| Elliott Smith – Crazy Fucker Lyrics | 15 years ago |
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some Elliott Smith songs likely make reference to drug use. However, I think it's unlikely that "Crazy Fucker" / "Another Standard Folk Song" is one of those songs. See, Elliott didn't actually try heroin until he moved to L.A. - either at the end of the Figure 8 tour or afterwards (late 2000 or early 2001). Although this song has seen wide circulation on an unofficial (leak) compilation known as "Basement II", actually most or all of the songs on that compilation were written, performed, and recorded much earlier, in the mid or late 90's. For this song specifically, the "Basement II" version actually appears to be from a live performance. The only performance I know of that he played this song was at Umbra Penumbra, in Portland, in 1994- long before heroin use. Now of course he was writing some songs with blatant reference to heroin long before he actually did it. So in theory it's possible that he performed a song "about heroin" in 1994. However from the lyrics I'd say the Charlie (stepfather) or barfight interpretations seem much more plausible. I think all instances of "erin" are actually "arrow". |
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| Elliott Smith – Dancing on the Highway Lyrics | 15 years ago |
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OK, I'll venture a guess about the song. I think the girlfriend of the guy in the song passed away. Both the living guy and the deceased girlfriend believed in the soul, some sort of afterlife, and probably the ability for the living to communicate with the dead. I have two interpretations of what's going on. The more likely is that the guy's faith or spirituality is tested and challenged right now. While she's definitely there in his memory, he wants to see her, talk to her spirit or ghost. But this doesn't happen, he's waiting for any sign of her, he wants to know she still cares and that she's still there in spirit... but all he has is her memory ("your sun still burns my eye, oh why?") The other interpretation is more grim. He's dancing on the highway in the middle of the night-- a dark stretch of road where cars may hit him. He is tempting death to come and take him so that he can be with his lost love. Just my take... I'll always be in awe of Elliott's songwriting.. |
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| Elliott Smith – Taking a Fall Lyrics | 15 years ago |
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Here's what I think. In the first verse, the main guy in the song is thinking back about a broken friendship. The lines "rolled for a dollar..." and "...luck of the dice" make me think that he took some sort of risk at his friend's suggestion, and somehow that risk led to them no longer being friends. Based on the first two lines of the song, I'd guess that the friend encouraged the main guy to experiment with drugs, but the main guy got hooked on harder stuff and got in too deep and now the friend wants nothing to do with him. In the second verse, the first two lines ("kids" and "..what you're saying") are words of a new acquaintance in a conversation with main guy. The last two lines of the verse ("..word out of me" and "indifferent") are the main guy's thoughts during the conversation. If this new person can't understand him, then he just won't talk. Perhaps due to past friendships and broken trust, he knows that others can seem cold and indifferent to his own problems. And that brings us to the chorus. He feels that others have let him down when he's been in a bad place before, now he's struggling again, and he feels that there's no one in the world he can trust to help hi out. Very sad. Since this was a '97 Jackpot! recording originally, I imagine it might be Interscope property now.. but I still hope it will be released at some point. I like the demo well enough, but a release would be nice. |
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| Elliott Smith – Fear City Lyrics | 15 years ago |
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A city is used as a metaphor in several Elliott Smith songs, including the Basement versions of "A Passing Feeling" and "Strung Out Again". In the former, some say the city is getting clean in terms of drug use, and destroying the city is using again ("everything is gone but the echo of the burst of a shell... In the city I built up and blew to hell"). In "Strung Out Again" Elliott writes of a "city of canals" that possibly refers to his own body. But then again in the song "Alphabet Town", which still refers to drugs, it doesn't seem quite as direct a metaphor for one's addictions or oneself. I don't have a definite answer for what the song means, but perhaps these other songs have some clues. "Alphabet Town" was written before "Fear City", while the other two songs were written later. |
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| Elliott Smith – Georgia, Georgia Lyrics | 15 years ago |
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I know I seem nuts for posting all this. But it seems from this in other songs that Elliott obviously knew how much other people suffer when a loved one commits suicide. It breaks my heart sometimes that on top of everything else he was dealing with, he probably felt guilty about that when it came to his own. I don't know that I'll ever completely cope with his passing. Rest In Peace... |
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| Elliott Smith – Georgia, Georgia Lyrics | 15 years ago |
