A Passing Feeling Lyrics

Lyric discussion by stegbo 

Cover art for A Passing Feeling lyrics by Elliott Smith

Hmm, no one seems to think about this song like I do. In the beginning he talks about how a bullet was just fired. He has killed himself, and now he is waiting for something to happen. Obviously, no one knows what happens when you die. Hes waiting for whatever it is happens when you die. And I think the city he built up and blew to hell, is his own body. Think about it, he aged and grew up into an adult taking care of himself, then he just destroyed it with drugs. Hes sending drugs down his veins when he says hes sending his request for relief down the dead power lines.

the echo of a burst of a shell is a metaphor for the shooting heroin.

the shell (charge) is shooting it. the burst is the rush. the echo is the feeling as it fades into the rest of the dull sensation.

and he's waiting for that passing feeling again. it's so short, it only exists in passing. yet that's what every junky wants. that passing feeling.

You really have no idea about the person you're listening to. The city he blew to hell is his own life, everything he created crumbled, caused by the fuses he lit. If you had any sort of psychologically metaphorical way of interpreting things like Elliott did, you'd realize that when he says "Took a long time to stand, took an hour to fall", he means it took him a life time to build his city, his castle, but it took him only a very short time to destroy it all.

Elliott speaks of a bigger picture, he's not...

@jimicobain I’m not sure if you’re directing your comment at me as well. I had no intention of making my comment seem like it was strictly focused on drugs, but I can understand why you might think that. I agree with you that Elliott’s lyrics were very broad and impressionistic. This song is about many aspects of ones life, I just included what line of two I thought could be interpreted as drugs. The whole song is extravagantly poignant and obviously much deeper.