| Elliott Smith – Ballad of Big Nothing Lyrics | 6 years ago |
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"Getting in to the back of a car for candy from some stranger” This screams danger to the listener. The two things we were all told never to do as children. Get into a car or take candy from a stranger. Such a brilliant line. |
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| Elliott Smith – Southern Belle Lyrics | 6 years ago |
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According to people who knew him. After he left home at 14 he had a very hard time because he was sure his stepfather was going to kill his mother if he wasn't there to intervene. Ain't nobody looking now Nobody nothing's said No one's about to shout Nobody's seening red He's not there to save her. So she is killed. |
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| Elliott Smith – The Biggest Lie Lyrics | 6 years ago |
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They way I see it there are 3 metaphorical uses for the train in the song. 1: Death 2: Heroin 3: Love Or as I like to call it the ‘Elliott Smith Trinity.’ I'm waiting for the train Subway that only goes one way 1: the train is like Charon’s Ferry and will be the conduit into the afterlife. In this case the underworld ( Subway.) 2: The obvious “Mainline” metaphor for injecting heroin. The use of intravenous drugs leads to addiction ( only goes one way.) 3. A relationship that is unbalanced or ending. The stupid thing that'll come to pull us apart And make everybody late 1. How might a train make “everybody late”? Well if there was a body on the tracks that would do it. Also Death does make us all ‘late’ as in ‘the late Elliott Smith.” 2. The drug /addiction ruining a life/pulling apart a functioning human being 3. The image of one lover ascending the train and being separated forever from the other left on the platform. You spent everything you had Wanted everything to stop that bad 1: The final effort leading to suicide/death. 2: Spending all your money on heroin in order to overdose. 3: A lover doing everything they can to stop the separation. Now I'm a crashed credit card registered to Smith - Not the name that you called me with 1. His mangled corpse identifiable by the contents of his wallet. His real name being Steven ( Not the name you call me with.) 2.. A crashed credit card has nothing left to spend on it. The debt incurred ( both financially and emotionally.) 3. He has nothing else to give the relationship. He becomes detached and impersonal. ( Not the name you call me with) a pet name ‘ (Honey, Darling etc.) You turned white like a saint I'm tired of dancing on a pot of gold-flaked paint 1. Obvious.Pale in death. Like a medieval painting of a martyr drained of blood. 2. Death by overdose, famously turns people pale and blueish white. The initial euphoria of the drug wears off and looses its sheen. 3. One lover sacrifices too much the relationship. Turns white in shock when the relationship is ended. He’s faked his way through. Pretending his feelings are real, he’s been trying to spare their feelings. Its not real. This is much like the relationship described in “ I didn’t understand” ( a cloud of smoke.) Oh we're so very precious, you and I And everything that you do makes me want to die This makes explicit the love relationship aspect. Precious as in valuable or as in oversensitive and childish? Is it sarcasm? The melodramatic “ I love you to death.” I love you so much I could die” is part of the artifice of his faked feelings… Or is it? There may be a very real death wish there. Anyone who has been in a relationship with someone when they didn’t want to be knows the feeling. Anything to escape. OR… Is he being sincere, on both counts? Oh I just told the biggest lie I just told the biggest lie The biggest lie What is the biggest lie? Is it telling someone you love them when you don’t or telling then you don’t love them when you do? He leaves both options open. |
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| Elliott Smith – Shooting Star Lyrics | 6 years ago |
| Anyone else get the impression that this song is about a celebrity with a reputation? " Shooting Star." Possibly being and actor/actress. The narrator being on of his/her many trophy lays. | |
| Elliott Smith – Shooting Star (Early version) Lyrics | 6 years ago |
| Anyone else get the impression that this song is about a celebrity? " Shooting Star." | |
| Elliott Smith – Shooting Star (Early version) Lyrics | 6 years ago |
| Anyone else get the impression that this song is about a celebrity? " Shooting Star." | |
| Elliott Smith – Pitseleh Lyrics | 7 years ago |
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According to my Yiddish Dictionary: "pitseleh (n): wee, tiny; tiny bit; very young or small child." One possible interpretation is that he's talking to his inner child. The part of himself that is still innocent. The 2 or 3 year old version of himself before the damage started. It’s small, tiny just a scrap of himself thats lost somewhere in there. Iiterally a “pitseleh” of his own soul. So small he can’t quite locate it. " I'll tell you why I Don't wanna know where you are I gotta joke I've been dying to tell you” And he knows that is is for the best because if he could locate it he’d only corrupt it with the “ joke” the rest of his life became. “Silent kid is looking Down the barrel To make the noise that I kept so quiet Kept it from you, Pitseleh” To protect the “Pitseleh” part of himself he repressed his trauma and ‘ kept it away’ from that core of innocence. This is pretty common among very young sexual abuse survivors who don’t understand the context of the abuse and disassociate from extreme fear, particularly the fear of death. The ‘silent kid’ with the gun pointed at his own face is the abused part of him acting out with self destructive behaviour. “I'm not what's missing From your life now I could never be the puzzle pieces” The adult , fucked up part of him is aware that he can’t heal the wounded child within., that nothing can actually fix what happened, that if integrated the dark part of him would swamp and destroy that innocence. “They say that God makes problems Just to see what you can stand Before you do as the Devil pleases Give up the thing you love” Instead of feeling ‘ abandoned by god’ He feels actively persecuted by a higher power. That his purpose in life is to test his own capacity for suffering. That his entire life has been constantly testing the limits of his pain. In order to survive he had to ‘give-up’ or abandon that pure part of himself. Interesting to note that in an interview Elliott said he couldn’t ever begin a 12 step program because he said he couldn’t do the first step, which is admitting ones helplessness and reaching out to a higher power. Why would one ask for help if you feel even God is fucking you over? “But no one deserves it” And there you have the most self aware and compassionate thing he ever said about himself. Among all the self hatred of his lyrics. He can’t hate the pitseleh of a toddler who was so horribly harmed. Its not a Judgement or punishment from above its like a force of nature. It just is. Who can quantify or justify it? “The first time I saw you I knew it would never last I'm not half what I wish I was” How can he explain what followed? Now that he has acknowledged that part of him still exists somewhere he has to acknowledge its passing, because innocence doesn’t last. The last line is an apology from his adult self, for not rising above his rage. “I’m so angry I don't think it'll ever pass And I was bad news for you just because I never meant to hurt you” In repressing his trauma and numbing himself with drugs etc he was trying to protect the very part of himself he is now injuring through his repression. |
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| Elliott Smith – Southern Belle Lyrics | 7 years ago |
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‘I wouldn’t have you how you want.” Pretty sinister line if it is about his stepdad. It has an unfortunate sexual connotation. Although it could also mean he simply didn't want to accept the guy as a father figure. |
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| R.E.M. – Binky The Doormat Lyrics | 10 years ago |
| @[dkomjath:8495] Granted that does seem to be the meaning of that verse. But its clearly the protagonist/narrator GETTING raped in several scenes. rather than doing the raping. " This is horror movie stuff." "You leave me gasping, tattered and torn." " Fuck with me and traumatize." It seems the song switches perspective. | |
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