In regards to the meaning of this song:
Before a live performance on the EP Five Stories Falling, Geoff states “It’s about the last time I went to visit my grandmother in Columbus, and I saw that she was dying and it was the last time I was going to see her. It is about realizing how young you are, but how quickly you can go.”
That’s the thing about Geoff and his sublime poetry, you think it’s about one thing, but really it’s about something entirely different. But the lyrics are still universal and omnipresent, ubiquitous, even. So relatable. That’s one thing I love about this band. I also love their live performances, raw energy and Geoff’s beautiful, imperfectly perfect vocals. His voice soothes my aching soul.
I'm waiting for the train
Subway that only goes one way
The stupid thing that'll come to pull us apart
And make everybody late
You spent everything you had
Wanted everything to stop that bad
Now I'm a crashed credit card registered to Smith -
Not the name that you called me with
You turned white like a saint
I'm tired of dancing on a pot of gold-flaked paint
Oh we're so very precious, you and I
And everything that you do makes me want to die
Oh I just told the biggest lie
I just told the biggest lie
The biggest lie
Subway that only goes one way
The stupid thing that'll come to pull us apart
And make everybody late
You spent everything you had
Wanted everything to stop that bad
Now I'm a crashed credit card registered to Smith -
Not the name that you called me with
You turned white like a saint
I'm tired of dancing on a pot of gold-flaked paint
Oh we're so very precious, you and I
And everything that you do makes me want to die
Oh I just told the biggest lie
I just told the biggest lie
The biggest lie
Lyrics submitted by EnjOy IncUbus
The Biggest Lie Lyrics as written by Steven Paul Smith
Lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group
Lyrics powered by LyricFind
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@[Diderik:33655] "Your a holiday!" Was a popular term used in the 50s/60s to compliment someone on their all around. For example, not only are they beautiful, but they are fun and kind too ... just an all around "holiday".
I think your first comment is closer to being accurate. The singer/song writers state "Millions of eyes can see, yet why am i so blind!? When the someone else is me, its unkind its unkind". I believe hes referring to the girl toying with him and using him. He wants something deeper with her, thats why he allows himself to be as a puppet (even though for her fun and games) as long as it makes her happy. But he knows deep down that she doesnt really want to be serious with him and thats what makes him.
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I think much like another song “Anti-Matter” (that's also on the same album as this song), this one is also is inspired by a horrifying van crash the band experienced on Nov 3, 2022. This, much like the other track, sounds like it's an extension what they shared while huddled in the wreckage, as they helped frontman Garrett Russell stem the bleeding from his head wound while he was under the temporary effects of a concussion. The track speaks of where the mind goes at the most desperate & desolate of times, when it just about slips away to all but disconnect itself, and the aftermath.
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Same ideas expressed in Fitter, Happier are expressed in this song. We're told to strive for some sort of ideal life, which includes getting a good job, being kind to everyone, finding a partner, getting married, having a couple kids, living in a quiet neighborhood in a nice big house, etc. But in Fitter, Happier the narrator(?) realizes that it's incredibly robotic to live this life. People are being used by those in power "like a pig in a cage on antibiotics"--being pacified with things like new phones and cool gadgets and houses while being sucked dry. On No Surprises, the narrator is realizing how this life is killing him slowly. In the video, his helmet is slowly filling up with water, drowning him. But he's so complacent with it. This is a good summary of the song. This boring, "perfect" life foisted upon us by some higher powers (not spiritual, but political, economic, etc. politicians and businessmen, perhaps) is not the way to live. But there is seemingly no way out but death. He'd rather die peacefully right now than live in this cage. While our lives are often shielded, we're in our own protective bubbles, or protective helmets like the one Thom wears, if we look a little harder we can see all the corruption, lies, manipulation, etc. that is going on in the world, often run by huge yet nearly invisible organizations, corporations, and 'leaders'. It's a very hopeless song because it reflects real life.
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Ed Sheeran shares a short story of reconnecting with an old flame on “American Town.” The track is about a holiday Ed Sheeran spends with his countrywoman who resides in America. The two are back together after a long period apart, and get around to enjoying a bunch of fun activities while rekindling the flames of their romance.
elliott smith songs are like my bible, and one of the reasons is that his songs are so rife with both literal meanings and allegorical connotations that any number of these interpretations could've been intended (it's one of the ways that fans like us relate so well to the songs, and smith himself even said that his songs were multi-layered with intended meanings). anyhow, i just wanted to offer one that hasn't been said yet. the opening of the song to me sounds like it's about dying. smith was a philosophy major in university, so he'd be familiar with the idea of a ferry shipping people to the land of the dead, so he's "waiting for the train, the subway that only goes one way" in a sense that is a modernized version of crossing the river styx. again, "the stupid thing that'll come to pull us apart, and make everybody late" make everybody late? the late(dead) so-and-so? also, the part about spending everything you have seems to be an allsion to blowing all your money on substances to feel better "wanted everything to stop that bad." this doesn't seem to be about himself because he says "you spent" and then later refers to himself in a different context. knowing how generous smith was to his friends, he might be describing how his dependant lover has sapped both of their resources, which could also be a literal and allegorical idea, both money and patience/hope/love/whatever. this is before smith had problems with substance so it's unlikely it's about him, but some of the company he kept at this time was pretty shady. "you turned white like a saint" he loves them even though what they've done to themselves has made them pale. smith again laments about dying "tired of dancing on this pot of gold flake paint" tired of performing and being put on a pedestal he felt he didn't belong on, flake paint = shoddy, low quality. and then to me the last part is him leaving us in doubt, is the biggest lie saying he and his love are precious or that he wants to die? i also really liked dorareever's interpretation, and i feel this fits with that. but man. elliott smith, the poet/songwriter? fucking intense.