Junk Bond Trader

\"The imitation picks you up like a habit Writing in the glow of the TV\'s static Taking out the trash to the man Give the people something they understand\"

:as an artist, it\'s easy to fall into writing things that fit a pattern... you waste your own time spending it writing the same old stuff over and and over \"in the glow of the TV\'s static\". what kind of environment is that to write inspired, genius work? so he takes this unoriginal crap back to \"the man\" (the record label) because they want him to write something the dumb populace can understand; \"give the people something they can understand\".

\"A stickman flashing a fine-line smile Junk bond trader trying to sell a sucker a style Rich man in a poor man\'s clothes The permanent installment of the daily dose\"

:the AR guy from the label gives him a smile, pretending to be \"hip\" and \"with it\", \"trying to sell a sucker [elliot smith] a style [emo hair, tight shirt, blue jeans, and tattoos; in touch with being depressed]\". the AR guy knows how much the label is paying elliott, how much the kids will pay for elliot\'s stuff, and gets paid a ton of money for getting elliot on the label, but he (the AR guy) dumbs his image down to fit in with elliot; he\'s faking it. and this is what elliot traded his drug habit for: \"the permanent installment of the daily dose\".

\"And you tell off when you tell it like it is Your world\'s no wider than your hatred of his Checking into a small reality Boring as a drug you take too regularly\"

:when he tell\'s the truth, he get\'s so pissed that all he can focus on i how much he hate\'s this guy: \"your world\'s no wider than your hatred of his\". this is all he experiences of the world and it\'s wearing on him, distracting him from things that matter.

\"The athelete\'s laugh, the broken crutch The first true love that folded at the slightest touch Brought down like an old hotel People digging through the rubble for things they can resell\"

:real life experiences that would otherwise be precious are \"brought down like an old hotel\" to make room for something new, sorting through the debris of memories that meant something for an overused metaphor that he can write about that everyone can relate to, \"people digging through the rubble for things they can resell\".

\"\"Happy holidays,\" said Seek the Saviour The leaving lover that I still favor I won\'t take your medicine I don\'t need a remedy To be everything I\'m supposed to be I don\'t want nobody else I can do it by myself We\'re meant to be together\"

:Dreamworks made him go clean when he signed on with them; they told him to find God (Dreamworks = Seek the Savior) and stop doing drugs, \"the leaving lover that I[elliot smith] still favor\". elliot doesn\'t want to be told what to do, he doesn\'t need a remedy to be everything he\'s supposed to be; he already is what he is and who are they to tell him he\'ll be better doing what they ask of him? drugs and elliot were \"meant to be together\".

\"Now I\'m a policeman directing traffic Keeping everything moving, everything static I\'m the hitchhiker you\'ll recognize passing On your way to some everlasting\"

:he reverts back to just keeping everything working, with no real reason to keep going. he\'s been tamed; he\'s over the fact that they fucked up his creative process. he knows he\'ll lose his fans for it: \"i\'m the hitchhiker you\'ll recognize passing on your way to some everlasting\". his fans will see that he\'s changed here on this album, see that he\'s lost touch and move on to some other holy grail that actually speaks to them, not someone straightened out and fucked over that can\'t relate to emotion any more.

\"Better sell it while you can Better sell it while you can Better sell it while you can Better sell it while you can\"

:better sell it while you can...you used him up for the money and don\'t give a fuck that you destroyed him in the process. take it to the bank.

nobody got the interpretation right and i had to do it myself.