submissions
| Elliott Smith – Say Yes Lyrics
| 20 years ago
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another classic love/hate song from elliot smith, which is how all of his best songs are written. he sees everything that's wrong with love, he knows how it ends, and yet in spite of that the way he writes about it shows that he knows it's the most beautiful thing in the world. he's happy, he's in love, and he knows that this relationship will be no different, he's at this girl's mercy and sooner or later she'll leave him alone. elliot smith's magic is that he can express yearning like nobody else, and his emphasis is on everything that keeps you away from the things you want most in the world. |
submissions
| Elliott Smith – Punch and Judy Lyrics
| 20 years ago
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Uhh, guys, Punch and Judy goes back way past the days of TV. They're the traditional names for comic puppets used to entertain children at festivals and stuff. They talk, make jokes and beat each other up. Anyway, this is a song about the oversensitive romantic guy getting up the nerve to try again, even when he knows that he'll just end up with his heart broken again, hence the imagery of the execution - drawing the curtain and waiting for the call, but there's not going to be a pardon, he knows it. He makes the same mistake twice - knows how all of this ends and condemns himself to the experience anyway. |
submissions
| Elliott Smith – Between the Bars Lyrics
| 20 years ago
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I don't actually think there's supposed to be another person involved here, I don't think it's romantic, exactly. It's about the power of addiction, the call of drink. He used to be someone else, someone with potential, but he knows he'll never live up to it because he can't get out of the grip of his addiction. The alcohol lets him "forget all about the pressure of days" and disappear in to another night that goes on too long. The people he's been before were people with ambition, friends, a life, and he can't stand to listen to those voices any more, only the drink can make them silent again. His pain can be relieved and he can experience beauty again through alcohol, but as long as he relies on this he won't ever be free - kisses between the bars of his cell. Of coure, maybe I'm just projecting, but I know Elliot was an addict himself and I know really well what it feels like to start drinking again and know that it'll go on for one more night... how wonderful it is to have that best friend in the world back, and also know that you'll be worse off than where you started in the morning. |
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