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Sunshine
Been keeping me up for days
There is no nightime
It's only a passing phase
And I feel pretty
Pretty enough for you
I felt so ugly before
I didn't know what to do
Sometimes
Is all I feel up to now
But it's not worth it to you
Because you got to get high somehow
Is it destruction
That you're required to feel?
Like somebody wants you
Someone that's more for real
Sunshine
Been keeping me up for days
There is no nightime
Only a passing phase
And I'll feel pretty
Another hour or two
I felt so ugly before
I didn't know what to do
Ugly before
Been keeping me up for days
There is no nightime
It's only a passing phase
And I feel pretty
Pretty enough for you
I felt so ugly before
I didn't know what to do
Sometimes
Is all I feel up to now
But it's not worth it to you
Because you got to get high somehow
Is it destruction
That you're required to feel?
Like somebody wants you
Someone that's more for real
Sunshine
Been keeping me up for days
There is no nightime
Only a passing phase
And I'll feel pretty
Another hour or two
I felt so ugly before
I didn't know what to do
Ugly before
Lyrics submitted by sarahsavedlatin
Track duration: 04:45
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I think it's about being a wreck... emotionally and finally getting a glimpse of something better *sunshine* it's bliss.
Also I think It's about life transitions. Ugly before.... It to me suggest a reflection of such a shitty time pouring into something new. I didn't know what to do. Confused. All the trouble oriented situations in adult life.
Great guitar work.
haha.... looks like it
you are both right.
Elliott did do a lot of drugs, so naturally it reflects in his art.
but that does not mean that every line is about drugs, or even the ones that most likely are, are crafted in such a way that can be taken and related to in many different ways that are not pertaining to drugs.
or things that are similar, such as anything you depend on or run to to escape.
but i think its kind of redundant to take apart every word and syllable saying that this means this, and this means this, etc.
because its more about the general feeling communicated through the song, and the tone of his voice,
that explains the song more than dissecting every word of something that is meant to be kind of vague.
"I feel so pretty, pretty enough enough for you. I felt so ugly before I didn't know what to do"
Definitly a song about drugs. I also think it has undertones of someone's struggles to stay clean and how they feel like they aren't enough without the high of the drug. That although they are being destructive by abusing drugs they really can't feel good enough when they are clean.
The album was being set to be made after he was off of drugs but a lot of the time Elliott wrote lyrics while on drugs and when he was in his sober period of life he would go through and arrange it. He didn't have to be on drugs to record a song about being on drugs. Example: The last hour. He has been seen playing this song live as of 1996 but it was on this last CD. Just an FYI
the second line is smith's reflection on a phase where he isn't trapped by his addiction to another person or drug or 'have to' kind of thinking. he is asking himself if he can have the high without the low...it's a rhetorical question and the answer is no. also, the low keeps him searching for someone or something outside himself. it is what makes him dependent and in his case, he desires someone or something superior to him. a sense of enlightenment. 'someone that's more for real'
the last stanza is him on drugs and separate from another because there is no mention of you this time. instead, 'i'll feel pretty, another hour or two'.
this song is ironic. a relationship and drugs offer a similar experience of himself. temporary bliss. temporary freedom from dependency, loneliness/ugliness/despair.
i was hung over one morning and listening to this song and the line about 'is it destruction...' connected with me. we harm ourselves to rebuild. drugs are masochistic. in "the ballad of the big nothing" (es' bio) one of smith's friends is quoted saying something like, drugs we're kind of an experiment for smith, something he believed he would pull himself out of. like the idea of searching for rock bottom. the lower the low, the higher the high. like a pendulum. makes me wonder about proving ourselves through pain to another but also chasing after the negative forces because of the release afterwards. pretty, ugly before.
this idea of 'sometimes' he gets at is powerful. i've been clean for a brief time in the last several years, and to me this song is about being off drugs. it's about accepting the 'sometimes'. when you're clean you get to experience the beauty and terror of your emotions but you give up the control. you no longer get to control when you alter your consciousness. 'but it's not worth it to you cuz you gotta get high somehow'. i think as people can relate to the craziness of craving. this song works as a song about sobriety. about giving up trying to make yourself feel pretty, ironically feeling pretty as a result, and also about being stronger than giving in to this 'have to' kind of thinking.
it is sad though because he ultimately is saying, like he does in so many songs, that he can't stay sober. that as addicts we end up 'strung-out' again.
Anyway, I believe this song is about drugs, but I don't think it's cocaine. I think it's more about heroin. I've read up on a lot of experiences from the site erowid.org (a very large site about drugs which contains legal status, addiction level, stories that people have posted about their experiences with the drug, the cost, dosage, etc. etc. etc. etc.), and apparently, no matter how they do it (injection, smoking, pill form, etc.), they feel complete bliss and relaxation. Everything is warm (sunshine), you go into a sort of 'just before sleep state' (nighttime is only a passing phase), everything seems much more comfortable, like a chair or bed, and you just never wanna get out of it, or want it to end, because you feel sooo good and blissful and everything, which is how people get so addicted to it (Sometimes is all I feel up to now, but it's not worth it to you, because you got to get high somehow). It makes you feel soo good about everything (and I feel pretty, pretty enough for you), and because of this, you just want to do it again and again (I felt so ugly before, I didn't know what to do).
That's just my interpretation from the experiences I've read up on from erowid.org. Here's the experiences I read up on from the site:
erowid.org/experiences/…
erowid.org/experiences/…
Neither of them injected it, but they said they felt soo good while under it's influence. This is how I came to the conclusion that it's about Heroin.
But it's not worth it to you
Because you got to get high somehow
Is it destruction
That you're required to feel?
Like somebody wants you
Someone that's more for real