| Elliott Smith – Baby Britain Lyrics | 7 years ago |
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Just a thought: If you read this line as "Nothing's gonna drag me down to a death that's not worth cheating for", taking the word from the next sentence creates an inverse meaning to the phrase, and he does kind of connect them in the recording, unlike the other verses where he parses it. |
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| Elliott Smith – Sweet Adeline Lyrics | 7 years ago |
| I feel like sunshine and warmth in this song are metaphors for escapism in the form of drugs and alcohol. The kid a floor below him asks him for "sunshine" to warm him up from old man winter, and then after the burst of emotion that is the chorus he is "staring down the sun" - this escapes a lot of the comments here and I feel like it means he's engaging in self-destructive behavior like drug abuse or alcohol consumption, which is also alluded to in the lines that come after. Staring down the sun is a futile effort and it ends up hurting you. | |
| Elliott Smith – Pitseleh Lyrics | 7 years ago |
| @[burnyouonfire:27348] Elliott loves doing this throughout many songs, to me it can be taken both ways: either that he was bad news for her just because (just because of himself being a complicated person to have a relationship with) and then separatly saying he never meant to hurt her, but it could also be taken in the way that he was bad news for her because he never meant to hurt her; Elliott loved her and didn't want to end the relationship and so he prolonged it, like a festering illness, and the more he did the harder it would be in the end, and so that's why he was bad news for her BECAUSE he didn't want to hurt her. Elliott is very talented in cutting the lines just to create a double meaning. | |
| Elliott Smith – Pitseleh Lyrics | 7 years ago |
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It's really rare that a person's self-expression is so in-tune with his own feelings that he can put to them to words in a way that is almost universal. I don't think one person can't read this song and get the general feeling Elliott felt when he wrote it, and to me that's the most raw thing an artist of any kind can do - combine that with the way his rhythmic guitar strumming is almost skewed by his singing holding everything together and you get a mosaic of Elliott Smith in this particular moment. He used to say songs are like pictures - and you can derive many different meanings from them depending on your feelings at the moment. This one feels to me like a self-portrait he made of himself in a difficult time trying to deal with his conflicting feelings of worthlessness and love for a certain woman. I feel like the first verse is him trying to confront her with the feelings he's been welling up. Him not wanting to know where she is a way of him saying that she's better off not having him around her, he shouldn't be involved with her life. He tries to pass off what he's saying as a joke, maybe this means he's finding it absurd or silly. He depicts himself as a silent kid looking down a barrel - could be the barrel of a gun to illustrate he's been wanting to take his own life for a while now, or just as likely as KCcresson stated, the barrel of a syringe - either way he's telling her that he's been stifling his addiction and suicidal tendencies around her to keep her happy and he just can't do it anymore, he can't keep it at bay either because he doesn't want to or just because he physically can't stow away the addiction. The second verse is him talking about his feeling of inadequacy... she won't find what's missing in her life in him, he won't complete the puzzle. He clearly can't take it anymore because instead of keeping the relationship going he cracks under the pressure and does as the devil pleases. "Give up the thing you love" is either him giving her up for her benefit or him telling her to give him up, either way the meaning is pretty much the same. "But no one deserves it" - no one deserves this uncertainty, no one deserves what Elliott is going through, but also no one deserves to be with someone who goes through this sort of turmoil, and most of all no one deserves to have what he loves get cut out like that. The third verse is the most heartbreaking for me... the way he puts the inevitable failure of the relationship on him and words it is heartbreaking and I think he didn't understand what a talent for choosing the right words he had... every line stings of some emotion. In a way he says the blame is on him for the relationship lasting this long and keeping her hoping for this long when in actuality "the first time I saw you I knew it would never last" - this means it isn't about the particular girl (maybe it is - the song is a picture and everyone looks it it from a different angle) - he is the root of the problem, he knew from the start his depression and tendencies to addiction and self loathing would stifle the relationship - but he kept it going. "I'm not half what I wish I was" is the hardest sentence I've probably ever read - it's everything I feel about myself but just couldn't find the words, the way he puts his self-loathing to words is so sad... It's the most beautiful thing. This guy is a poet. Anyway, it's pretty self explanatory what he means by that... He says he's angry, and it's something in him and he doesn't want to drag her down with him through the mud. It's rare that he just states his emotions bluntly "I'm so angry", he always layers every emotion in words that could mean a lot of things and weaves them into metaphors, which only makes it hit harder when he says it outright. He does the same on this album when he says "I'm tired" or when he says "cause you laugh and talk and because you make my world rock". This songs speaks to the confusion and vagueness of how a man is supposed to deal with his love life when he can't deal with himself first - and concludes that he shouldn't. He comes from a broken home which definitely made it even more confusing in his head of creating a picture of what a "healthy" relationship is supposed to be like... He was always bad for her, a ticking time bomb, and particularly he was bad news for her because his softness for her and emotions have kept him from cutting the relationship off at the start... and now it was all the harder for the both of them. But he never meant for it to turn out this way. A brilliant man, burned out, still glowing. |
