Pretty Mary K (Dead Imagination) (Either/Or demos)

Unbelievably beautiful melody and guitar counter-melody - even his unreleased music is better than so much of what's out there. The lyrics remind me of what Elliott said in alot of his interviews - that his songs come to him like little movies. The scenes and characters in this song really come alive in my mind when I hear it - like watching a movie.

Though "Everything's Okay" sounds alot better, this one is the definitive version. It has a much darker feel to it. One of those rare songs that make time stand still when you first listen to them. And I don't know, but maybe the heavily muffled sound even increases the ghostly mood.

Is it not fairly accepted (everywhere but the Pretty Mark K page on this site) that the Figure 8 version is about his mother? This is obviously a different song, but some of the images -- the "little boy in blue" (I took blue to mean sad here) and "crying black and blue" (which implies both emotional and physical injury) -- make sense. I don't think this song is about religion, but the last two lines are obviously a religious reference. In my religiously-ignorant mind, I assumed the Pretty Mary he was referencing was the Virgin Mary, which I took as a counterpoint to the image of the prostitute. Of course, n0thingends may be right and the reference is Mary Magdalene (which probably makes more sense). Either way, I think the prostitution is more about selling yourself than it is about actual prostitution and the walking on water is more about redemption than it is about Jesus.

But then "I'll be with you soon just as soon as I pay" throws a bit of a wrench into my mother theory, doesn't it. And it kind of sounds like he's paying to walk across the water with her, which I don't understand.

But I usually get caught up on the genius of "I'll be waiting still impatient with my dead imagination" and don't listen properly to the end of the song anyway, so it doesn't really matter.

this song is just gorgeous. my favourite of his unreleased songs. i guess it's about a boy in love with a prostitute.

also i think the line is "somebody's not paying attention to what they promise"

I really like this one better than the Figure 8 version. That's saying a lot too. I have a playlist of 23 Either/Or Demos (from Elliott Smith B-Sides website) and it's great listening to these unploished tracks. Gives them a eerie quality, almost. Just the way the sound.

i love this song (more than the figure 8 version) i reckon its sort of th same story as "roxanne " by the police about a boy in love with a prostitute

i love this song (more than the figure 8 version) i reckon its sort of th same story as "roxanne " by the police about a boy in love with a prostitute

This song is hauntingly beautiful, also one of my favourite unreleased tracks. I feel like it's the missing link to the story of the Figure 8 "Pretty Mary K", which always seemed vague to me. Any idea where to get a version with good sound quality? Mine is muffled as hell.

There's a cleaner version on the Basement demos available at the b-sides website. It's called "Everything's Okay" and lyrically it is mostly the same, except that "Pretty Mart K" is replaced with "everything's okay." Still, though, the sound quality is cleaner on Everything's Okay.

this is one of my favorite songs ever. it should've been on figure 8 instead of the other one.