Either/Or (No More)

this might be my favorite of his unreleased songs. He really really should have left this one on either/or, it clearly deserved to be on there. brave or bored, champion or chore, posing as harcore, up against and for - either or. Exactly. The choices in life, the polar opposites, one or the other.. whatever. I love his wordplay in this song. He really made it sound good rather than focus on a story with a message inside it. There is a message, but its a different song for him. Filling in these blanks that you create Every time you win some petty score Posing as hardcore, oh yeah, either/or -i have felt this many times with people Either/Or - taken from a great book by Kierkegaard... oh existentialism, how i love you.

I am fairly certain that this song was highly inspired by Kierkegaard's Either/Or. Like myself, Elliott was a philosophy student and was most likely a fan of Kierkegaard's work since he even mentions that the album Either/Or was named after the book by Kierkegaard.

The book is basically a comparison between the aesthetic and ethical lifestyles. The aesthete, named A, writes about boredom and always searching for something new to occupy time with. The ethical character, Judge Vilhelm, writes letters to A in hopes of showing him how the ethical lifestyle is better.

The line "I'll write the pages you tear out" makes me think about the aesthete denying what the ethical character proposes.

Then you have Elliott's interpretation and experiences added to the mix, and you have this amazing song.

Haha. I do notice a sound, but I wouldn't automatically attribute them to text messaging.

I love being the first to comment. I'm suprised no one has commented yet.

One day you’ll know what you’re talking about I can hardly imagine, but until then I’ll be

Filling in these blanks that you create

^favorite part of the song.

i agree, this is probably one of my favorite unreleased songs but as much as i love it, i honestly couldn't see it fitting in with the either/or cd. I can understand why he didn't release it although i think it is quite sad that more people won't have the pleasure of hearing this song...but maybe thats good in my jealous mind-set sort of way. heh.

Roman Candle, i agree, i like meeting people who like Elliott, but on the other hand his relatively small audience is part of his charm. like i don't want some rich insensitive bitch loving his music...like that would be expliotation. maybe what i just said is "Trashing a lifestyle you’ve never known". (A great line, but then again so is "Look at the spin chief, battered and broken Clutching a plastic rose")

i think you got text messages confused with a guitar

I'm wondering if some of the times he says "you" in this song he is talking to himself. "I’ll write the pages you rip out, back in their places again One day you’ll know what you’re talking about I can hardly imagine" i don't know, maybe i am just speculating here. It seems to me that one part of himself is talkig to the other, one part that wants to delve into these deeper issues, and the other part censoring itself. which leads me to:

"Filling in these blanks that you create Every time you win some petty score Posing as hardcore, oh yeah, either/or"

I always assumed he was talking to someone else here, but i'm not so sure now. it seems a little self-admonishing.

have you ever written something, a poem or a song or whatever, and just ripped it out and threw it away later? I have. something about "one day you'll know what you're talking about" just really reminds me of poetry, that you write and then you think it makes no sense but it does.

"by girlanachron1sm on 07-03-2006 @ 08:10:17 AM
Does anyone else hear some text message beeps in the background, around 1 min 24? And then again at 1.40?

by ilovealkaline on 07-11-2006 @ 07:11:49 PM
i think you got text messages confused with a guitar "

OMFG... TEXT MESSAGES? LMAO1 WTF ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT?

anyways, i love the way this song flows.

the melody always reminded me of school house rock haha. I can't fathom why, but I just think of that. 'You're strong, you're stubborn now In an endless symbolic war Brave or bored, either/or' I love that part.