Elliott Smith – See You Later

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You got a choke chain
Made out of night train
To keep your memory down
In quicksand from the main man
To gel everything out
Always out on a joyride
Lay it out from insides
Always at a dead stall
From sticking pins into miniature men
Who can't feel it at all

See you later
See you later
If I see you at all
See you later

See you later
See you later
If I see you at all
See you later

Walk through thick mud
Looking for new blood
Thinking I heard your name
Cruel imagination is still giving me pain
Just to find you with the
Masterminder
Of one of your little affairs
Saying how he loves you now
Let me show you how much I care

See you later
See you later
If I see you at all

See you later
See you later
If I see you at all

See you later
See you later
If I see you at all
See you later

Send "See You Later" Ringtone to Cell


Lyrics submitted by figureeight

Track duration: 02:54

"See You Later" as written by Steven P. Smith, Neil Gust

Lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group

Lyrics powered by LyricFind


See You Later song meanings
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11 Comments

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  • 0
    General Comment:I think the lyrics are wrong here.

    First of all it's 'I got a choke chain, made out of Night Train, to keep your memory down'. He's using booze (specifically Night Train - refer to Guns N' Roses eponymous track named after the cheap drink) to get whoever it is he's talking about out of his mind (presumably a girl, or possibly heroine - i.e. he's drinking to try and fill the gap so he doesn't shoot up again).

    'Quicksand from the main man to drown everything out' must be heroine he's buying from a dealer. While this isn't a term I'm familiar with, it's easy to see how heroine could be compared to quicksand.

    'Sticking pins into miniature men who can't feel it at all'. Surely a reference to needles - the miniature men could be him and his friend who are now strung out that even the quantities of heroine they're able to lay their hands on don't do the trick any more. 'Miniature' could simply be a pejorative term as he regards himself as no kind of man. I suppose this could be a voodoo reference, but hard to see how it fits in with the context of the song.

    'Walk through thick mud, looking for new blood'. Seems to echo the 'New Disaster' lyrics where he talks about new blood and walking through mud. Here though, it's hard to see the thick mud as anything other than the quicksand mentioned in the first verse; i.e. heroine. 'Looking for new blood' - I regard this as a reference to a heroine addict trying to find new veins to inject into. Over time the veins collapse until finding a place to inject into becomes very difficult.

    The latter half of the second verse is tough to understand, other than assuming it refers to whoever this song is written about/to. The natural assumption is that it is a girl he is trying to forget. She now has a new guy who she says she loves (though she seems to do this a lot as Elliott sees this as 'one of her little affairs'), and has taken all of her cares away. It may be that this new guy is a heroine dealer, which is how he has managed to take all of her cares away, in which case this individual has 'masterminded' one her 'little affairs', the affair being a fix that she has managed to purchase.

    Thoughts? I find that people sometimes try to read too much into Elliott's songs, and this ironically doesn't allow them to see the clever word craft and use of metaphor. Most of his songs are about lost love or drug abuse, and normally a combination of the two. King's Crossing is a classic - there are about 20 different references to drugs, that are cleverly incorporated into metaphors so that they could have other meanings. However, the meaning is clear to anyone who has read biographies of this extremely talented, yet sadly broken man. Possibly the best songwriter and lyricist of his generation. Hard to think of many others that are better.
    Flag jamiegoldon January 09, 2013   Link
  • 0
    General Comment:Sheeeit, didn't see that that was already mentioned. No deleting?
    Flag johnny_tsunamion October 10, 2012   Link
  • 0
    General Comment:Night Train refers to Night Train Express, an extremely cheap fortified wine, consumed for the sole purpose of getting drunk, 'to gel everything out'. Not sure why wallflower sees that as pretentious
    Flag johnny_tsunamion October 10, 2012   Link
  • +2
    General Comment:This song is about heroin. Night Train is the name of a brand of stamp bag. quicksand from the main man clearly a drug reference. Sticking pins into miniature men is talking about shooting up. walked through thick mud looking for new blood. I think he is talking about the hassle you go through to find your next fix. It could of originally been about a girl but i think his addiction was on the forefront of his mind and dominates the subject matter
    Flag knellershappycamperon December 09, 2010   Link
  • +1
    General Comment:I think he's talking about a girl that left him for a total asshole. He's trying to forget her, but he can't. He remembers being with her when they were both on drugs, feeling paranoid. He tries to concentrate on work ("main man" might be a reference to his manager or a record company), but no matter what, something always reminds him. The "thick mud" is his struggle to move on to somebody new(new blood). Both of them are clean for the time being, and don't want to go back to where they were. Elliott sees that he's better off without her, but he still misses her.
    Flag dowhatisayon September 29, 2010   Link
  • 0
    General Comment:It's kind of funny that it makes sense to be about his dog yet somehow that doesn't cheapen the song.
    Flag oksokolon December 05, 2009   Link
  • 0
    General Comment:This is one of my favorite songs of Elliott's. I don't know why people think this about a relationship, I just can't see that. It actually is about Elliott's childhood pet, his dog, Luke. Luke ran away when he was thirteen, and a rudimentary version of this song was the first song he ever wrote. If you listen to it carefully you can easily hear why. He makes allusions to dogs/dog owning with such lines as "got a choke chain made out of night train..." (that line in particularly is very clever). Also he recalls searching for the dog with lines like "Walked through thick mud... thinking I heard your name" He threw in the line "looking for new blood" to throw off listeners, because the subject of Luke was just too painful for him.
    Flag SongGuru777on August 31, 2009   Link
  • 0
    General Comment:i was always sure it was "nitrate" too. seems to make more sense to me, though idk, i guess it could be "nightrain"... little pretentious though (and therefore unlike elliott).

    Flag wallflower_punchon July 29, 2009   Link
    • 2 Replies
  • 0
    General Comment:I always thought the lyric was "I got a choke chain made out of nitrate". Anyone else hear that?

    I love this song. There's this sad kind of half-hopeful feeling in the chorus.
    Flag Shock28on October 18, 2008   Link
  • 0
    General Comment:when it was a heatmiser song it wasnt about drugs it was about just an Ex whose showing off her new guy and elliotts like okay fuck you to.
    Just to find you with your masterminder
    Running your affairs,
    Saying how you're better now
    Since it killed all your other cares.

    Used to be

    Just to find you with the
    Masterminder
    Of one of your little affairs
    Saying how he loves you now
    Let me show you how much I care

    See you Later



    Just a brilliant fuck off song.

    See you later elliott.
    Flag Jack_Smithon July 03, 2007   Link

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