the built-up city = getting clean (takes a long time)
blowing it to hell = sticking a needle in your arm again (takes an hour if your dealer is picking up)
dead power line = veins
passing feeling = opiate comedown (sucks!)
I too am a user, but I have more respect for Elliott than to demean him by believing this song is about just primarily one specific subject, he went deeper then that, he saw a bigger picture, I don't think people like you really understand him at all. So many of you seem to think this song and so many of his others are only about or mainly about drugs or his own addiction, that makes me feel so sorry for you all, you truly have no way of hearing Elliott like I do.
I too am a user, but I have more respect for Elliott than to demean him by believing this song is about just primarily one specific subject, he went deeper then that, he saw a bigger picture, I don't think people like you really understand him at all. So many of you seem to think this song and so many of his others are only about or mainly about drugs or his own addiction, that makes me feel so sorry for you all, you truly have no way of hearing Elliott like I do.
How about this? -
How about this? -
The built city...
The built city - His life(a friendship, a relationship)
Blowing it all to hell - Making a monumental mistake that cost him the life he was building, destroying it all with one unintentional reflex. I relate to this line quite heavily, as I too have caused much destruction in my own city, whether it's losing jobs, losings friends, losing loved ones, or losing yourself, I think that's the level Elliott was speaking to us on, and he takes all the blame for his mistakes, this is a song by a depressed man that doesn't forgive himself, not a drug-fucked junkie waiting for his next hit.
"I send all the time
My request for relief,
down the dead power lines" - I sincerely believe he means he has asked for help so many times, accepted so many hands, but now he feels as a boy who cried wolf, like he asked for too much, he can no longer get relief because he's sending his request down cut-off power lines, his life sources, he no longer receives, he just requests.
Passing feeling - Happiness itself, once you get to a stage Elliott obviously reached with depression and so on, being truly happy is an EXTREMELY rare occasion, trust me on that. But this line could mean many, many, many things, it's quite a wide metaphor, so I think it's very sad that so many of you just straight off the bat aim for it as a drug reference, really think about it, I mean, come on, if you know anything about Elliott and his lyrical style, you'd realize that he's quite subtle, yet he seems to send off a similar message through almost all of his songs, a lot of you seem to see it as a message about drugs, but I think you need to spend a bit of time in that mind of yours and start thinking a bit bigger, Elliott is not simplistic, he's a lyrical genius.
@JimiCobain , I realize this is years later for both of these posts and so this'lll go unseen, but felt I needed to reply to Jimi's reply. I understand the natural touchiness E.S. fans have about casual listeners thinking "every" song is just about drugs. However, he did OFTEN use substance abuse as a strong element in order to heighten narratives of other situations and emotions, and there ARE tunes where it is itself the core subject. This is one of them. "A passing feeling" refers to the unsustainable high, and the repeated "requests for relief" or, alternatively, "help to...
@JimiCobain , I realize this is years later for both of these posts and so this'lll go unseen, but felt I needed to reply to Jimi's reply. I understand the natural touchiness E.S. fans have about casual listeners thinking "every" song is just about drugs. However, he did OFTEN use substance abuse as a strong element in order to heighten narratives of other situations and emotions, and there ARE tunes where it is itself the core subject. This is one of them. "A passing feeling" refers to the unsustainable high, and the repeated "requests for relief" or, alternatively, "help to exist at all" are fairly obvious nods to the chasing of that escape through suppliers, now needed just to cope with reality rather than enhance it. Finally (and I'm purposefully not breaking down each section, though I could), even if you wanted to argue the rest was simply about deep depression rather than addiction, breaking free from depression normally, and then slipping back into it does not happen with the clockwork-like nature of "an hour to fall". It is, as illustrated in other Elliott songs which ARE just about depression, a layered and constant 'funk' which one does not enter into OR get out of with anything close to that speed or ease. That "hour to fall" is a specific and notable reference to the rapid vanishing of the false happiness generated by intoxication. The whole song itself is haunting and masterful, from the foreboding "bad shit coming" piano that opens, to the stuttering guitar and drum outro, to the words themselves. I understand being frustrated if people think every song is about a certain subject, especially if it's something you can't relate to, but some of them are. A song is NOT shallow merely because it is about substance abuse; in fact, thinking that that is the case, as you seem to, is shallow. Just take this song as an example: it is a deeply moving and poetic meditation on the buzzsaw cycle of suffering, craving, temporary peace and then even deeper suffering that is addiction.
@leadmyskeptic One of the things that always struck me about Elliott Smith's songs about addiction, in particular, was his remarkable capacity to take addiction and its agonies and make them both clear and relatable to straights.
A really quality lyric, at least to my taste, is often really about how much we, as humans, can empathize with each other even when our experiences differ.
Elliott Smith was so brilliant at that particular skill that most people will refuse to see what they're even relating to.
I've had people argue that songs can't be about drugs because that would be "shallow" for way too...
@leadmyskeptic One of the things that always struck me about Elliott Smith's songs about addiction, in particular, was his remarkable capacity to take addiction and its agonies and make them both clear and relatable to straights.
A really quality lyric, at least to my taste, is often really about how much we, as humans, can empathize with each other even when our experiences differ.
Elliott Smith was so brilliant at that particular skill that most people will refuse to see what they're even relating to.
I've had people argue that songs can't be about drugs because that would be "shallow" for way too many artists I love. Drives me mad. You can be deep and a heroin addict at the same time, kids. A song can be deep and be about drugs simultaneously. Just like songs about any other subject can be deep or shallow, layered or straightforward.
Personally, I like artists that show me I can relate to thieves and junkies and all manner of people Different From Myself. Broadens my world.
