Lyrics for Coast to Coast as interpreted by planetearth

Coast to Coast Lyrics
Last stop for a resolution
End of the line, is it confusion?
So go, go see what's there for you
Nothing new, nothing new for you to use
I've got no new act to amuse you
I've got no desire to use you, you know
But anything that I could do
Would never be good enough for you
If you can't help it, then just leave it alone
Leave it alone, yeah, just forget it
It's really easy
I believe I’ll forget it too
Still you're keeping me around
Until I finally drag us both down
Streaming feathers out your hat
Yes, I believe that's where it's at
You belong tagging along
And I belong in your zoo
So I wait for confirmation
That you're never going to use your starting gun
Unless it’s me it sounds like being here
Just wasn't that much fun
Anything that I could do
Would never be good enough for you
If you can't help it, then just leave it alone
Leave me alone, yeah, just forget it
It's really easy
I'll just forget it too
Coast to coast, coast to coast
I'll do what I can so you can be what you do
Coast to coast, coast to coast
I'll do everything I can so you can be what you do
Coast to coast, coast to coast
Circuit rider comes every fifth Sunday
Oh my lord, I fell asleep one day
Anything that I could do
Is there anything that I could do?
That someone doesn't do for you
That someone didn't do for you
That I haven't already done for you

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planetearth
07-03-2004

Rated 0 
This song's from the yet to be released last album from Elliott Smith known as 'From A Basement On The Hill.'

Some words about this song from Elliott's last interview: "This one was called Circuit Rider but not any more. This song I don't play everything on. This one actually has two drummers on it. One is Steve Drozd from the Flaming Lips and the other is the drummer for the Lillies. Steve and I are good friends and we've both had similar situations and we have both improved in the same way. I asked this friend of mine to make up something he could say as fast as he could in fifteen minutes about people healing themselves or being unable to heal themselves. While he's saying this thing there is a main vocal that goes over that."

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man on tv
10-20-2004

Rated 0 
dude the cd is awesome it came out on my birthday :)

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ilovetrish
10-20-2004

Rated 0 
dude, the cd came out on my bday also!! oct.19 rocks.

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unc1emoe
10-21-2004

Rated 0 
This cd has been out for two days and I've already listened to this song a half dozen times. Even though it's not stripped down like some of his best songs, this one really stands out for some reason. Anyway, I think this song is about a last ditch attempt to stop the dissolution of a relationship. I thought at first the relationship in question was that of his parents, as they were divorced, but he wouldn't have been old enough to remember their split.

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mfluder2676
10-21-2004

Rated 0 
I'm just speculating here, but it sounds like this song may have something to do with Elliott's relationship with Jennifer Chiba at the time of his death. Seriously, look at the lyrics: "I've got no new act to amuse you," "Streaming feathers out your hat" -- these sound like the sort of things a semi-famous, hugely talented guy like Elliott would say to a considerably less-famous musician girlfriend who he'd been seeing for all of a year. Consider the line "I'll do what I can so you can be what you do"; I take this as a direct reference to Elliott's production work on Chiba's band's single, the one that apparently never panned out. In other words, he's saying "I'll do you this favor so you'll have something to back up this rock star attitude you've assumed." Of course, I have no idea what Chiba is like or was like at the time of Elliott's death, so, like I said, just speculation. But still, pretty interesting if you think about it..."Coast to Coast" could refer to the jetset lifestyle of a rock star, or perhaps someone who fancies herself a rock star without really having anything to show for it.

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lisalynn
12-14-2004

Rated 0 
umm, im pretty sure the cd was released on the one year anniversary of his death:( brilliant cd and brilliant song...

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roach133
12-23-2004

Rated 0 
i think mfluder2676 is on to something. it totally sounds like it has something to do with smith's relationship with chiba.

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suckmuhpeeniz
12-23-2004

Rated 0 
At first, I thought this song might be about Elliott's feelings toward his stardom, and he's talking to his fans, or the people listening to his music. You know, with the line about "I belong in your zoo," like he's only there for entertainment, and to him "being here just wasn't that much fun."

