| Elliott Smith – Kings Crossing (Alternative) Lyrics | 15 years ago |
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"the problem i have with the soul contraption" Elliott had a Masters in Philosophy (Political Philosophy). You don't get an MA without reading/discussing the soul. One basic problem is the nature/nurture question. Are people a product of their environment? or are they just born fallen from the grace of god, yaddy yada. "swallowed up slowly like a bad reaction" His standpoint seems to say that we are a product of our environment. Our soul is "swallowed" up by our surroundings, like a druggie taking drugs and having a bad reaction. "all around what you do and say while the symptom falls further away" While we talk about the environment being the bad, he points out that it's not treating the soul. The bad reactions, or symptoms, seems to fall further away each time they are found. This suggests that there is a root to the problem that he's trying to tackle. "you live in silence but you can't describe it so what's the point of talking at all?" He folds and doesn't know what to do. In philosophy, they teach you different truths... While there are no absolute answers, there is a point of talking. Elliott seems to feel that there is a black & white answer with no gray. And even then, it's hard to describe what's going on in the middle of having an answer and no answer. "the store bought injury.. the family cane" This seems to say that he abused himself. You can buy lots of things at the store, and in this case, injuries with the family cane. Who would know the difference between him hurting himself and others hurting him? "just another boy bad at the game" He alludes to the fact that others are in on this game, and he, like the rest, are not winning. "this is when you need a friend to keep you moving around 'cause all your thinking has made you slow you might be stopping out.. you know" He may allude to the idea of being extremely prude, and how a lot of thinking leads to inaction. It's quite a big theory in philosophy which was a criticism of Nietzsche. Nietzsche called it Socraticism and the birth of resentment. He says that this is when you need a friend to keep you socializing and keep you on your feet. Someone to keep you doing things so that you don't harbor anymore resentment. "frustrated fireworks inside your head there's a lit fuse smoking.. you caught instead" This seems to illustrate the resentment idea. "what you're dealing.. but it's just a start was a time since your problem was a poison dart and you act like a cowboy.. whatever's in my hat i'm a hardboiled hero and i'm not so bad" With resentment, you don't really notice it. "but i didn't know when to run from this a proud fan is gonna see you shatter i know that there really isn't anything the matter nothing is gonna be crying words.. they only want their voice to be heard they use it sometimes to show that they're around or they build you up a theory like the walls of a town a tired and ancient ruler right now.. the neighborhood slaves are hardly skilled open your parachute and drop your weight float on down to the center and investigate i did my self requirement.. better cop out hard or i'll leave right now 'cause this feeling of loving.. i felt it in my chest like the nighttime footsteps of an unknown guest i know it wasn't me.. i wasn't moving.. i felt thunder.. the rain was pouring i know it must be something wrong all this is restoring you don't have to live in a life's mistake stay in the center and wait stay in the center and wait stay in the center and wait " My opinion on this seems to make sense of the last lines. He talks about his fame and how it overshadows his sense of resentment. He doesn't know what to do but just wait. |
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| Elliott Smith – The Biggest Lie Lyrics | 15 years ago |
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I think this song means what Sean, in Good Will Hunting, was trying to tell Will about life. Will is frozen with fear and puts up defenses. He is so apt to predicting the end of relationships and therefore is scared to get into them. In these two lines, I get an idea that Elliott is alluding to how he knows things goes. "I'm waiting for the train The subway that only goes one way" I think the train and subway is a metaphor for a "crossing over." In philosophy, you read a lot about crossing over and coming back (e.g., Plato's Allegory of the Cave). In this event, the crossing over is fast like a train. There's a foreseeable ending because there's a beginning, that is, when Elliott steps on the train. This makes me think of a relationship. You get carried from start to end, and get lost between the emotions. There's nothing for Elliott to "come back" and teach, which is often the case in coming back to where you start. "The stupid thing that will come to pull us apart And make everybody late" "Us" does not reference you and I or she/him/her. It seems to reference the train. It seems to reference an opportunity, a sense of control, and consequences in Elliott's actions/inaction. So, everyone else is in a relationship, or aboard this train as it were, and you do not want to make them late to their inevitable end. "You spent everything you had Wanted everything to stop that bad" In my opinion, and just from what I know in relationships, people sometimes drag out the death of a relationship during holidays. People often get lonely during the Fall, so most breakups get prolonged well over into the next year. "And now I'm a crushed credit card registered to Smith Not the name that you call me with" I've heard that "Elliott" was blurted out by someone he was with, and so I thought it stuck as an ironic name. Crushing credit cards requires some kind of thought. It's not like you can crush it like a piece of paper. It suggests to me that he was very upset that he was called Elliott. His real name is Steven, which is the name that should be registered to Smith. "You turned white like a saint" I'm not sure what this means. White like a saint could be referencing innocence, purity, and truth among other things. The act of turning from bad, dirty, unsaintly to saintly, and clean, I think, means that "you" looks a lot better from his perspective. This "you" could be his idea and understanding of relationships and that relationships look like a good thing. "I'm tired of dancing on a pot of gold flake paint" In the literal sense, it doesn't mean much. It sounds silly to imagine. This dancing on a pot of gold flake paint seems to say that he paints everything better than it seems. He dances around with turning things into saintly objects. Perhaps this suggests that he fantasizes and puts things on pedestals. "Oh, we're so very precious, you and I And everything that you do makes me want to die Oh, I just told the biggest lie I just told the biggest lie The biggest lie" It's my opinion that this song talks about being in love and coping out. Elliott gets into relationships but then feels like he cannot commit to it. He says that he just told the biggest lie, and that could mean that he meant he loved her.. sort of like how it is portrayed in Good Will Hunting. |
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