| Elliott Smith – High Times Lyrics | 17 years ago |
| This is an intense and haunting song, and what an effect it has. This is one of his best unrealeased tracks in my opinion. I love when he sings "I'm fine right where I am." | |
| Jackson Browne – Before The Deluge Lyrics | 17 years ago |
| This is a truly beautiful song. My take on it is that it describes what happens as we get older and lose are integrity and idealism. By exchanging "love's bright and fragile glow" for "glitter and rouge", we become less true to ourselves and the passion of our youth. Man, I love this song. | |
| The Beatles – Yer Blues Lyrics | 17 years ago |
| I believe Lennon intended this song to mock the British blues scene. Thus the somewhat facetious title "Yer Blues". I find that this seems particularly true by how exaggerated the suicidal feeling is in the song. Plus, it seems that Lennon included the line, "Even hate my rock and rock", for some irony. Either way, the song comes across quite powerfully. One of my favorites from the White Album. | |
| Elliott Smith – Little One Lyrics | 17 years ago |
| I can hear the resemblance to "Long Long Long" from the White Album. It's strange how Beatles-esque he can get without ever sounding like he just copied them. | |
| Simon and Garfunkel – My Little Town Lyrics | 17 years ago |
| Seriously, I'm with you on that one cowboy. I'm kind of puzzled by this song because he suddenly starts talking about "death and dying". This is one of my favorites by them. | |
| The Beatles – Martha My Dear Lyrics | 17 years ago |
| Hmmm... deserves much more than a mere nine comments, so I'll make it ten. By the way, I love when it switches to the guitar pop beat at 1:00. | |
| Elliott Smith – No Name #2 Lyrics | 17 years ago |
| I love it when he uses the harmonica in his songs. It's a rare treat. | |
| Elliott Smith – Kiwi Maddog 20/20 Lyrics | 17 years ago |
| I'm glad I've never had the experience then. | |
| Sufjan Stevens – Out of Egypt, Into the Great Laugh of Mankind, and I Shake the Dirt from My Sandals as I Run Lyrics | 17 years ago |
| I love that he chose to conclude the album with such an interesting song. There's just this serence sense of closure at the end. | |
| Sufjan Stevens – The Tallest Man, the Broadest Shoulders (Part 1: The Great Frontier; Part 2: Come to Me Only with Playthings Now) Lyrics | 17 years ago |
| It's in 11/8. I don't feel like typing much more than that at the moment. | |
| Sufjan Stevens – Put the Lights on the Tree Lyrics | 17 years ago |
| The cartoon movie that goes with the song on the Christmas album is great. It really is such a cheery song. I love the woodwins on it. | |
| Sufjan Stevens – Hey Guys! It's Christmas Time! Lyrics | 17 years ago |
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Yeah, I read somewhere that he considers himself a "failed writer". Silly Sufjan. I just got the Christmas album in the mail yesterday. It's great! The best eighteen bucks I'll spend this season. He has a great sense of humor and it shows in his stories. |
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| Paris Hilton – Turn It Up Lyrics | 17 years ago |
| That was hilarious, elcapitanloco. hahaha Very good comment. | |
| Pink Floyd – Echoes Lyrics | 17 years ago |
| This song just transcends everything. The lyrics are amazing. | |
| Sufjan Stevens – Sister Winter Lyrics | 17 years ago |
| Jingle Bells is no competition for Sufjan Steven's beautiful winter song. Take that you lame Christmas carol. | |
| Elliott Smith – Because (The Beatles cover) Lyrics | 17 years ago |
| Actually, the Moonlight Sonata is in 4/4. It's just that it's famous melody's rhythm is based in triplets, which is why someone might think 3/4, or rather, 3/8. Anyway, just though I'd make a correction. Great cover though. | |
| Elliott Smith – Kiwi Maddog 20/20 Lyrics | 17 years ago |
| I have no idea where Elliott got the inspiration for such a strange title. Anyway, I think that "Roman Candle" is hugely underrated. So many people get caught up with "Either/Or" and seem to forget about "Roman Candle" or "Elliott Smith". | |
| Elliott Smith – Angel in the Snow Lyrics | 17 years ago |
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I'm pretty sure if an Elevinth Commandment were created it would go something like this: "Thou shalt not assume Elliott Smith's music is always about drugs." I can see the relevance in some songs to drugs, such as with "Needle in the Hay" or "True Love", but when people try with all their might to force every song of his to be about drugs, it gets irritating. There was more to him than drugs. Isn't it possible that in some fiber of his body there was more to him than addiction? This might sound outrageous to some of you, but I'm going to say it anyway. Perhaps Elliott Smith fell in love once! Shocking thought, isn't it? Because that would mean that insteand of always symbolizing drugs with a girl, he actually might be referring to another human being! I really don't consider this song in anyway to be about drugs. Anyone who has ever had strong feelings for someone who does not return them should be able to relate to this song. The person doesn't realize how much they mean to him, and they don't realize how much they are hurting him. This is why, "Don't you know that I love you?" is asked. It's a beautiful song. One of his most heartfelt. |
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| Simon and Garfunkel – For Emily, Whenever I May Find Her Lyrics | 17 years ago |
| This song is unbelievable. I've never heard the studio version, just the live one, but I am pretty sure that it is impossible for the studio to compare to the live. It's one of the most passionate songs I have ever heard. There's not much complexity to the song. He's just describing a lovely dream he has about the girl he loves. The lyrics and singing are amazing. | |
| Elliott Smith – Let's Get Lost Lyrics | 17 years ago |
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I think this song is about Elliott Smith telling all the morons in the world who think every song of his is about drugs to "get lost". Just kidding. That's acutally just how I feel. Anyway, Most people here have really said what I would say in my interpretation. I think that Elliott is describing a situation where he feels amibivalent about getting lost and making his "true love" die. He wants to enjoy the company of someone who cares about him deeply, but he also realizes that he is too restless and troubled to actually commit to a relationship. This song reminds me of "Pitseleh" since they're both about the ambivalence of relinquishing the one you care about. Both are quite beautiful too. |
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| Simon and Garfunkel – Mrs. Robinson Lyrics | 17 years ago |
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I'm not really sure what to say about the song being about Mrs. Roosevelt. In it's own cotext, the song seems to be about the loss of innocence of the post-war traditions to the unstable times of the 1960's. Joe Di Maggio represents the older, more wholesome times after World War II while Mrs. Robinson is an example of how the traditions have been perverted and ruined. For instance, rather than being a faithful wife and mother, she's had an affair. Another instance of this is how she seems to not have an interest in Jesus and just what could be called "common decency". It's a great song though. Really sums up the state of things. Quite insightful. |
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| Elliott Smith – A Distorted Reality Is Now a Necessity to Be Free Lyrics | 17 years ago |
| Oh, by the way, sorry for such a long entry. I guess I got a little carried away... It's just such an amazing song. | |
| Elliott Smith – A Distorted Reality Is Now a Necessity to Be Free Lyrics | 17 years ago |
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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. |
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