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Now the "note to note" interpretation... "Georgia, Georgia It's been many miles Since I've seen your foggy smile Close up and personal" It's been a long time since his ex-girlfriend passed away. (note, this part is present tense and first person) "Your arsenal of excuses You never told her When you walked out on the Savannah shoulder With your veins all full of beer Thinking, "Well, at least now everything is clear"" Back when she died, he found her where it happened- she careened off the shoulder of the road. (if you don't know, Savannah is a city in Georgia, playing off her name I assume). He was drunk and overwhelmed with emotion, wanting to tell her all the things he never got to say. "excuses" tells me he probably didn't think he was good enough for her, wanted to explain himself. (note, this part is second person and in the past-- I think he's talking to himself or his past self) "But, oh man What plan Suicide It's just not that much different from my own affair Always cussing and crying" **I think that lyric is incorrect and should be "what a plan" rather than "what plan".** In a way this speaks for itself. He feels he's got problems too, and heavy emotions-- he doesn't understand her depression or why she did it. He's just shocked, dumbfounded, you can hear that in the way Elliott sings the word "suicide" and the brief quiet following it. Part of him is asking why he himself is still around, still dealing with his problems, he might feel she took an "easy way out" and made it harder for him. (note, now we're in first person... on paper it is present tense but in context it might be present or past) "How about if you Tell me something new Tell me what will make you happy Oh, you So deserve to be" He's thinking back to before her suicide, back in their troubled relationship. He loved her and wanted to be happy, but he was frustrated that she couldn't provide him an easy answer on how he could make her depression go away (because there is no easy answer for that). It's second person and present tense on paper, but he's talking to her, and in the past. "There were protests and contests Attitudes to cop I want it all to stop" While she was alive, they fought and argued. He felt there was some posturing going on on both sides. He also seems to blame her for not getting well-- she was "protesting" his suggestions on how to become happy. "It" is ambiguous- what did he want to stop? The arguments? Her depression? The whole relationship? "Three weeks ago you were all grace and charm And now I know it was just a false alarm" I think this part speaks for itself. Either three weeks before her death, or three weeks before the present, she seemed fine and possibly happy-- but sudden happiness following a long depression can actually be a warning sign for suicide according to some. The person might find happiness in the finality of their decision to go through with it, or it might be the first time they have the energy to act on their feelings. He thought she was finally rid of the depression, so her death was a shock to him. "Georgia, Georgia I can't understand your sickness You have no forgiveness No attention left to pay The quiet way you leave And just forget it all Just takes my breath away" He's in the present, after her death, just trying to understand and deal with her death. He didn't understand her depression. He wanted to be forgiven for being a less-than-perfect boyfriend (note: I say that as in all of us guys are imperfect as boyfriends, Elliott once said perfection is an offense to the gods...). For his drinking, for the arguments, etc. He also feels like her choice to end her life was also in some way breaking up with him-- "the quiet way you leave and it all". He doesn't know what to say or think or feel, and almost can't believe she's gone. "How's that supposed to make me feel? Yeah, well, how am I supposed to feel?" In the context of the rest of the song this has so many meanings. If you go back to his own "cussing and crying", he's trying to figure out why he should live and endure pain when she died and ended her pain. He's been shifting through sadness, care for her, frustration, anger... they might have been in a rough patch when she died, so he feels there's something unresolved. He'll never get to make it up to her, he'll never get to reconcile. It's a complicated mess of feelings and he's demanding, from her and from God, some answers, some kind of compass to get through it. Does anyone else notice how often cars, relationships, and death seem to tie together in his lyrics? Condor Ave. and Happiness immediately spring to mind for me, I'm sure there are others. Dancing on the Highway, possibly. I think he uses it in general as a metaphor for the feelings of loss and unresolved issues after a serious relationship ends. Again, that's all just my take. I encourage all to buy his albums and donate to the Elliott Smith Memorial Fund (google it)-- it goes to the good causes he supported during his life. |
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| Elliott Smith – Georgia, Georgia Lyrics | 15 years ago |
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this is my take, I don't claim to be an authority on this brilliant songwriter's thoughts. about the song as a whole: This guy (the character in the song) was with a girl who had depression. He wanted to help her, felt guilty he couldn't make her happy, got angry and they fought a lot. Eventually she ran her car off the side of the road and ended it (suicide). This song is about his emotions dealing with that loss, even long after learning about her death ("many miles since..."). There is frustration and sadness and confusion and rage at different points, but ultimately he can't shake the feeling that he should have been able to "save" her, and at the song he demands of her (or her ghost or her memory:) "How am I supposed to feel?"-- he just doesn't know how to deal with all those intense emotions or how he can ever move on. |
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