"This one seems to me to be about Elliott fearing that the woman he is dating is in love with the public idea of 'Elliott Smith' rather than the real him. The one she really loves is the Elliott on the blue screen or on the coin-op tv. He fears he "can't compete" with the image of himself that is out there. His public image is totally wrong, but he feels it is better than the real him, and he can never measure up to the pictures of him"
I cannot agree, because at this time, when he wrote this song (around 94/95 I guess), he wasn't famous except in Portland maybe.
I think the song has - like in many ES songs - a general meaning. In this case, he uses the TV as an allegory to describe how there can be a gap between how people see you, and how you are really...
"This one seems to me to be about Elliott fearing that the woman he is dating is in love with the public idea of 'Elliott Smith' rather than the real him. The one she really loves is the Elliott on the blue screen or on the coin-op tv. He fears he "can't compete" with the image of himself that is out there. His public image is totally wrong, but he feels it is better than the real him, and he can never measure up to the pictures of him" I cannot agree, because at this time, when he wrote this song (around 94/95 I guess), he wasn't famous except in Portland maybe. I think the song has - like in many ES songs - a general meaning. In this case, he uses the TV as an allegory to describe how there can be a gap between how people see you, and how you are really...