Elliott Smith – Everything's Okay

Everything's okay
Walks along the dock
With some sailor's pay
Shoved down in his sock
Everything's okay
With some little boy in blue
Who don't know you like I do

Everything's okay
Took him back to town
Well, I didn't get paid today
So I'm in the lost and found
And I wonder if that clown
Knows just what to do
What to say and what not to

The pretty words that you whispered
Maybe I misunderstood
Somebody's not paying attention
What they promised and their word isn't good

Everything's okay
I'm looking for you now
Down here by the bay
Where the water pounds
Up against the wall
That I'm coming to
Because I can't stay away from you

I don't need no satisfaction
And I don't take just because I can
Sometimes I get a strong impression
That you just don't understand
That kind of man

Everything's okay
I can see your face
Down there in the waves
Painted and erased
But I'm told it's just
The reflection of the moon
A big fake resembling you

I'm going to go down in the water
And fill my mouth up full of sand
And I'll be waiting still impatient
With my dead imagination
While you're with some other man

Everything's okay
I'll be with you soon
I'm walking out to place
My arms around the moon
Yeah, I'll be with you soon
Just as soon as I pay
I'll walk across the water
Everything's okay
Walk on the water
Everything's okay


Lyrics submitted by imajar, edited by afreijat

Everything's Okay song meanings
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19 Comments

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  • +1
    General CommentI think he sings:

    Everything's okay
    I can see your face
    DOWN there in the waves
    Painted and erased
    But I'm told it's just
    The reflection of the moon
    A big fake resembling you
    Labertascheon May 06, 2007   Link
  • +1
    General Commenti think elliott's talking to himself.
    everything's okay is the side of him that wants to be abused by drugs, who is leading around his past 'a little boy in blue' the side of him that wants to be healed.
    he is healed now.
    everythingsokayon June 21, 2011   Link
  • +1
    General Commenti made an account just to say that i'm certain that this song is about suicide over unrequited love and a failed relationship. in the very last verse which i think most people are confused about he is going to drown himself. the whole song sets up the meaning for the last verse which is that he is going out into the water to put his arms around a reflection of the moon which is what he calls his lover. its a very morbid and serious song, and i felt like i knew immediately what it was about.
    afreijaton January 18, 2014   Link
    • 1 Reply
  • +1
    My InterpretationI think this song is a story about a guy (possibly Elliott) and his best friend who is a cop. The guy is very sad and depressed but he doesn't kill himself because he loves his girlfriend and no one will ever know her and lover her like he does now. But when she leaves him for his friend cop. The guy is lost, he sees her everywhere and misses her so much. He may find a new girlfriend but shes just not the same. Similar to a reflection of his old girlfriend but its all fake. But he keeps say everything okay when in reality it is not.
    calvin1015on March 08, 2017   Link
  • 0
    General CommentPretty Mary K?

    I believe the original version of Pretty Mary K made more sense?

    Prostitution.
    SeeTheBrownBunnyon January 14, 2006   Link
  • 0
    General CommentI think this is about a drug dealer?

    I remember making some connections and walking across the water.

    Those were the days.
    SeeTheBrownBunnyon January 14, 2006   Link
  • 0
    General CommentDoes sound like prostitution, yes. And a guy that's a little too attached. Great song, though I guess the original is better. But I could never find a better quality version of it, this one sounds a lot better.
    imajaron January 14, 2006   Link
  • 0
    General CommentI'm not sure why he changed the lyrics to the other version. Maybe he is portraying denial by saying its ok? It's so beautifully recorded I can't help but love it just as much. I believe it is about loving someone so much but you have to give something in order to receive it, which is why it you know it won't ever last.
    garethclarkon September 19, 2006   Link
  • 0
    General CommentThis song is one of my favorite b - sides from elliott smith. Not much better than "pretty mary k". They are both great, but the whole text and the way he play/sings this song amaze me everytime I hear it. A lovley love song .Its about drug dealing and prostitution? Maybe. But I guess only Elliott knows what it's about.
    Labertascheon April 29, 2007   Link
  • 0
    General CommentPut simply this song can either about denial, drugs, or a woman. I've heard people use the line "walk on water" before and it was usually pertaining to drug use. "The pretty words that you whispered, Maybe I misunderstood" about a woman. Everything’s okay is his inability to face the truth and his denial towards this situation for what ever reason.
    So I believe this song is about how a man is seeing a woman and he knows things aren’t going correctly but yet he doesn't want to believe it. Everything’s okay could be about his drug use and the denial, when things really aren’t okay. It's funny because it says "I'll be with you soon, just as soon as I’m paid" could mean this is really about drugs or a gold-digger of a woman, maybe both. Nothings ever for sure ehh?

    Again this is an unreleased demo that should have been released on "From a basement on a hill"
    JamesCintoloon June 09, 2007   Link

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