| Rilo Kiley – Ripchord Lyrics | 15 years ago |
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I know for a fact that this song is about Elliott because I have a live version where it was played at the tribute show to Elliott, and where they explicitly say that Blake wrote it especially for that show. I know that Rilo were friendly with Elliott and that they respected him a lot. But in the rawness of the days after the suicide took place, this song is not an ordinary tribute. It almost trivializes the depression Elliott was experiencing and talks about that experience and his death in a flippant way. "Cos nobody loves you" almost sounds like a sarcastic taunt. In one version I've heard, Blake even says "that's how it goes". Like Elliott's death a is sort of a banal event that Blake can only shrug at. And I guess it was in a way. After so much emotional outpouring and sort of lyrically "holding it over our heads", Elliott finally did it in such a bizarrely banal way. A kitchen knife. I think the song highlights the banal unreality of death in general, as well as the fact that a suicide seemed to be the inevitable destiny of the "depressed artist" role that Elliott became subsumed by. People left behind justifiably feel angry after suicides, so I can understand why that anger might motivate the kind of tired bitterness that this song seems to convey. But it just seems odd to serve that up to fans for a tribute show. Still, it provides a different perspective to the idea of Elliott as a tragic hero. |
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| Rilo Kiley – More Adventurous Lyrics | 15 years ago |
| I think that it means that to not conform to social and religious expectations in relation to marriage is to be more adventurous in regards to love. People talk about getting married as an act of bravery. However, it can be braver to love someone on your own terms. Loving someone does not mean that there are no doubts and getting married won't automatically erase doubt. Rather, it's as if marriage isn't enough to contain the love that Jenny is singing about. To get married would be to reduce the relationship, and even though she wants to say she will, she is held back by the fact that marriage isn't a concept that she can come to terms with. More broadly I think it's about defining your own terms about how to live and love. | |
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