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| Elliott Smith – Pretty Mary K (The Infirmary) (Figure 8 version) Lyrics | 7 years ago |
| Didn't notice this before but his mom, Bunny K Berryman, had a K in her name, maybe related? Just a thought... | |
| Elliott Smith – Pretty Mary K (The Infirmary) (Figure 8 version) Lyrics | 7 years ago |
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| Elliott Smith – Half Right Lyrics | 8 years ago |
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I can't believe no one mentioned this, but to me the song also sounds like Elliott tlaking to his mother about his step father. He expected someone who looks like what I look like, he tells her that the one of her dreams (her new husband) got into her life and ruined it from the inside, but she is docile and not taking action against anything that happens because that's how abusive relationships usually go down. Verse three seems to me like elliott describing his stepfather as a big ugly ruffian, and says the guy is "not half right". Then he says he stuck out for his "friend" (mother) but it didn't help and she didn't change anything. Then he ends the song with him telling his mom that when he talks to her on the phone, it feels like he's talking to no one and that he's alone, because by not taking his side she ultimately hurt him, maybe out of fear, but still hurt him. That's just another interpretation I see in this song which probably has nothing to do with what Elliott thought about when he wrote the song (at least not consciously) and I find it nicer than the one about relationships, because he has a lot of songs about those and I feel like this one fits too even if not all of the lyrics fit into the narrative. |
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| Beck – Lost Cause Lyrics | 10 years ago |
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This song is very close to my heart, because this song describes my mythological ex, that is the first girlfriend I ever had, she's one of those girls that are impossible to let go of, because you know that you're missing so much by letting go. This is my interpretation of the song, and it's probably influenced from my experience with her, so... take it with a grain of salt. This song, to me, describes the way a suicidal, self-harming, depressed person is pushing everyone away from their lives (for whatever reason, to me it was because she found another man, and I'll explain why this reason comes into play in particular in this song,) and it is told from the perspective of the girl's boyfriend, as he is being locked out of her life. "Your sorry eyes cut through the bone" She is breaking up with her boyfriend, evident from the sorry eyes from the guilt of having to break his heart. He states that they cut through his bones, the strongest thing his body leans on, I think that this is partly because she is the one hurting him, and he takes it an insult that she is sad while he is the one that is supposed to be heartbroken. This is how I felt. "They make it hard to leave you alone" This line shows that he still loves her, and that the love is probably not reciprocated now, the sadness in her eyes makes it hard for him to leave, because he's grown attached to her and he knows that she needs help. "Leave you here wearing your wounds" Here we see the speaker implying that she cuts herself, and her sorry eyes of guilt and sadness make it hard for him to leave her all by herself, wearing her scars for everyone to see. He wants to help her, but he probably does this more so because he loves her. After all, we are selfish creatures, and all we do is for self-gain. I think Beck kept that in mind as he wrote this song. "Waving your guns at somebody new" This is the line I mentioned earlier, I think it implies that the girl left him for another man, most likely because she never loved him enough to abandon her promises for a man who she found to satisfy her desires better. I think that this line might also implicate that she has a temper, and a sense of control in a relationship, because the speaker states that if he leaves her, she will start waving her guns (which I think is an analogy to taking your anger out on someone else, on your new boyfriend,) at someone new, perhaps that is why she wanted to leave. "Baby you're a lost cause" A pretty simple line, yet perhaps one of the most powerful in the song. She can't be helped, she has too many problems to be helped, and he realizes this as he is starting to let go of his love for her. Sometimes, you are too deep in your love to someone, that when you suddenly break up with them, it becomes clear to you that they are much different than the person you fell in love with, or the person you were thinking to fall in love with. This is a perfect example for that. "There's too many people you used to know They see you coming they see you go" This line also reminds me of my ex, because after she broke up with me and went to her new boyfriend, she started losing contact with everyone else; she had lost most of her friends, even her best friend, and in the end she also lost me as a friend and a person to lean on (because her new boyfriend was incompetent, and