But the rest of the song doesn't really agree with that interpretation, and I think mfluder2676 did a very good job interpreting it. I think you're probably exactly right.

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a fond farewell
12-24-2004

Rated 0 
Unless it’s me it sounds like being here just wasn't that much fun - concludes to the fact that he probably never really had the greatest times in the relationship him and his girlfriend lived. so in other words, im agreeing with mfluder2676.

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MARY K
12-28-2004

Rated 0 
You belong tagging along
And I belong in your zoo

I have to listen close one more time, cuz i thought he said "in THE zoo" which makes it really funny, like he's an animal, instead of an animal who is caged that belongs to someone for entertainment, where then it just comes off as depressing..........

So I wait for confirmation
That you're never going to use your starting gun

and i can't help but think of his other song that starts off
"i'm a junk yard full of false starts..."

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chapfalleneyes
12-30-2004

Rated 0 
I strongly believe that this song is directed to the friends who tried to help Elliott Smith, the friends who didn't like how he was living his life. I recall Elliott Smith saying in an interview that a lot of people wish he'd live a better life. And he'd just wanted to be left alone. The lyrics "just leave it alone. leave me alone. The lyrics "you belong tagging along. And I belong in your zoo" seem to be about the discomfort he felt when people told him how to live his life. It was as if he was in a zoo, locked up, where people could watch his every single mood. And then the lyrics "I'll do what I can so you can be what you do" seem to be implying "i'll keep on living my life miserably until you can see that when I think of you, I will only think of how you try to change me. Eventually, that will be the only thing that will define who you are, in my eyes."

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themunkel
01-07-2005

Rated 0 
Does anyone have a transcript of the poems that he recites at the end of the song? It's whispered, and set up so he's saying different things into each of my ears.

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lisalynn
01-12-2005

Rated 0 
actaully the poems are recited by a friend of his.. from what he said about it, it sounds like he recorded 15 minutes of his friend saying this poetry he wrote as fast as he could and elliott took the parts he liked and put them over eachother so theres a lot going on and being said.. i always try and hear the words to the poem but its kinda impossible to figure it out.. i dont think theres any transcript around.. i love the part where elliott says 'thats why' over it all in the end.. oh and i was mistaken, the annaversary of his death was 2 days after the release of the album, the 21st.

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enigmatic_jess
01-12-2005

Rated 0 
ditto to the 'that's why' comment

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facedownowls
02-25-2005

Rated 0 
I just noticed the "That's why" line the other night for the first time while driving with the volume WAY up. All I could think was "What does THAT mean!?" I really like how the beginning of the song has that loop of music in which you can hear the main guitar and vocal melody foreshadowed. Is this the Rachmaninoff sample? If so, I think it's great that he "sampled" the riff from such an obscure source and made it his own.

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facedownowls
02-25-2005

Rated 0 
By the way....at the very beginning of the song, Elliott says something else....twice...right before the vocals start. Almost sounds like "Preacher.....Preacher". Could be "Push it.." Any thoughts?

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WeezDay
03-22-2005

Rated 0 
...i always thought he said "push it" in the beggining...

This song is so powerful. I love the way he sounds so helpless. It's about a fed up guy (probably Elliott himself) and the troubles with his girl. It sounds as if the girl left him once and is trying to get back with him, and when she tries to, he is at first excited. But soon, he realizes that nothing between them is new and she will leave him again sooner or later.

"Last stop for a resolution
End of the line, is it confusion?
So go. Go see what's there for you
Nothing new, nothing new for you to use
I've got no new act to amuse you
I've got no desire to use you, you know
But anything that I could do,
would never be good enough for you"

He lets her know here that he is not going to try to keep her amused (ie happy) and that she has destroyed his confidence to the point where he doesn't believe that they can be together. Neither of them can help this so he suggests....

"If you can't help it then just leave it alone
Leave it alone, yeah, just forget it
It's really easy
I believe I’ll forget it too"

He wants her to just let it go, but....

