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No Name #4 Lyrics
For a change she got out before he hurt her bad
Took her records and clothes
And pictures of her boy
It really made her sad
Packed it up and didn't look back
"I'm okay, let's just forget all about him"
The car was cold and it smelled like old cigarettes and pine
In her bag I saw things she drew when she was nine
Like this one here
Her alone, nobody near
"What a shame, let's just not talk about it"
No, it doesn't look like you
But you did wear cowboy boots
That's your fame
There's no question about it
Once we got back inside
With one ear to the ground
I was ready to hide
Because I don't know who's around
And you look scared
"It's our secret, do not tell, okay?
Let's just not talk about it
Don't tell, okay?
Let's just forget all about it"
Took her records and clothes
And pictures of her boy
It really made her sad
Packed it up and didn't look back
"I'm okay, let's just forget all about him"
The car was cold and it smelled like old cigarettes and pine
In her bag I saw things she drew when she was nine
Like this one here
Her alone, nobody near
"What a shame, let's just not talk about it"
No, it doesn't look like you
But you did wear cowboy boots
That's your fame
There's no question about it
Once we got back inside
With one ear to the ground
I was ready to hide
Because I don't know who's around
And you look scared
"It's our secret, do not tell, okay?
Let's just not talk about it
Don't tell, okay?
Let's just forget all about it"
Song Info
Submitted by
enjoy Incubus On Jan 19, 2002
More Elliott Smith
Between the Bars
Needle in the Hay
King's Crossing
Twilight (Somebody's Baby)
A Fond Farewell
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yeah it does make sense, but i am also curious as to what source he got that from. I think from the sounds of it, at first the mother takes her son and leaves, but decides she has to go back even though they both know thats a bad idea. hence the lines: Once we got back inside With one ear to the ground I was ready to hide 'cos I don't know who's around and you look scared it's our secret do not tell okay? Let's just not talk about it that would fit the fact that his mother and stepfather are still together. This is one of the best songs on roman candle. I love it.
@lisalynn agree totally. I was toddler packed up in a car with my Mum driving away, and it's always rung true to me as capturing how that moment begins to play out when you leave a marriage and house. We didn't turn back, but I hear the last verse and know if it had gone another way and Mum got overwhelmed, that "It's our secret, do not tell okay; let's just not talk about it" could have played out to paper over the cracks and save face. Grateful Mum was brave, she got support and that Elliott...
@lisalynn agree totally. I was toddler packed up in a car with my Mum driving away, and it's always rung true to me as capturing how that moment begins to play out when you leave a marriage and house. We didn't turn back, but I hear the last verse and know if it had gone another way and Mum got overwhelmed, that "It's our secret, do not tell okay; let's just not talk about it" could have played out to paper over the cracks and save face. Grateful Mum was brave, she got support and that Elliott created this song that has helped me find some sense and comfort from the things we don’t talk about that I was too young to process, but old enough to commit to memory.
This song is about Elliott and his Mom leaving his abusive step-father, Charlie, when he was little. "She (his mom) got out before he hurt her bad."
another beauty.....so sweet and gentle.........he sings everything as if there is an inevitability about it..........RIP
i don't know, guys. elliott always said that he didn't write alot of songs about personal events in his life, but you never know. all's i know is that everytime i head "but you did wear cowboy boots" i want to cry for some unknown reason
This song sounds like it was painful to make. I do know a lot of his songs evolve from metaphors, like Single File, but this one has a quiet reality to it.
This is one of my favorite Elliott songs....why can people not see how amazing this song is?
@abodyofenglish perhaps some people don't relate as heavily to the lyrics. But there are those who do that this song is precious to.
@abodyofenglish perhaps some people don't relate as heavily to the lyrics. But there are those who do that this song is precious to.
when i hear this song i picture him and his mom packing up there things and planning their escape, but the music makes it sounds almost like an adventure, like this special exciting moment between him and his mom when they finally get away from I guess Charlie? It seems like he became alot closer with his mom during this episode, sifting through her bag finding photos of her as a kid, i think maybe why elliott recalled this memory in a song is because through all the turmoil of his past there were probably really special moments like this that could only be produced in a scenario like the on elliott was living in, it's really cool and really intimate, gotta love elliott mannnnnn
I think it might about him and his mom leaving the house because she finally makes the decision to bounce. and then they come back instead before the stepfather comes home. and they are both terrified and keeping their guards' on. She even tells him to not tell his stepfather about what they had just done. A failed attempt to leave.
I would agree with Dante, but I can offer a source: the Knitting Factory show on 7.31.97. Right before he played this song, he said "This is a song about my mom." It all really fits with it being a song about his mother taking him to leave Charlie and then returning.
It sounds to me like there is something in this section here that ultimately leads her to decide to go back to him: "In her bag I saw things she drew when she was nine Like this one here Her alone, nobody near "What a shame, let's just not talk about it" No, it doesn't look like you But you did wear cowboy boots That's your thing There's no question about it" There's something about that picture of herself that makes her say "what a shame, let's just not talk about it" and then she goes back to HIM. But what is it exactly? Is it that the pic of her all alone upset her so much that she decided she was better off with HIM than alone? Or that she had become so different from the pic of herself alone (it didn't look like her anymore, except for the boots) that she couldn't even be that person anymore - so that the pic of her alone was empowering but still a person she could not be again? What do others think?