Half Right Lyrics

Lyric discussion by Carmharm 

Cover art for Half Right lyrics by Elliott Smith

Here are my thoughts stanza by stanza,

“Well you shouldn't doctor yourself Well I pictured somebody else Someone that looks like What I look like”

you can’t heal all the pain on your own I pictured myself helping you heal us helping heal each other mirroring

“Would you say that the one of your dreams Got in you and ripped out the seams? That's what I'd say That's what I'd say”

Instead of helping stitch the wound shut the person made the wound bigger

“He was a sucker for your double dose Motherfucker turned white as a ghost Don't you say hi? Don't you say hi?”

He was drawn to you not knowing what he was getting into now he is paralyzed and can barely handle you, he can’t even greet you or acknowledge he knows you

“With a broken sink for a face And a head that just takes up space He's not half right He's not half right”

A broken sink has a faucet that can’t shut off crying his head is so full of thoughts of himself he isn’t paying attention

“It's already half past And it won't last”

A relationship is two halves They stopped putting in effort The length of time you could wait for them has ended The other half never fully shows up,
Never truly arrives.

“I was sticking up for my friend When there's nothing much to defend It's a lost fight It's a lost fight”

You want to hope they will do better but there is so little hope to fight for

'”cause when I talk to you on the phone Well it's just like being alone It's not half right It's not half right”

It’s isolating now even when you speak they have checked out the other person can’t show up even halfway

Last thoughts: it’s amazing to think about the idea of halves and twos like two people in a relationship/ the words half past etc throughout the song. He even states the ends of every verse with two repeating lines

If you’ve read this post far thank you!

Negative
Subjective
Sadness
Relationships
Isolation
Emotional Struggle
Loss
Communication Breakdown