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Elliott Smith – Junk Bond Trader Lyrics 22 years ago
ah. sorry. forgot to correct this line:

the athelete's laugh, the broken crutch
the first true love that folded at the slightest touch
brought down like an old hotel
people digging through the rubble for things they can resell

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Elliott Smith – Angeles Lyrics 22 years ago
*sticks out tongue at ben* fiiiiine. be that way.

well... hm. i don't know. this one... it doesn't really sound like an addiction to me. i don't know. maybe it's just my perspective. i never thought of this as drugs. it just really doesn't sound like it to my ears. it's too sweet. it's gentle. his other songs that are about addictions are so much harsher.

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Elliott Smith – The White Lady Loves You More Lyrics 22 years ago
Close, but no cigar... "The White Lady" is a term for heroin, noteworthy. It's about a love for the drug, not for a woman.

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Elliott Smith – Needle in the Hay Lyrics 22 years ago
Thank you Noteworthy... I think that line is important, the bit about the brain. It's just as much a struggle to argue with yourself about drugs (should i? shouldn't i?) than it is to try and get yourself to them to stop the fight in your mind...

And yes, I realized it was about drugs when I read "strung out and thin" like x// said, "strung out" being stoned... And despondent, that's the point of this site... to interpret songs. That's why we're commenting on them. We realize it's a personal thing. But that's why we're here.

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Elliott Smith – Everything Reminds Me of Her Lyrics 22 years ago
The "her" is heroin... think about it. "And I gotta hear the same sermon all the time from you people".

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Elliott Smith – Angel in the Snow Lyrics 22 years ago
what a beautiful song...

To me it's about the helplessness of a harmful relationship, be that a friend, a lover, a drug... it doesn't really matter. It describes all of them.

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Elliott Smith – Cupid's Trick Lyrics 22 years ago
The lyrics to this song aren't in the album booklet for Either/Or supposedly because Elliott didn't remember writing the song... I think it's kind of evident about what it's about.

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Elliott Smith – Coming Up Roses Lyrics 22 years ago
hmm... while I hate having to say any elliott songs are about drugs, this one is one that I believe is. "Coming up Roses" supposedly means the flash of blood that shoots into the syringe when you shoot up on heroin. "cold white brother riding your blood" is the drug itself... "I don't need your permission to bury my love under this bare light bulb" I've always interpreted as even though people rant about doing drugs, he's not gonna stop, he'll bury his love (heroin) in his arm under the bare light bulb, maybe in a basement or something somewhere. "While the moon does its division you're buried below" is either dead or in that same basement, shooting up. "The things that you tell yourself, they'll kill you in time" is how he might say "heroin's OK, it won't hurt me" will eventually hurt him.

submissions
Elliott Smith – Junk Bond Trader Lyrics 22 years ago
my fucking god... the lyrics are totally off. have you ever even HEARD the song before?! according to the lyrics in the album booklet (and common sense), it's:

the imitation picks you up like a habit
writing in the glow of the tv static
taking out the trash to the man
give the people something they understand

stick man flashing a fine-line smile
junk bond trader trying to sell a sucker a style
rich man in a poor man's clothes
the permanent installment of the daily dose

and you tell off when you tell it like it is
your world's no wider than your hatred of his
checking into a small reality
boring as a drug you take too regularly

the apple needs to laugh; the broken crutch
the first true love that folded at the slightest touch
brought down like an old hotel
people digging through the rubble for things they can resell

"happy holidays," said sick saviour
the leading love i still favor
i won't take your medicine
i don't need a remedy
to be everything i'm supposed to be
i don't want nobody else
i can do it by myself
we're meant to be together

now i'm a policeman directing traffic
keeping everything moving, everything static
i'm the hitchhiker you recognize passing
on your way to some everlasting...

better sell it while you can
better sell it while you can
better sell it while you can
better sell it while you can

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Elliott Smith – Bled White Lyrics 22 years ago
spell elliott right.

This was just copied from the lyrics at www.sweetadeline.net, but some of the lyrics are off, and there are background vocals between certain lines that add to the songs. "I'm a color reporter (rose city on the 409) but the city's been bled white (rose city to the other line) and the doctor orders (drinking till he's trashed is just a waste of time) drinks all night to take away this curse" etc. Then on the other bits... "don't you dare disturb me (don't complicate my peace of mind) while i'm balancing my past... (don't complicate my peace of mind) 'cos you can't help or hurt me (faith in me, baby, is just a waste of time) like it already has"... anyway the song seems deeper with the other vocals.

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Elliott Smith – Christian Brothers Lyrics 22 years ago
Christian Brothers is a brand of alcohol, and these lyrics are wrong, there's more repeating of the chorus in the song. I always thought of this as how people think they want to help you when you have a problem, but you either are too addicted or deeply into what you're doing to care or you think it's just out of pity. "fake concerns is what's the matter, man, and you think i oughta shake your motherfucking hand?" like whoever's concerned is just being phony and they expect a thanks when it's all done and over.

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Elliott Smith – Alameda Lyrics 22 years ago
My favorite Elliott song out of every one he's ever played... I think this song is psychological, I always thought of it as about how you and people close to you think. "how you maintain all them in a constant state of suspense for your own protection over their affection, nobody broke your heart..." people hurt themselves in trying to hurt others.

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Elliott Smith – Angeles Lyrics 22 years ago
hm... it's amusing to see all you people commenting on this stuff when you've heard nearly nothing of elliott's. but anyway... while people say this is about drugs, it's not at all. musicguru was close. it's about los angeles and the hypocrisy of the music business. at the time he wrote this he had just moved to LA and was going to release his next album on the Dreamworks label (XO), but this one was on the portland-based indie one, Kill Rock Stars anyway. "go on, lose the gamble, that's the history of the trade." the whole scene was such a rise. you either make it or you don't. he evidently found all that hypocritical.

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