I sit here shooting blanks
Out at emptiness
Ain’t nothing really want to kill
Maybe time I guess
I sit and spin the world on its flipside
And I listen backwards for meaning
'Cause I’m a stickman
I live with one dimension dead
Trying not to think too many moves ahead
I draw from memory
The stillest kind of life
Slide after slide
Mental pain's the sharpest knife
Project what's done for everyone to see
To me it's just a reversal
And I'm a stickman
In frames that go one by one
If I sped it up
You'd see I'm on the run
From some monster off-screen
Killing sons
Lonely makes me blue
Envy turns me green
Hate might paint me red
If I load my magazine
But not just now when it's easy to stay clean
When no one sees where you're bleeding
And I'm a stickman
Stickman
Out at emptiness
Ain’t nothing really want to kill
Maybe time I guess
I sit and spin the world on its flipside
And I listen backwards for meaning
'Cause I’m a stickman
I live with one dimension dead
Trying not to think too many moves ahead
I draw from memory
The stillest kind of life
Slide after slide
Mental pain's the sharpest knife
Project what's done for everyone to see
To me it's just a reversal
And I'm a stickman
In frames that go one by one
If I sped it up
You'd see I'm on the run
From some monster off-screen
Killing sons
Lonely makes me blue
Envy turns me green
Hate might paint me red
If I load my magazine
But not just now when it's easy to stay clean
When no one sees where you're bleeding
And I'm a stickman
Stickman
Lyrics submitted by valard, edited by dogcity, MulletBrush
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this is such an amazingly powerful song, i love it
the bit at the end where he is babbling incoherently to the crowd scared the shit out of me though....what the hell is he saying? it is really disturbing...RIP
I sit here shooting blanks
Out of emptiness
Ain’t nothing really want to kill
Maybe your time I guess
Sit and spin the world and its flipside
And I listen backwards for meanings
'Cause i’m a stickman
I live with one dimension dead
Try not to think too many moves ahead
I draw from memory
The stillest kind of life
Slide after slide
You know pain's the sharpest knife
Project what's done so everyone can see
To me it's just a reversal
And I'm a stickman
Frames they go one by one
If I sped it up
You'd see I'm on the run
From some monster off screen
Killing sons
Lonely makes me blue
Envy turns me green
Hate might paint me red
If I load my magazine
But not just now when it's easy to stay clean
When no one sees where you're bleeding
And I'm a stickman
Stickman
"I sit here shooting blanks
Out of emptiness
Ain’t nothing really want to kill
Maybe your time I guess
Sit and spin the world and its flipside
And I listen backwards for meanings"
Ever been so depressed and bored? nothing to do at all? i get imagery of him killing time. Playing with the idea of suicide "shooting blanks". He is looking for hidden meanings in life in boredom by playing the records backwards.
"'Cause i’m a stickman
I live with one dimension dead
Try not to think too many moves ahead"
This is elliott smith's self esteem in a nutshell. He is a stickman. Nothing deep. Nothing special. He never realized how amazing he was even when everyone said so. He says don't look too deep into what he's saying or think he's that special with "try not to think too many moves ahead." Just think stickman. That isn't really a positive way to think of yourself.
"I draw from memory
The stillest kind of life
Slide after slide
You know pain's the sharpest knife
Project what's done so everyone can see
To me it's just a reversal"
One of the more complicated stanzas. When one is depressed, one only draws upon the past. The good times are always remembered, and nothing else really matters at the present or future. Smith draws upon the beauty of what he was. Not what he is. He refers to this depression through "I draw from memory/ The stillest kind of life." "Slide after slide" can refer to 2 things in my mind. First, it can refer tot he chess pieces he refered to before. A metaphor for the moves in his life, or it can refer to the next line keeping the imagery with the knife. Smith has a tendacy with his songs to keep imagery repeating throughout. The king's crossing is a good example of that. "Project what's done so everyone can see/To me it's just a reversal." I feel smith is saying he is hiding his pain rather than revealing it to the world. These thoughts of suicide he does not project to the world, but instead, it'st he reversal. He keeps it in to himself.
i'm tired... and i'll come back to the others later.