In stanza two, three, five and six, Elliott addresses a few aspects of the world he feels are screwed up. For example, in stanza two, he describes all of the hypocrisy in the message people give him about his condition. He's told in stanza one there's "no in between", meaning that there's no middleground between what we consider good and evil. Essentially, if you're doing wrong, you're bad, and if you aren't, you're good. You either are or aren't. However, in the second stanza, he sings about what liars they are because they themselves are pefect examples of people who live mediocre, "in between" lives. They claim to be moral, good, and "clean" and yet they are all very superficial and phony. This is why he sings "doll her up in virgin white". He's describing how at just about every wedding, the bride wears white to represent her purity and virginity while in fact she has already had sex and is no longer a virgin. He's just throwing in a specific instance of fakeness.
In the third stanza, he sings about how sold many people are just sell-outs and only become money leeches. All they strive for is to make a quick buck or two off of anything they can.
Then in the fourth stanza he talks about screwed up the environment has become. We now have acid rain that has been "bought up" into the air because of the power and influence of wealth. If a company has enough money, then they can get away with polluting. Interestingly, this is where Elliott includes the phrase "a distorted reality is now a necessity to be free". I'll discuss that after a few more sentences.
In the sixth stanza, he then goes on about how originally he had this belief that all of the problems of the world could be "put down to luck", as in, be attributed to coincidence and chance. That humans didn't have an ultimate say in what happens because of more powerful outside forces. However, he's realized that actually we do have the power to change things and have the say in our fate, and therefore, it's our own fault for letting the world become what it is rather than luck's. With this new realization, he finds us to be disappointing then. To believe that the all the problems in the world are a matter of chance and randomness, is to free humans from blame. However, Elliott now sees that we have the real say in what happens so that there is this ultimate element of free will. We have really been the ones who have made the decisions to have a messed up world. This is why he talks about his country not "giving a fuck". It's as if his faith in the world has finally been shattered.
Anyway, with all these things in mind, he says, "a distorted reality is a now a necessity to be free," to mean that with all the madness in this world, you have to live in your own one to find contentment. It's as if his final judgement is that this is one screwed up place and the only way to be "free" or happy is to create a seperate one to escape. That is where the question of suicide arises too because it's ambiguous as to what Elliott feels the "distorted reality" actually is. Some might see it as suicide since because it seems to them that it's really the only way to be free and find liberation. It will remain an unanswered question most likely.
Oh, and as far as the repeated lines "shine on me baby/ 'cos it's raining in my heart," he's expressing how the only thing from this world that seems to comfort him is his "baby", as in the person he truly loves. He can't help but be plagued by distress and misery from his surroundings, and all that really "shines" on his rainy "heart" is his the person, in my opinion girl, he loves. It's kind of like that feeling you get sometimes when everybody around you seems so insane and depressing and all you want is to be with the one you love.
I find this song quite touching really. He expresses his vunerability in it quite beautifly when he sings "shine on...." and so on.
What a song, what a song. There will never be another quite like Elliott Smith; that's for sure.
Wow, what a song. Anyway, here's my take:
In stanza two, three, five and six, Elliott addresses a few aspects of the world he feels are screwed up. For example, in stanza two, he describes all of the hypocrisy in the message people give him about his condition. He's told in stanza one there's "no in between", meaning that there's no middleground between what we consider good and evil. Essentially, if you're doing wrong, you're bad, and if you aren't, you're good. You either are or aren't. However, in the second stanza, he sings about what liars they are because they themselves are pefect examples of people who live mediocre, "in between" lives. They claim to be moral, good, and "clean" and yet they are all very superficial and phony. This is why he sings "doll her up in virgin white". He's describing how at just about every wedding, the bride wears white to represent her purity and virginity while in fact she has already had sex and is no longer a virgin. He's just throwing in a specific instance of fakeness.
In the third stanza, he sings about how sold many people are just sell-outs and only become money leeches. All they strive for is to make a quick buck or two off of anything they can.
Then in the fourth stanza he talks about screwed up the environment has become. We now have acid rain that has been "bought up" into the air because of the power and influence of wealth. If a company has enough money, then they can get away with polluting. Interestingly, this is where Elliott includes the phrase "a distorted reality is now a necessity to be free". I'll discuss that after a few more sentences.
In the sixth stanza, he then goes on about how originally he had this belief that all of the problems of the world could be "put down to luck", as in, be attributed to coincidence and chance. That humans didn't have an ultimate say in what happens because of more powerful outside forces. However, he's realized that actually we do have the power to change things and have the say in our fate, and therefore, it's our own fault for letting the world become what it is rather than luck's. With this new realization, he finds us to be disappointing then. To believe that the all the problems in the world are a matter of chance and randomness, is to free humans from blame. However, Elliott now sees that we have the real say in what happens so that there is this ultimate element of free will. We have really been the ones who have made the decisions to have a messed up world. This is why he talks about his country not "giving a fuck". It's as if his faith in the world has finally been shattered.
Anyway, with all these things in mind, he says, "a distorted reality is a now a necessity to be free," to mean that with all the madness in this world, you have to live in your own one to find contentment. It's as if his final judgement is that this is one screwed up place and the only way to be "free" or happy is to create a seperate one to escape. That is where the question of suicide arises too because it's ambiguous as to what Elliott feels the "distorted reality" actually is. Some might see it as suicide since because it seems to them that it's really the only way to be free and find liberation. It will remain an unanswered question most likely.
Oh, and as far as the repeated lines "shine on me baby/ 'cos it's raining in my heart," he's expressing how the only thing from this world that seems to comfort him is his "baby", as in the person he truly loves. He can't help but be plagued by distress and misery from his surroundings, and all that really "shines" on his rainy "heart" is his the person, in my opinion girl, he loves. It's kind of like that feeling you get sometimes when everybody around you seems so insane and depressing and all you want is to be with the one you love.
I find this song quite touching really. He expresses his vunerability in it quite beautifly when he sings "shine on...." and so on.
What a song, what a song. There will never be another quite like Elliott Smith; that's for sure.