I strongly believe that this song is directed to the friends who tried to help Elliott Smith, the friends who didn't like how he was living his life. I recall Elliott Smith saying in an interview that a lot of people wish he'd live a better life. And he'd just wanted to be left alone. The lyrics "just leave it alone. leave me alone. The lyrics "you belong tagging along. And I belong in your zoo" seem to be about the discomfort he felt when people told him how to live his life. It was as if he was in a zoo, locked up, where people could watch his every single mood. And then the lyrics "I'll do what I can so you can be what you do" seem to be implying "i'll keep on living my life miserably until you can see that when I think of you, I will only think of how you try to change me. Eventually, that will be the only thing that will define who you are, in my eyes."
I strongly believe that this song is directed to the friends who tried to help Elliott Smith, the friends who didn't like how he was living his life. I recall Elliott Smith saying in an interview that a lot of people wish he'd live a better life. And he'd just wanted to be left alone. The lyrics "just leave it alone. leave me alone. The lyrics "you belong tagging along. And I belong in your zoo" seem to be about the discomfort he felt when people told him how to live his life. It was as if he was in a zoo, locked up, where people could watch his every single mood. And then the lyrics "I'll do what I can so you can be what you do" seem to be implying "i'll keep on living my life miserably until you can see that when I think of you, I will only think of how you try to change me. Eventually, that will be the only thing that will define who you are, in my eyes."