| Elliott Smith – New Disaster Lyrics | 14 years ago |
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Here's what I think. First of all, the drums were not "added" later. The leaked versions that don't feature drums (or organ, but no one seems to have a problem with that being on the "New Moon" version) were shabby mixes thrown onto the internet just to get the songs out there. Go read about the production on "New Moon". They didn't add anything, they only removed tape hiss and smoothed things over. Some purist might say that's too much, but at least they didn't add anything. Please don't make things up based on assumptions. Second, I too thought this was either about a lover or about himself. However, today I was listening to the song for the first time in years and it occurred to me that it's probably about his mother. She had remarried an abusive man named "Charlie" who pops up in Elliott's stuff occasionally. I think "you" is to his mother, and the "New Disaster" is Charlie. I think the image of a "ghost of your smile" is that his mother isn't happy with her life with Charlie, but won't admit it, so her smile is dead but makes phantom appearances on a rare occasion. Anyway, that's my hypothesis. Give 'er a think-over and draw your own conclusions. |
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