"Still you're keeping me around
Till I finally drag us both down"
(my favorite lyrics of the song)

skipping to the end, his frustrations are expressed fully with the lines

"Is there anything that I could do?
That someone doesn't do for you
That someone didn't do for you
That I haven't already done for you ?"

meaning...Fuck it all, women, it won't work! As for the 'thats why', i interpretted it as if his girlfriend asked him why he wants to end the relationship, and since the lyrics are about a doomed relationship, he tells her "Thats why".
sorry to sound like a know it all throughout this lil rant here : )

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sevleyxes
04-17-2005

Rated 0 
actually the first two words that are hard to hear are "pushy, preachy"

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neo93
08-25-2005

Rated 0 
The last bit is two evangelists the "you're going to hell types" that Elliott was tired of. He was tired of hearing how he was going to hell and that he was a sinner when he was just trying to get by. People telling him what to do because they thought they understood him, and he was sick of it. He would stop one thing and then they would go after him for another.
"Anything that I could do
Would never be good enough for you"

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Miss_Misery
08-29-2005

Rated 0 
OK, I've worked out some/most of the two poems read out at the end. At some points they make no sense at all, but I tried my best! Hopefully someone else can add to them?

One of the voices says

"...in your paths, the preacher ... the underpath
.. at my speech the one
Disembodied from the flood …
Simplest from the wilders
You held out to me the palm of your hand
Emanate your presence
And let me strive and then
Go shadows for your tolerance
With fog rolls in your .. full, your salt
Explains feathers that flip from air
.. as I sold
To be consumed by the snow white cold
If only I could
If only the plastic hold could stand the flame
Then this fabric torch
Would know no shame and be at strict play
With the sun that burns the glory
And honor of your mortal holy name
In the twilight the morning starts to glow
Unmistakable
Keeping me where I go
with smoothing and sway
To be begged
Filled with ancient.."


Then the other voice (which was much harder to work out by the way!) says

… Sublime sketch
This principle fuel check
Will keep a decision
To be either emerald with envy
Or emerald with ...
fortune doesn't divvy (??) with..
with a possibility
and I kept mine
To go one green world after the next
No I don't take bets
Almost notes this
With the sung pages
Of future songs
Reigster from priceless indecisiveness
Alter calm .. designs
From the greatness of change and chance
Free wills merit glorious motive change
With the blueprints of fates reigns mapped
Unrolled from a it’s silk scroll
.. prance
By the wall to windows face as you dance
Looking out at the spring into deep space
At which.

It's easiest to work out if you listen with headphones, and just listen through one headphone for each voice


So ... I hope that helped.

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rival it seems
01-11-2006

Rated +1 
this whole cd is a masterpiece.

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itstheonlyway
01-22-2006

Rated 0 
i think that at the end when theres numerous people reciting random mumbled poetry and he comes on and says " this is why"
could that be hinting to his death?

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itstheonlyway
01-22-2006

Rated 0 
as in whatever they are saying is why he did it.

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bluelikewater
01-25-2006

Rated 0 
its a foreshadow of his suicide

I wait for confirmation
That you're never going to use your starting gun
Unless it’s me it sounds like being here just wasn't that much fun


that is totally saying he is positive nothing will actually ever start or happen in his life
and he never had fun
its all about this life


Oh my lord, I fell asleep one day
Anything that I could do
Is there anything that I could do?
That someone doesn't do for you
That someone didn't do for you
That I haven't already done for you




thats him saying he cant do anything for God or hes not good enough hes useless.



go see what there is, nothing new. nothing new for you to use

saying there is nothing new he can use hes done every drug nothing helps

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spreadeagle135
02-14-2006

Rated 0 
i was just wondering, i know this song is from basement on a hill, his last album, but i was wondering if anyone heard what i heard at the end of the song. When the two voices are talking and the piano is playing, dont you hear elliott say "that's why," imean, when i first heard that he committed suicide (alegedly) i thought of that part

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