Stickman

trippyapple has the lyrics right.... Just like most of smith's songs, it is about mental disorders (i.e manic depression) and suicide. I see it as this:

"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.