Lyrics for Bottle Up and Explode as interpreted by EnjOy IncUbus

Bottle Up and Explode Lyrics
Bottle up and explode over and over
Keep the troublemaker below
Put it away and check out for the day
And in for a round of overexposure
The thing Mother Nature provides to get up and go
Bottle up and explode, seeing the stars surrounding you
Red, white, and blue
You look at him like you've never known him
But I know for a fact that you have
The last time you cried, who'd you think was inside?
Thinking that you were about to come over
But I'm tired now of waiting for you
You never show
Bottle up and go, if you're going to hide it's up to you
I'm coming through
Bottle up and go, I can make it outside
I'll get through becoming you
Becoming you
Becoming you

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  • 34 Comments
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LoveIsARose
07-04-2002

Rated 0 
Awesome song! Elliot Smith is one of a kind.
This is my song for freedom on the 4th of July!
...bottle up and explode seeing the stars surrounding you
red white and blue...

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GeeMo
09-27-2002

Rated 0 
This is my new favorite Elliot Smith--song!

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juicyclad
06-05-2004

Rated -1 
i always thought this song was about sex....

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dorareever
07-04-2004

Rated 0 
I think it's about someone fighting with his lover because she cheats, but in the end overcoming rage.
but probably you can find many different interpretations.

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mfluder2676
10-21-2004

Rated 0 
I think dorareever is right in a sense: this song does have something to do with a troubled relationship, but I don't know if it's as blatant as the narrator's lover being a cheat. I think there's some suspicion there, but ultimately it's about two people on opposite ends of a spectrum and the narrator's realization that the only way to make things work with this particular person is to give in to what she expects, for better or for worse (probably worse). "I'll get through becoming you" pretty much spells this out, and "bottle up and explode" means just that -- keeping your frustrations inside until you blow a gasket, kind of like "red, white and blue" fireworks.

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ZipperHead
12-24-2004

Rated +1 
Close, but ... bottle up and explode is a picture of what happens when someone buries emotional energy in hopes that it will resolve itself. It doesn't, instead it comes out in explosions. Absolutely brilliant picture of this - when I heard it, I literally saw my ex-wife in the song. True! RIP ES

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lisalynn
01-06-2005

Rated 0 
yeah this song is clearly about repressed anger and emotions.. it helps me deal with his death cause i understand what its like to take things shitty and bury them in hope that they will go away but really things build up eventually and you explode and it has to happen eventually, nothing can stop it. I think its the most accurate description of elliotts personality.

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scatterbra1n
03-21-2005

Rated 0 
I love the guitar in the beginning of this song and how there's a saxaphone solo at the end. Sigh, I miss Elliott..

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nenagh
04-17-2005

Rated 0 
I always thought this song would be a great background music to a documentary about a protest or something. I know that's not very Elliott...But for me the song is really a description of the tensions and pain and heightened energy that comes out of human relationships.

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straichen
06-01-2005

Rated 0 
well, i dont know if anyone agrees on me bout this but i think this song contains connotations to alchoholism. Things like "Bottle up and explode" and particularly the second verse. "you look at him like you've never known him but i know for a fact that you have the last time you cried who'd you think was inside?" coincidence or not, i think what elliot tries to get at is the pain and consequences of repression and supporting it with the blur and confusion of drunkenness. Particularly "bottle up and explode seeing the stars surrounding you red white and blue" gives me the feeling of chaos and confusion associated with being intoxicated. Intoxicated under the influence of your own inability to cope with difficulties and consequently release them unintentionally in a dangerous way.

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schizorage
08-11-2005

Rated 0 
the only thing i have to say about this song is i think it's about someone who is an angry drunk... i always thought it was about someone who didnt know how to deal with anger (someone who bottles things up and explodes in a rage when they can no longer stuff it down, something i've been capable of) but now, the poetry in the first line seems to say it all for me...

bottle up (as in turn the bottle upward...) and explode (in anger)

seems to be also about someone who is dependent on alcohol to the point where they neglect other relationships.

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jameseckrippie
01-16-2006

Rated 0 
i think it is obvious that most people on here gets out of these lyrics what is going on in thier own lives ..and has nothing to do with what the artist intended..thus is art

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makeartnotmath
02-07-2006

Rated 0 
i remember when i was younger, i felt that because i was very emotional and full of feelings, that a lot of older people considered me to be naive. a lot of times we resort to becoming "numb" just like those we call bitter and jaded in order to protect ourselves and our feelings. it's natural for people to want to hide from their feelings - that's the most literal meaning you can get out of this song. everybody has heard the cliched term "bottling up your feelings," and you can't forever.. so eventually you explode.

hence the "i'll get though becoming you, becoming you"

sometimes we find ourselves doing what we used to hate others for doing, esp. if the person you are with, or want to be with, hides from you. in order to move on away from someone who is hiding their feelings from you, you can find yourself hiding your feelings from them.. if that makes sense.

you can't wear your heart on your sleeve all the time.

