Addiction. Only an addict, or ex-addict, can TRULY get every connection in Smith's songs. I guess if you've intimately known an addict, you'd get a lot of it. I hate to say it and there's a lot for other people, too. But his songs have these lines that seems either nonsensical or sometimes a little trite until- BOOM, if you struggle with addiction and he's there along with you, the meaning clicks. He needs drugs to write, he needs drugs to not be completely bored by the ugliness of 21st century urban American, he needs drugs to be happy. He's blaming everyone but himself, which Elliott surely did on purpose- made the narrator unreliable to mirror the deception and denial inherent in the addict's world. Perfect. Sorry to suggest some people will never get this music, I really think that's just like an extra layer of paint on what's already a beautiful and shiny edifice.
Addiction. Only an addict, or ex-addict, can TRULY get every connection in Smith's songs. I guess if you've intimately known an addict, you'd get a lot of it. I hate to say it and there's a lot for other people, too. But his songs have these lines that seems either nonsensical or sometimes a little trite until- BOOM, if you struggle with addiction and he's there along with you, the meaning clicks. He needs drugs to write, he needs drugs to not be completely bored by the ugliness of 21st century urban American, he needs drugs to be happy. He's blaming everyone but himself, which Elliott surely did on purpose- made the narrator unreliable to mirror the deception and denial inherent in the addict's world. Perfect. Sorry to suggest some people will never get this music, I really think that's just like an extra layer of paint on what's already a beautiful and shiny edifice.