pretty spineless. I left because it was an insult that she left me for him and had to go on with my life anyway,) all this lead her to cut and maybe worse things... I don't know. Anyway, this is what the line describes; there are too many people she used to know, but because of her problems and her mistreatment of others due to these problems, we all left her life. Although she still sees them coming and going, they are almost strangers now. "They know your secrets and you know theirs This line continues the previous two; they were her closest friends, they knew her secrets and they knew hers, but she distanced herself from everyone except this new person she replaced the speaker with. She found something to put her anger and problems and energy into, and now everyone else in her life fades away. Because of this, I can sense some spite and hatred in the speaker's words, I think he hates her guts but can't bear not to love her at the same time. Once again, this is the precise feeling I felt. I also think that this comes from the place of being afraid to be vulnerable; I think an unconscious reason that she left him was that she was scared that it was getting serious, and was afraid to lose him, I think she replaced him with someone whom she thought was a safer bet, only doing this from a selfish place to ensure her own sense of ownership and the control of her more secure relationship, and therefore not really loving him as much as she loves herself. "This town is crazy; nobody cares" I think this means that everyone who used to be in her life doesn't care about her as much as he does, and he calls them crazy for it. He says they don't care. That is partly true, maybe he only cares more, but the more probable reason they left is that they tried, but after trying time and time again they had figured out that she was a lost cause before him, and realized that it was futile to let her stay in their lives. This is probably the result of his denial that she is poisonous to him, wanting to get her back and being there for her for a while after she broke up with him for the slim chance that she would ditch everything to run back into his arms. As the person speaks in this song, he comes to the same conclusion; she is a lost cause. "I'm tired of fighting Fighting for a lost cause" He's tried of trying to get her back/trying to help her/trying to sympathize with her and love her, because she either spits in his face with her new and "improved" boyfriend, lashes out on him or simply is cold to him. All of this helps him reach the conclusion that he deserves to be happy too, and that he should finally let go. She is a lost cause, she is too deep in her own problems to be normal again, and he won't be with her anymore. It could also mean that their relationship is a lost cause, and his efforts are just as futile as helping her is. "There's a place where you are going You ain't never been before" This might imply that he knows that by living like this, she will end up killing herself, because everyone who could have helped her through had left her and her new boyfriend is merely a toy she plays with, incapable of saving her. In a way, she caused this, he might be angry at her for that. She is going the unknown, whatever is after death, something she's never seen before. It could also simply mean that she is setting herself up in a situation where she is more vulnerable to pain and suffering than she ever was. "No one left to watch your back now No one standing at your door" With everyone leaving her life, no one will be there to watch over her, no one will save her from suicide and cutting attempts, this emphasizes how incompetent her new boyfriend might be. It might also mean he's abusive, but this is a little bit of over-analyzation. "That's what you thought love was for" This is the most powerful line in the song. This is what she thought love was for; to serve her own selfish purposes and needs. She thought that her partner should serve her own purposes, therefore it was ok to replace her old one (the speaker) if she found it to make her happier, and the speaker mocks her for that, because by doing this she missed the very essence of romantic love; being vulnerable. She's shielded herself up in a secure relationship, but it is a relationship with a person who is empty of character, unable to intrigue her in his own ways, not bringing anything new into the table by means of being himself. She is only using him. He's not a partner as much as he is her tool to self-fulfillment. The speaker finds this disgusting, and tells her that this is her twisted take on love. I think by finding this out, he decides that he doesn't love her anymore, because he doesn't want to be with a person who thinks that this is the purpose of love. This song is so powerful to me because it sums up a year in my life which was cloudy with pain, self-hatred and, mostly, regret. I think it is a journey both Beck and I have made to discover the true nature of a person who we thought was perfect for us, but once the love faded and the heart has mended, we could finally see the person as who they truly were. But in the end, is it really their fault? We all just want to be loved, sometimes, we make the stupidest promises and vows without knowing that the feelings will fade away a fortnight later, and so we leave someone heartbroken once we find out it wasn't the best bet to put your promises on. What we should take from this song is that love fades away, and even the best relationships can die for so many reasons. Please; don't tell someone you love them before you come to an understanding of what love is to you, because you might just be doing exactly what this song describes to someone else. Instead, live in the moment, love the present you have and don't book the future without knowing what it holds. Thank you for reading :) |