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texamexican
03-17-2006

Rated 0 
people dont like feeling vulnerable, especially us guys. so its only natural to keep whatever emotion you have pent up for a long time. but its gotta get out sometime

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Heather200408
05-14-2006

Rated 0 
the last time you cried who'd you think was inside?

....

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Samuel C Upham
06-25-2006

Rated 0 
It's about how the narrator hides the anger thats welling up inside of him from the rest of the world and from himself. Perhaps its dealing with the anger surrounding a troubled relationship, but the line "who'd you think was inside..." makes it seem as if it is actually an internal debate and 'him' is simply the narrator referring to himself in the third person.

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carmenadrift
10-20-2006

Rated 0 
i agree this seems to be about himself, as if there are two of him that he is addressing in here. there is the one who is "overexposed," for the sake of being able to "get up and go," to exist, the public side of himself. the persona he puts on to get through life.
keep the "troublemaker" "below," keep that side inside, put him away. but that's the side that's the true he who will come to surface, as you bottle him up, but that will only cause him to explode later on. and when he makes his appearance, elliott, talking to himself says, you look at him like you've never known him, you're looking at that part of yourself as if that's not you, as if its never been you, those feelings, those thoughts, those actions, but they are, "i know for a fact that you have," afterall, the "last time you cried, who'd you think was inside?" what part of you was it that was crying, he was coming through, you can't deny that part of yourself.
"thinking that you were about to come over but im tired now waiting for you, you never show.." this seems to be about the struggle to accept himself, he's waiting for that within himself that will finally show up, the he who can put himself back together, the true him that answers for all that he is repressing.
"i can make it outside," i'll get through becoming you" i'll get through this process of becoming this person, i can push past, outside of this enprisonment i've done to myself.

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carmenadrift
10-20-2006

Rated 0 
the part that is public, that goes on, and the part that is personal, depressed, can't go on,;
the part that is "exposed," and then the part that is repressed until it explodes.

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Roxxma
05-13-2007

Rated 0 
Juicyclad: "i always thought this song was about sex...."

Maybe. This song is one giant figurative orgasm set to music. It could be about sex or just unrestrained joy. Who knows whether he meant it to be or not, it is truly brilliant.

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HellBent1337
05-17-2007

Rated 0 
This song could also be about using sex (one night stands) as a way to try and escape pain of something like a previous relationship....
"Keep the 'troublemaker' below"
"Put it away and check out for the day"
"The thing Mother Nature provides to get up and go"
"You look at him like you've never known him"
"The last time you cried, who'd you think was inside?"

Its just a different way to look at it...

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DraykenXII
05-23-2007

Rated 0 
It seems to me that this song is a reflection on Elliott's repressed feelings throughout his childhood. The emotional outburst often referred to as "bottling up and exploding" seems to be blatantly corresponding to the context of the song.
"Keep the troublemaker below" could refer to the force of rage or anger welling up from inside. Hence the bottling up. Other than that, I agree with mfluder2676 on the analysis of the fireworks colors, and what they represent.

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mcflyguy42
06-23-2007

Rated 0 
makeartnotmath and carmenadrift are dead on. this seems extremely apparrent to me.. but thats just me.. as well as markartnotmath and acrmenadrift.. hah

and yes, its very true that everyones interpretations stem from their own emotions and psyche. but thats what makes this little website fun, right?

"the last time you cried, who'd you think was inside?"
- uhh.. speechless..

damn, no one even compares to elliott esp. in terms of thought provokation and introspectiveness..

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reincarnate
07-26-2007

Rated 0 
he's speaking from the point of view of anyone's darkside, and how when you are angry or upset, one bottles up and explodes.

in bad situations you try to keep that darkside from coming out, but it's in the worst of times you can become a different person (the becoming you lyric)

it's just awesome that he put such importance on the darkside actually being a different person, with hopes and desires completely separate from your own.

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ohmystarshine
08-22-2007

Rated 0 
speechless. this song calms me down, which is irronic.

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DMV666
11-25-2007

Rated 0 
i don't know you guys.. excellent song.. but me and my friend thought of it as referring to taking speed, bottling up your horniness, then exploding with horniness adn wanting to fuck

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