| Elliott Smith – Son of Sam Lyrics | 15 years ago |
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He was working for the US Postal Service at the time of his arrest. Though I don't think he worked as a postal delivery man, I believe he worked in the postal office. But I agree that the song isn't about David Berkowitz specifically, it is using Son of Sam as a metaphor for other issues Elliott was personally dealing with. |
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| Elliott Smith – Son of Sam Lyrics | 15 years ago |
| He did kill couples. His targets were all with another person when they were attacked; some of them romantic couples, and some of them just two friends together. There was only one person that was attacked while alone, the others all were shot in pairs (though some of them only had one fatality). His criteria seemed to be women of a certain appearance, but all but one shooting involved couples. | |
| Elliott Smith – Son of Sam Lyrics | 15 years ago |
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I agree, I don't think it's actually ~about~ David Berkowitz. That seems a little too obvious for Elliott's usual style, so I agree that it's a metaphor rather than actually being about Son of Sam. Especially since he says 'I'm a little like you, more like Son of Sam'. If he were actually writing about Berkowitz, why would he say 'like Son of Sam' rather than just... Son of Sam, ha ha. Or Son of Satan which is what Berkowitz started out calling himself in the earliest letters to the police. But I think you're right about the 'I don't know what to do with my life' as well. I think the song is expressing a feeling that he has the compulsion to destroy things, including good things in his life, and that if he continues to listen to this compulsion (like Son of Sam), he will end up with nothing. King for a day but with nothing for the rest of his life. It's more about desperation and kind of a self-aware habit of self-destruction, of ruining things for himself for the thrill of the moment rather than any long-lasting benefit. Acting on impulse rather than having self-control. It's one of his most interesting songs I think, and it reveals a lot about his thought process at the time. But the saddest thing to me is knowing that before his suicide, he had actually moved a great deal forward toward living a healthy and rewarding life, having depression treated and being clean from all drugs aside from those prescribed to him, but in that moment he acted on emotion and killed himself. |
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