indieisin

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Pretty obsessive about Elliott Smith - other than him my music is all over the place. Psych/Philosophy major. Not much else.
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Elliott Smith – A Fond Farewell Lyrics 11 years ago
I am so happy you cleared that up for me... Elliott didn't inject... at least from everything I have read, talked to some people were close to those that did know him... it's obviously not something you want to ask in a conversation but I believe it.. yeah he might have smoked massive amounts of heroin and crack at a point in his life. It doesn't make sense though, because in King's Crossing "all I want to do now is inject my ex-wife" and where he says veins full of disappearing ink in this song.....

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Elliott Smith – New Monkey Lyrics 11 years ago
Okay, guys, I know there are a lot of devoted Elliott fans out there and the music he writes speaks to so many different people - I have to say, not every Elliott song is about drugs...my timelines are a bit hazy but I know when he moved to Portland he saw the drugs all around him but he was always a drinker in the beginning..writing music at bars, people watching..

I am 26 and I started listening to his music literally right after his suicide. I have never stopped listening to him, and as I grew older his songs meant different things to me. I don't want to get too personal here but at some points I went back and re-listened and all I could see was drug references. You gotta read up on him, know that drugs did not define him as a musician...

In my mind this song is about how his record label wants him to put out music..and they don't realize he is off drugs and needs to find a way to live with that... when he sings:

A picture of dissatisfaction
That he can only see as a junkie
Though I might be straight as an arrow
He's busy shaking hands with my monkey

It's about how the label doesn't care HOW he puts the music out, just as long as he gets himself out of his depressive reclusive state..even if that means drugs..or just pressuring him to get out of his head which is what he wants and needs to do.

He's in my ear
Wants me to live in denial
Says you've gotta settle for something
Though it might not be really living
Anything is better than nothing

He was reportedly doing really well when he was recording FABOTH regarding staying off illegal drugs. I don't want this conversation about that. I might be wrong about he first part, but the label pressure is there and he doesn't want to put out a bunch of crap. Elliott has so much unreleased stuff that he wanted no one to ever hear... and it's a shame, as Elliott fans, that he was so hard on himself...but he is was a human being - a smart, talented and broken human being - and he did try to live and find some sort of happiness.

I don't remember where I read this, but I don't think Elliott ever even injected drugs he smoked them..and that wasn't until way later. Either way, it doesn't matter. So many songs that people interpret as being about his drug use are actually social commentaries... like Junk Bond Trader for example. There are a few that are, this isn't really one of them though.

submissions
Elliott Smith – Alameda Lyrics 12 years ago
For one or two minutes she liked you
But the fix is in

...it says it all. You can meet the person of your dreams -- who cares? A junkie will take their drug over anyone. Even themselves.

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