Lyrics for King's Crossing as interpreted by Mopnugget

King's Crossing Lyrics
The king's crossing was the main attraction
Dominos are falling in a chain reaction
The scraping subject ruled by fear told me
Whiskey works better than beer

The judge is on vinyl, decisions are final
And nobody gets a reprieve
And every wave is tidal
If you hang around
You're going to get wet

I can't prepare for death any more than I already have
All you can do now is watch the shells
The game looks easy, that's why it sells
Frustrated fireworks inside your head
Are going to stand and deliver talk instead
The method acting that pays my bills
Keeps the fat man feeding in Beverly Hills
I got a heavy metal mouth that hurls obscenity
And I get my check from the trash treasury
Because I took my own insides out

It don't matter because I have no sex life
All I want to do now is inject my ex-wife
I've seen the movie
And I know what happens

It's Christmas time
And the needles on the tree
A skinny Santa is bringing something to me
His voice is overwhelming
But his speech is slurred
And I only understand every other word
Open your parachute and grab your gun
Falling down like an omen, a setting sun
Read the part and return at five
It's a hell of a role if you can keep it alive
But I don't care if I fuck up
I'm going on a date
With a rich white lady
Ain't life great?
Give me one good reason not to do it
(Because we love you)
So do it

This is the place where time reverses
Dead men talk to all the pretty nurses
Instruments shine on a silver tray
Don't let me get carried away
Don't let me get carried away
Don't let me be carried away

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Arienette
10-10-2004

Rated 0 
this song is nothing less than amazing. one of my newest elliott favorites. on sweetadeline the live recording is wonderful. he sings it with so much passion. i can't wait til the album comes out later this month

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wabashii
10-13-2004

Rated 0 
the title and lyric used to be "big problem" for some reason. but anyways.. the live versions are nothing compared to the new version on the album. the piano intro is great, and when the bass and drums come in, holy fuck. my favorite song right now.

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jack_the_brat
10-19-2004

Rated 0 
that piano intro...my god, haunting beauty, what sadness

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mfluder2676
10-21-2004

Rated 0 
A suicide song if I ever heard one. Actually, "From a Basement on the Hill" could be THE definitive suicide album, which is unfortunate because its great and should have been a precursor for even better stuff (if that's possible).

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negatyve
10-25-2004

Rated 0 
This song seems to hauntingly draw out a suicide note itself from beyond the grave. Lyrics like "I can't prepare for death anymore than I already have" pierce the soul. He goes on to highlight his disillusion with the music industry with "the method acting that pays my bills keeps a rich man feeding in beverly hills" and his heroin addiction with an entire verse.

King's Crossing is the inescapable climax in a the downward spiraling story Smith has painted for us since Figure 8. One of the best songs of 2004 on one of the best albums of 2004. It's all too sad that Elliott took his own life well before his full potential could be realized.

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loneghan
10-25-2004

Rated 0 
I disagree that smith took his own life before his full potential was realised. Thats doing a diservice to his work. I think he more than fullfilled his potential with some of the most moving and amazing songs of the last ten years. I think the saddest thing is that this was not realised by a larger number of our worlds population, though in the same breath i can also imagine that that kind of adulation would have been the last thing that elliot could have wanted.
Many reviews i have read of 'from a basement....' have claimed that the lyrics give no indication of what ensued. I dont agree.
'i can't prepare for death any more than i already have'
'give me one good reason not to do it'
Speaks for itself as far as im concerned.

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nopoetic
10-29-2004

Rated 0 
this song reads like he has a gun to his head. its so sad and deep. Elliott Smith is the most talented song writer ive ever heard, and i love the Beatles. this man was brilliant. yes, he was heavily influenced by the Beatles, but he did it better in my opinion. everyone will probably disagree with me, but i find Elliott a lot more interesting and entertaining. From A Basement On The Hill has the best songs he's ever written, sadly the album isnt as strong as it should be because of his death. if he had lived, this album would have been absolutely stunning, if it already isnt to some of you.

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loneghan
10-31-2004

Rated 0 
"sadly the album isnt as strong as it should be because of his death"- what do you mean by that, nopoetic? An album is the same whether the artist who recorded it is alive or dead. Its another fantastic elliot smith album. i dont personally think its his best, but its got some outstanding songs on it. What would have made the album stunning if he had of lived?

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acm
11-08-2004

Rated 0 
This song is like none other I've heard. He has put his torments to verse, setting them within some of the most beautiful, poweful music that he's written. The most chilling moments come at the beginning and at the end of the song. The beginning, when we hear Elliott's lone voice struggling to rise over the clamor of street urchins, dealers, etc., paints for us a truly vivid and wrenchingingly painful picture from his memories of what we imagine are so many late night, back alley moments. The end, when he sees "dead men talk to all the pretty nurses" and "instruments shining on silver trays" reminds us who know how his final moments transpired of only one thing. "Don't let me be carried away" - this heartbreaking plea would have been answered by many thousands of us in a second. If only we knew how.

