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Pictures of Me (Either/Or demos) Lyrics
Your eyes turn down
Flirting around
With the image of
The one you really love
Who's face you saw
On the blue screen above
Felt cheap and diseased
Completely at ease
Noise from inside
Door's swinging wide
Looking at your feet
42nd Street
Saw you and me
On the coin-op TV
Frozen in fear
There was nobody near
I'm not surprised at all
And really, why should I be?
See nothing wrong
See nothing wrong
So sick and tired of all these
Pictures of me
Completely wrong
Totally wrong
Go walking by
Here comes another guy
Jailer who sells
Personal hells
Who'd like to see me
Down on my fucking knees
No respect to see
Begging me please
Hey, hey, hey, hey
I'm not surprised
And really, why should I be?
See nothing wrong
See nothing wrong
So sick and tired of all these
Pictures of me
Completely wrong
Totally wrong
I'm not surprised
And really, why should I be?
See nothing wrong
See nothing wrong
So sick and tired of all these
Pictures of me
Oh, they're completely wrong
I couldn't compete
Completely wrong
I couldn't compete
Completely wrong
I couldn't compete
Flirting around
With the image of
The one you really love
Who's face you saw
On the blue screen above
Felt cheap and diseased
Completely at ease
Door's swinging wide
Looking at your feet
42nd Street
Saw you and me
On the coin-op TV
Frozen in fear
There was nobody near
And really, why should I be?
See nothing wrong
See nothing wrong
So sick and tired of all these
Pictures of me
Completely wrong
Totally wrong
Here comes another guy
Jailer who sells
Personal hells
Who'd like to see me
Down on my fucking knees
No respect to see
Begging me please
And really, why should I be?
See nothing wrong
See nothing wrong
So sick and tired of all these
Pictures of me
Completely wrong
Totally wrong
And really, why should I be?
See nothing wrong
See nothing wrong
Pictures of me
Oh, they're completely wrong
I couldn't compete
Completely wrong
I couldn't compete
Completely wrong
I couldn't compete
Song Info
Submitted by
rollercoastersonja On Jan 17, 2007
More Elliott Smith
Between the Bars
Needle in the Hay
King's Crossing
Twilight (Somebody's Baby)
A Fond Farewell
Add your song meanings, interpretations, facts, memories & more to the community.
I love how the early versions of Elliott's songs often have a more direct meaning and a more personal story. (See the early versions of "I didn't understand" and "Everybody Cares, Everybody Understands" too). This one seems to me to be about Elliott fearing that the woman he is dating is in love with the public idea of 'Elliott Smith' rather than the real him. The one she really loves is the Elliott on the blue screen or on the coin-op tv. He fears he "can't compete" with the image of himself that is out there. His public image is totally wrong, but he feels it is better than the real him, and he can never measure up to the pictures of him.
The chorus makes so much more sense with the rest of the lyrics in this version than in the other one. I think this often happens with his songs, where he first writes a really personal story and then he changes it so it's theme is no longer as recognizable or as personal. Sometimes it even feels like he puts two completely different songs together in the final versions - like the verses are from one song and the chorus is from another. I feel like that a little bit with the album version of the song, but not with this one - this one is clear and heartbreaking. I just wish I had a better recording of it. Mine has a lot of fuzzyiness in the recording quality. If anyone knows if there is a cleaned up copy, let me know.
"This one seems to me to be about Elliott fearing that the woman he is dating is in love with the public idea of 'Elliott Smith' rather than the real him. The one she really loves is the Elliott on the blue screen or on the coin-op tv. He fears he "can't compete" with the image of himself that is out there. His public image is totally wrong, but he feels it is better than the real him, and he can never measure up to the pictures of him" I cannot agree, because at this time, when he wrote this song (around 94/95 I guess), he wasn't famous except in Portland maybe. I think the song has - like in many ES songs - a general meaning. In this case, he uses the TV as an allegory to describe how there can be a gap between how people see you, and how you are really...
totally different version, great song none the less
freja couldn't have explained it better... agreed that he feels uncomfortable with the image of himself.