Pretty Mary K (The Infirmary) (Figure 8 version)

Elliott** missed the 2nd t there by accident

I like how pretty much none of the comments on this song are ABOUT this song. Thanks.

So what do you all make of the line: "rode into the sun"? In Color Bars just two songs earlier on Figure 8, he says "everyone wants me to ride into the sun, but I ain't gonna go."

The alternate version of this song seems to be blatantly about being in love with a prostitute. It would seem strange to make another version titled the same to have such a different meaning.

So by interpreting it that way perhaps it is the same. He's walking around town looking for this prostitute 'Mary K'

"There's a soldier lying in bed With a wound to the head Calling out to pretty Mary K"

I guess could be interpreted as other men who sleep with her, perhaps their 'wound to the head' is there lack of a sex life / a loved one. So they 'call out to' or visit her.

The later half could be interpreted as him visiting a brothel perhaps. St James perhaps an ironic name for someone who runs the place.

I'm not really sure on this song though, anyones guess is as good as mine.

i read an interview with the dude who created the OC and he is just the same as most of us: a young, clever guy who loves good music and is interested in art and literature. how he cam to create such a crap show i dont know but he said the music was all his choice. back to the song, i love the religious imagery in it. "found faith in thee (oooh) infirmary (aaah)" i love this line, as the first part is so religious and then he changes the meaning completely by saying "infirmary". suddenly the "thee" becomes "the" and the harmony voices even seem to acknowledge this play on words("aaah" as if to say, "nice one, i didnt see that! clever though!"). anyway, great song.......RIP

there is a folk song, St James Infirmary, originally thought to be irish, then later adapted into a blues song, that goes like this (with alterations in each version):

I went down to old Joe's bar room, on the corner by the square
Well, the drinks were bein' served as usual, and this motley crowd was there

Well, on my left stood Joe McKennedy, and his eyes were bloodshot red
When he told me that sad story, these were the words he said:

I went down to the St. James infirmary, I saw my baby there
She was stretched out on a long white table, so cold, and fine, and fair.

Let her go, let her go, God bless her, wherever she may be
She can search this world over, never find another man like me

When I die Oh lord please bury me In my high top stetson hat
Put gold coins over my eyelids So the boys wil know I died standing pat

Get six crapshooting pallbearers Six chorus girls to sing me a song
Put a jazz band behind my hearse wagon To raise hell as we roll along

Get sixteen coal black horses, to pull that rubber tired hack
There's thirteen men going to the graveyard Only twelve men are coming back

Well, now you've heard my story, well, have another round of booze
And if anyone should ever, ever ask you, I've got the St. James infirmary blues! 

(taken from wikipedia)

many Many versions of this song have been made...elliott being a lover of music undoubtedbly heard atleast one of them. whether he was referencing louis armstrong or bob dylan or billie holiday i don't know. maybe he just liked the mystery of the song, how it references an infirmary (i.e. mental health or rehab) and it's sadness/ lost love aspect.

personally i love the song. i never noticed this reference to it even though i love elliott smith. i only read about it in the wikipedia article which can be found here:en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St._James_Infirmary_Blues

In Autumn De Wilde's (Elliott's photographer) new book "Elliott Smith", she interviewed Joanna Bolme (Elliott's girlfriend). Joanna talks about the meaning of this song specifically. Here's an outtake from the book, in Joanna's words...

"Pretty Mary K": That's a cryptic song; there's something about some sort of nurturing that wasn't...like seeking that out and not being able to get it. Elliott plays the drums on that one. There's weird drumming on that song...It's about a soldier that ends up in a hospital. Mary K is a nurse. That song is really personal. We never got into it. Maybe it's a metaphor for a combative person who's fighting off nurturing and then realizes that he lost it, and so he tries to find it again. But it's too late; she's already gone."

I think Joanna has it right (and not for nothing, but I think Joanna's word holds some serious gravity when dealing with Elliott's lyrics).

One of my swim coaches told me she heard a girl say 'When's Elliot Smith playing his next concert' because they heard him on the OC. It made me sick. He had such a tragic life, and ended it himself -or that's what they believe. And to hear people with such disrespect for the music and the beauty of it's depth really saddens me. His imagry and capture of human emotion is the most realistic I've ever seen, Kudos' to Smith wherever he may rest, and may he rest in peace. OCTOBER 21, 2003

yeah, the whole OC thing really pisses me off.. i was shocked when someone on his message board said they played 'twilight' one of the best off the new album, on such a shit teen soap opera.. you know he would have NEVER let that happen if he was still around. but you wrote that last post before that episode aired? did they play another of his songs earlier on in the season??!!!

That's what I hear, because I can't even stand to watch or hear about that show. It's just a breeding ground for mainstream mindless trends.

actually, from what i've heard, the OC tends to do pretty well with music choices. i watched the first couple of episodes, and there was one character that had a ben folds poster in his room. that same character apparently sticks up for other underappreciated artists (like elliott smith, though i don't know if he has ever said anything about elliott). i have no idea what's going on in the show because, as i said, i only watched the first couple of shows. anywho, i don't think it should be bad that any artist who is underappreciated suddenly gets a modicum of the recognition he/she deserves, even if the recognition comes from morons.