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nopoetic
11-10-2004

Rated 0 
it was unfinished, it was set to be a double album if you read any info on it. it was compiled by his friends and family so it wasnt exactly what he would have made. its still amazing, but just not as an album, it has some of his greatest songs, this one included.

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suckmuhpeeniz
11-13-2004

Rated 0 
This song is heartbreaking. I'm amazed, time and time again, song after song, by Elliott Smith's ability to put such feeling into words. This song is a masterpiece, and Mr. Smith truly lives on through his music.

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sethbrown
11-18-2004

Rated 0 
just adding this to the main lyrics:

give me one good reason not to do it
(because i love you)
so do it

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fore777
11-23-2004

Rated 0 
This is an amazing song that discusses suicide but moreso Elliott's heroin addiction. This quote:
"it's christmas time
and the needles on the tree
a skinny santa is bringing something to me
his voice is overwhelming
but his speech is slurred"

makes me think of heroin because of the "needles" and the skinny santa that is bringing the drugs to him.

also, this quote:
"but i don't care if i fuck up
i'm going on a date
with a rich white lady
ain't life great?
give me one good reason not to do it"

makes me think of heroin as well because the "rich white lady" is the actual heroin and then he proceeds to say give me one good reason not to do it. This last part could also be relating to suicide but I think it also has to do w/ heroine as well.

Am I making any sense?

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madamemim
11-25-2004

Rated 0 
i think you do make sense, fore777
also this quote "all i want to do now is inject my ex wife" makes me think of heroine, though the "ex wife" makes me wonder..
what a beautiful song.

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thehumanresponse
11-29-2004

Rated 0 
sethbrown beat me to it, yea def. put that in there, b/c when he would sing this at concerts his gf jennifer chiba and his half sister ashley would yell because we love, and she recorded it onto the track and after that he asked her to marry him. RIP elliott

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Dixeychik
12-01-2004

Rated 0 
I've always pictured this song as something that was happening as he was very much on drugs. The "Santa" with the slurred speech and skinny manner makes me think that Santa is a metaphor for a drug dealer. I honestly picture Elliot sitting on a couch throughout the whole song and random people coming in and out of his house to shoot up and him on the verge of purposly overdosing the whole time.

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gatesart
12-02-2004

Rated 0 
in reference to nopoetics comments i have to say that i think an artist like elliott smith left this music behind purposely to be put together by his friends and family etc he specifically told a friend engineer how he wanted it mixed should anything happen to him i heard he wanted it much more lo fi . either way this is one of the greatest rock records ever. i think it will take awhile to catch up to where it should be, but that's how it goes...

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gatesart
12-02-2004

Rated 0 
decisions are final
decisions are final
decisions are final
decisions are final

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themorningafter
12-02-2004

Rated 0 
I agree that the song could either be suicidal or about heroin, but what is the actual "King's Crossing," though? The whole first verse pretty much confuses me, and I also think that the line about time reversing is pretty interesting.

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gatesart
12-02-2004

Rated 0 
notice how just before the verse 'this is the place where time reverses.....' there is a reversed guitar loop that establishes a new 'place' altogether. that's brilliant shit.

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gatesart
12-02-2004

Rated 0 
lyric correction: read the part and return at five, its a hell of a role if you can keep it alive.

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Statbucksbabe28
12-05-2004

Rated 0 
the lyrics for this song were recorded oct. 20, 2003 - one day before elliott's death.

and if you listen carefully, right after "give me one good reason not to do it..." you can hear jennifer chiba's line "because we love you" that elliott had her record because she and elliott's sister would yell that during his concert's

so sweet <3

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molotovsix
12-06-2004

Rated 0 
in response to fore777, yeah, its totally about heroin addiction. inject his ex-wife, his ex-wife is heroin. like lou reed said, "heroin, it's my life, its my wife".

it don't matter cause i have no sex life
(heroin diminishes your urge to fuck, basically, cause god knows that smack is better than sex.)
all i want to do now is inject my ex wife (self explanatory)
i've seen the movie
and i know what happens

it's christmas time
and the needles on the tree
a skinny santa is bringing something to me
(haha, elliott is so funny. this line always makes me laugh, because you can almost hear him smiling as he says it as he pictures a skinny santa bringing him a bag of dope...hey, if i saw that, id smile too. nothing is better than a fat sack of smack on christmas morning.)
his voice is overwhelming
but his speech is slurred
and i only understand every other word
(you can't understand a god damn thing anyone says when they're high on heroin. your speech gets slurred, your vision gets blurred, you kind of become this puddle because all of your muscles relax & you just sink into euphoria - ps the skinny santa is a junkie.)

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themorningafter
12-07-2004

Rated 0 
Perhaps the skinny santa could also be a needle. I mean, granted, that'd be a REALLY skinny santa, but still - and is the actual "king's crossing" an allusion to something that I'm just ignorant of?

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NishFets
12-08-2004

Rated 0 
King's Crossing is a safe injection site in Sydney, Australia. I'm not sure if Elliott knew this, or had been there, but it makes a whole lot of sense.

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