| Elliott Smith – Say Yes Lyrics | 11 months ago |
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"I'm in love with the world through the eyes of a girl Who's still around the morning after" He's in love with someone because they see the world in a way that makes the world seem bearable. He doesn't love the world -*including himself*- through his own eyes. The morning after is when “reality” sets in- she still sees the world -*him*- as bearable, since she's still there. So she's a way for him to see himself as bearable. This is why he's in love with her. He knows this, and knows it's pathetic. "We broke up a month ago and I grew up, I didn't know I'd be around the morning after" When they broke up, he had to face himself, his low self esteem & cope with his feelings. "It's always been wait and see A happy day and then you pay And feel like shit the morning after" Relationships feel unsafe & unstable. He's used to living life waiting for the other shoe to drop. "But now I feel changed around and instead falling down I'm standing up the morning after" (is this how he feels after or before they broke up? unsure) After breakup: Now that they're broken up, he is facing himself & feeling more confident in his ability to cope with his life as it is, and looking at the world & himself through his own perspective- learning to trust himself & own his own perspective. He's no longer feeling like he needs to see the world through the eyes of someone else for himself & the world to feel bearable. Before they broke up: He's talking about the self confidence that he has from looking at the world through her eyes. "Situations get fucked up and turned around sooner or later" I think this has 2 ironic/contrasting meanings, it can be said & mean 2 relevant-to-the-song things: 1) This can be said as a matter-of-fact acceptance that life is unpredictable. Problem free things will always evolve into things with problems. and emotionally conversely/ironically, 2) or it can be said from a doomer, self loathing, self-pitying, self centered perspective, (waiting for the next shoe to drop). (favorite lyric in this song) "And I could be another fool or an exception to the rule You tell me the morning after" He feels that if he's looking at his life honesty, he's been acting like a fool, ignoring reality & only seeing what he wants to see -or- he can continue in a fantasy world, and believe that he's “extra special” & (“exception to the rule” is sarcastic). This is an acknowledgement that thinking in this way, he's making her responsible for himself. "Crooked spin can't come to rest I'm damaged bad at best She'll decide what she wants" He feels unsettled, and can't make himself feel centered: he feels like a broken, defective human being. He desperately attempts to self soothe with pseudo acceptance, keeping his own stability out of his own control- it depends totally on her love, which he feels she's always on the verge of making a final judgement on. "I'll probably be the last to know No one says until it shows and you see how it is: They want you or they don't Say yes" He is in a situation where his whole self worth is dependent on whether she'll choose to “say yes” him. Maybe he's even created this choice of hers, which his self worth is dependent on, in his own mind. Either way, he's conflicted & insecure, and he ultimately doesn't trust her to establish his self worth (because other people can't do that!). This makes him hold a perspective that everyone is untrustworthy, and that the world is unsafe. He pleads to her to at least want him, to say yes, so that the world can seem safe again. "I'm in love with the world through the eyes of a girl Who's still around the morning after" |
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