Placeholder

The interpretation I always got from this song, especially the last line, is not necessarily that he was replaceable, but that he didn't feel comfortable in his place in the world and wanted a way out. He wanted to neglect his duties and obligations as a person and just get away from it all, thus "Placeholder, come and take up mine." Quite sad, and relatable for me at least. R.I.P Elliott

'the invisible man with the see-through mind'

if elliott's talking about himself and not a character, then I disagree. I would give anything to understand what went on in his mind.

a placeholder is used to hold an LP in place... this is not about god.... i suggest all you little goddites go to the RUN DMC or CARMEN lyrics... i hate religious people that think everything has to be about their little god... the universe was created by a atom, not a god... there is proof dating back YEARS AGO that the earth was not created by man... so maybe it is time to embrace science and stop dumbing down everyone with a brainwashing technique.... seriously... i wonder how someone can think this world is "perfect" somehow i doubt the little kids dying of starvation and AIDS would agree with you.

before i go on about this song. i want to tell you guys about my religous beliefs. i don't believe in any prophets. but i do believe there is a god. if you read alot as i do you would realize our world is to perfect for there not to be one. alright... since i got that cleared out the way. i think this song is really about life/death and god.

"just like my favorite song. some pretty words that didn't last that long. like a package sent priority overnight" - i believe it is stating life is short

"a placeholder till you take up mine" - i think he is talking to god and pleading for him to take his soul "up" to Heaven when he passes.

such a good song r.i.p

great song.

"just like my favorite song some pretty words that didn't last that long."

i always thought this referred to a person--another bad relationship. regardless, this song is the best.

"if you read alot as i do you would realize our world is to perfect for there not to be one."

story books are not real there are no happy endings the world is a fucked up horrible place i believe in god but not because the world is perfect it is far from it

yeah, to the person who said that if you read a lot you'd realize that there's a god: a LOT of well-read people believe there's no god. and unless you're seeing the perfection in the actual books themselves and not the stories or positions they take, then yeah, that might be a little bit of "perfection" for you. but just because a book is published doesn't mean that it holds any sort of truth. it's easy if you're genuinely happy to see perfection everywhere, but it's much easier to be not genuinely happy and to see the negitivity in everything. if you're trying to balance the two extremes and still find perfection, go ahead. but if you ultimately do find perfection in everything, then you haven't lived enough.

i, for one, don't think that it's about death or god or anything like that. i just thought it was about how nothing's really constant, and eventually, just like a favorite song or something, he will be replaced by the next thing. and he's just waiting for it to happen.

All of ES's songs are so lovely but I'm particularly fond of this one. I miss Elliott Smith. I just do.