(So somebody saw what you wrote anyway, heh.)
the built-up city = getting clean (takes a long time) blowing it to hell = sticking a needle in your arm again (takes an hour if your dealer is picking up) dead power line = veins passing feeling = opiate comedown (sucks!)
is this obvious to everyone, or just users?
I too am a user, but I have more respect for Elliott than to demean him by believing this song is about just primarily one specific subject, he went deeper then that, he saw a bigger picture, I don't think people like you really understand him at all. So many of you seem to think this song and so many of his others are only about or mainly about drugs or his own addiction, that makes me feel so sorry for you all, you truly have no way of hearing Elliott like I do.
I too am a user, but I have more respect for Elliott than to demean him by believing this song is about just primarily one specific subject, he went deeper then that, he saw a bigger picture, I don't think people like you really understand him at all. So many of you seem to think this song and so many of his others are only about or mainly about drugs or his own addiction, that makes me feel so sorry for you all, you truly have no way of hearing Elliott like I do.
How about this? -
How about this? -
The built city...
The built city - His life(a friendship, a relationship)
Blowing it all to hell - Making a monumental mistake that cost him the life he was building, destroying it all with one unintentional reflex. I relate to this line quite heavily, as I too have caused much destruction in my own city, whether it's losing jobs, losings friends, losing loved ones, or losing yourself, I think that's the level Elliott was speaking to us on, and he takes all the blame for his mistakes, this is a song by a depressed man that doesn't forgive himself, not a drug-fucked junkie waiting for his next hit.
"I send all the time My request for relief, down the dead power lines" - I sincerely believe he means he has asked for help so many times, accepted so many hands, but now he feels as a boy who cried wolf, like he asked for too much, he can no longer get relief because he's sending his request down cut-off power lines, his life sources, he no longer receives, he just requests.
Passing feeling - Happiness itself, once you get to a stage Elliott obviously reached with depression and so on, being truly happy is an EXTREMELY rare occasion, trust me on that. But this line could mean many, many, many things, it's quite a wide metaphor, so I think it's very sad that so many of you just straight off the bat aim for it as a drug reference, really think about it, I mean, come on, if you know anything about Elliott and his lyrical style, you'd realize that he's quite subtle, yet he seems to send off a similar message through almost all of his songs, a lot of you seem to see it as a message about drugs, but I think you need to spend a bit of time in that mind of yours and start thinking a bit bigger, Elliott is not simplistic, he's a lyrical genius.
@JimiCobain , I realize this is years later for both of these posts and so this'lll go unseen, but felt I needed to reply to Jimi's reply. I understand the natural touchiness E.S. fans have about casual listeners thinking "every" song is just about drugs. However, he did OFTEN use substance abuse as a strong element in order to heighten narratives of other situations and emotions, and there ARE tunes where it is itself the core subject. This is one of them. "A passing feeling" refers to the unsustainable high, and the repeated "requests for relief" or, alternatively, "help to...
@JimiCobain , I realize this is years later for both of these posts and so this'lll go unseen, but felt I needed to reply to Jimi's reply. I understand the natural touchiness E.S. fans have about casual listeners thinking "every" song is just about drugs. However, he did OFTEN use substance abuse as a strong element in order to heighten narratives of other situations and emotions, and there ARE tunes where it is itself the core subject. This is one of them. "A passing feeling" refers to the unsustainable high, and the repeated "requests for relief" or, alternatively, "help to exist at all" are fairly obvious nods to the chasing of that escape through suppliers, now needed just to cope with reality rather than enhance it. Finally (and I'm purposefully not breaking down each section, though I could), even if you wanted to argue the rest was simply about deep depression rather than addiction, breaking free from depression normally, and then slipping back into it does not happen with the clockwork-like nature of "an hour to fall". It is, as illustrated in other Elliott songs which ARE just about depression, a layered and constant 'funk' which one does not enter into OR get out of with anything close to that speed or ease. That "hour to fall" is a specific and notable reference to the rapid vanishing of the false happiness generated by intoxication. The whole song itself is haunting and masterful, from the foreboding "bad shit coming" piano that opens, to the stuttering guitar and drum outro, to the words themselves. I understand being frustrated if people think every song is about a certain subject, especially if it's something you can't relate to, but some of them are. A song is NOT shallow merely because it is about substance abuse; in fact, thinking that that is the case, as you seem to, is shallow. Just take this song as an example: it is a deeply moving and poetic meditation on the buzzsaw cycle of suffering, craving, temporary peace and then even deeper suffering that is addiction.
@leadmyskeptic One of the things that always struck me about Elliott Smith's songs about addiction, in particular, was his remarkable capacity to take addiction and its agonies and make them both clear and relatable to straights. A really quality lyric, at least to my taste, is often really about how much we, as humans, can empathize with each other even when our experiences differ. Elliott Smith was so brilliant at that particular skill that most people will refuse to see what they're even relating to. I've had people argue that songs can't be about drugs because that would be "shallow" for way too...
@leadmyskeptic One of the things that always struck me about Elliott Smith's songs about addiction, in particular, was his remarkable capacity to take addiction and its agonies and make them both clear and relatable to straights. A really quality lyric, at least to my taste, is often really about how much we, as humans, can empathize with each other even when our experiences differ. Elliott Smith was so brilliant at that particular skill that most people will refuse to see what they're even relating to. I've had people argue that songs can't be about drugs because that would be "shallow" for way too many artists I love. Drives me mad. You can be deep and a heroin addict at the same time, kids. A song can be deep and be about drugs simultaneously. Just like songs about any other subject can be deep or shallow, layered or straightforward. Personally, I like artists that show me I can relate to thieves and junkies and all manner of people Different From Myself. Broadens my world. (So somebody saw what you wrote anyway, heh.)