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| Snow Patrol – Chasing Cars Lyrics | 11 years ago |
| That's a nice thought, great addition, bro. | |
| Snow Patrol – Chasing Cars Lyrics | 11 years ago |
| P.S: This song reflects my relationship with someone that I'm unable to meet as of now, and I love her so much... That's why I can relate to every word of this song. | |
| Snow Patrol – Chasing Cars Lyrics | 11 years ago |
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"We'll do it all/Everything/On our own" The speaker is talking to his lover, probably in the early stage of their relationship, when the love blooms and he decided his feelings for her are strong, he wants to have a life with her, doing everything with her without any intervention of anyone else, because she's so important to him. "We don't need/Anything/Or anyone" Same as the above, he states that they don't need anyone else to have their relationship, they have no need of advice or someone to dictate them what to do because their bond is that strong. It also hints of racial/social/religious pars, where each one comes from different societies with opposite and branching beliefs, that may have resulted him in getting sick of all the prejudice and opinions and just wanting to leave it all and spend his life with her. "If I lay here/If I just lay here/Would you lie with me and just forget the world?" He talks about dropping everything, all problems, difficulties and opinions of others and just lay there with him, forget the world and their surroundings, living for the sake of their love. "I don't quite know/How to say/How I feel" The speaker has a very bold struggle with managing to have the relationship itself, and that also results in him not knowing how to confess his love to her, or at least word it in a proper way, though when he speaks in this songs the time has come and he gathered the courage to not let the world and his feelings get the better of him and finally admit his feelings to his love. "Those three words/Are said too much/They're not enough" He clearly loves her in a unique way, a passionate love that is held by only a very small amount of people, because his feelings for her are stronger than the usual love we see around us, that's why he doesn't want to say "those three words", she's so special to him that they won't be enough to express his true emotions, it may be that in a way, laying there with him is his way to express his love, as it represents them dropping their current lives and spending the rest of time together, being each other's whole world. "Forget what we're told/Before we get too old" Again, he says they should both forget everything that stops them from being together, or anything that makes one of them doubt their feelings and their relationship, before they age and miss the life they would've had together. "Show me a garden that's bursting into life" I'm not sure about this one, It could represent her making his life a whole lot better by accepting his offer, the garden could also represent the cold ground, the hard reality that with the warmth and care of her love will burst into life, and the fruit of the garden would be the food for his soul. "Let's waste time/Chasing cars/Around our heads" For him, time wasted with her is worth the trouble, her presence is what makes the experience, not the activity, and it's being brought out even more when he says the activity would be "chasing cars", as it's impossible to chase a care, nor catch it, it also represents the foolish things kids do when they're in love, something pointless, yet full of meaning when she's present. "Around our heads" can also reflect of their inner struggles, messing with their heads, but then again wasting time dealing with the problems, as long as it's with her, would be worth the time. "I need your grace/To remind me/To find my own" The speaker expresses his need for her kind words, her affection, and even though it looks like his love may be stronger than hers, he needs it to remind him of his own, resulting from her not noticing him enough or maybe an event that had kept her away from him until this time. "All that I am/All that I ever was/Is here in your perfect eyes, they're all I can see" She's his whole world, all he ever was and needs in his life is there, in her, this line to me is the strongest one, as it shows that everything shrinks when he looks into her eyes, she's all he can see. "I don't know where/Confused about how as well/Just know that these things will never change for us at all" This can mean multiple things, it can show his uncertainty of when could they finally be happy together, and how to make the relationship work, resulting from their difficulties and differences (as mentioned earlier in the song), but he reassures her and promises her that those "things" won't change his feelings for her, and they won't change his determination to make it work, despite the obstacles, and that eventually they would be together, because his feelings are too strong and his heart willing. This can also mean he doesn't know when he would meet her and "lay with her", maybe he's occupied with things in his life that he can't put off, and he also apparently doesn't know how he would manage to pull it off (meeting her and spending time with her), because of the limits his society is presenting to him ("forget what we're told" , "we don't need anything or anyone"). Yeah, that was my analogy of the song, I capture it as a song about the importance of love in life and the things one would do to make it work, despite anything or anyone trying to stop it, because in the end, love is all you need. Did I miss anything? Want to expand on what I said or correct something you may think I misinterpreted? Feel free to reply :) |
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