like he stands out, like he's doing something different or looks different than everyone else. He wants to be 'normal' per se, and do 'normal' things, but he feels so inexplicably out of place. Great song. | |
| Earlimart – Happy Alone Lyrics | 16 years ago |
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Oh, and the second line is actually: "Initiate a cycle no one but you can stop." |
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| Earlimart – Happy Alone Lyrics | 16 years ago |
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This might be my favorite Earlimart song now. It's really smart, and I'm sure most people will see it as a song about a relationship and breaking up and being happier single, but I think it's completely different. This album, Mentor Tormentor, was released on Majordomo because their previous label Palm dropped them for not really producing anything in years. Aaron Espinoza said in an interview that during the time between the albums he fell in love with a girl and became engaged and was completely happy, and when he's happy he has nothing to write about really. It was Ariana Murray, the other constant in the band, that eventually motivated and convinced Aaron to start writing again. I think this song is about that period where Ariana wanted to be making music but Aaron wasn't writing. I could go line-by-line and show how each stanza could support my idea for the song, but I think if you really read the lyrics you can figure most of it out for yourself. It's like Ariana was afraid that Earlimart was going to die completely, and they both would be alone, musically. The last line is perfect, "I'd better be happy alone." She's hopeless, wholly expecting the end of Earlimart, and she hopes to not be too angry about it. I might be looking too far into it, but so much about the song just doesn't make sense if it were about a relationship/break up. I dunno, maybe I'm not really explaining my hypothesis well enough, but it makes perfect sense to me, and makes the song really stand-out on an already outstanding album. And now the only thing we need is more songs with Ariana singing. |
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| M. Ward – Headed For A Fall Lyrics | 16 years ago |
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That's a good interpretation, Peau. I see it a bit differently, though. I think it might be about success and "selling out" (I hate that phrase) versus compassion. More specifically, a musician that wants only to be successful and sign to a major record label and sell out concerts versus a musician who is a musician for the art and the love of music. Eventually the money-hungry musician will realize his/her problem with not truly caring about the music and they will have a break down and fall back to their friend, the musician dedicated to the music (the narrator) for support. But I tend to have overly complicated interpretations of songs, so I'm most likely way off, and it probably is about a girl in the way you described, Peaucharles. |
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| Elliott Smith – Place Pigalle Lyrics | 16 years ago |
| Ginteardrops, it's thought to have been recorded for Figure 8. Figure 8 was originally going to be called Place Pigalle. There are a few other songs from that era that have been leaked. Brand New Game, Tiny Time Machine, No Life, Sorry My Mistake, and Stained Glass Eyes. | |
| George Harrison – Soft-Hearted Hana Lyrics | 17 years ago |
| Definitely one of my favorite Harrison songs. | |
| Joanna Newsom – Colleen Lyrics | 17 years ago |
| The squeak is brilliant. | |
| Elliott Smith – Go By (Live) Lyrics | 17 years ago |
| I still like the lyrics from the Confusion recording better than the New Moon version. It seems to make more sense. | |
| Elliott Smith – Harvest Moon (Neil Young cover) Lyrics | 17 years ago |
| Neil Young cover. | |
| Elliott Smith – Unlucky Charm Lyrics | 17 years ago |
| Maybe my favorite unreleased song. | |
| Elliott Smith – Go By (Live) Lyrics | 17 years ago |
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Wow. These are pretty wrong. Here are the correct lyrics, at least from the Confusion recording: You waited a little while by a wetted sunset street, And a lady, looking tired, comes along to take away your dream. Cause he thought you might come by tonight; She thought so, too, to hear the way he talks, eyes trained to the cross. He lives up in his head, scared of every little door. Someone’s always breaking in accidentally, using nothing but their voice. But he walks along, extremely alone, down your one way, Across the great divide where no two paths collide. Go by, go by. Go by, go by. You won’t come by tonight, but if you did you’d only curse All the things he’d have to say to perform the works that you’ve rehearsed. Like your happy song that he’d interpret wrong—you’d make him cry. It’s how you’re gonna win, beginning at the end. Go by, go by. Go by, go by. Go by, go by. Go by, go by. |
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| Bob Dylan – What Good Am I? Lyrics | 17 years ago |
| Beautiful. | |
| Bob Dylan – Tryin' to Get to Heaven Lyrics | 17 years ago |
| Pat, that is adorable. | |
| Bob Dylan – Love Sick Lyrics | 17 years ago |
| I'm pleasantly surprised so many people love this song. I was afraid people would kind of enjoy it, but not love it. Time Out of Mind is most probably my favorite Dylan album, and this song kills me every time. | |
| Elliott Smith – Pretty Mary K (Dead Imagination) (Either/Or demos) Lyrics | 17 years ago |
| There's a cleaner version on the Basement demos available at the b-sides website. It's called "Everything's Okay" and lyrically it is mostly the same, except that "Pretty Mart K" is replaced with "everything's okay." Still, though, the sound quality is cleaner on Everything's Okay. | |
| Elliott Smith – Come to Me Lyrics | 17 years ago |
| No, it's actually Come to Me. | |
| Elliott Smith – They'll Never Take Her Love from Me (Hank Williams Jr. cover) Lyrics | 17 years ago |
| From what I've gathered, the song title is actually "They'll Never Take Her Love From Me". And it's a cover of a Hank Williams Jr/Sr song. | |
| Mary Lou Lord – I Figured you out Lyrics | 17 years ago |
| It's not a cover. Elliott didn't like the song because he thought is sounded too much like the Eagles, but Mary Lou liked it so he gave it to her. He wrote the song, yes, but Mary Lou's was the only studio recorded version. | |
| Elliott Smith – Nightime (Big Star cover) Lyrics | 18 years ago |
| Also, it's "Nightime." One t, not two. | |
| Joanna Newsom – Inflammatory Writ Lyrics | 18 years ago |
| The song is mocking the writing process in general, as well as the "great american novels." | |
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