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Almost forgot
Started to say
Rode into the sun
Past everyone
Hallelujah, pretty Mary K
I found faith in the infirmary
There's a soldier lying in bed
With a wound to the head
Calling out to pretty Mary K
Here's what you get for things that haven't happened yet
I happened upon pretty Mary K
But a soldier's uniform waved you away
I walk round the dock and talk to St. James
Though I'm already done
And ask everyone "have you seen her?"
Pretty Mary K
Have you seen her?
Pretty Mary K
Started to say
Rode into the sun
Past everyone
Hallelujah, pretty Mary K
I found faith in the infirmary
There's a soldier lying in bed
With a wound to the head
Calling out to pretty Mary K
Here's what you get for things that haven't happened yet
I happened upon pretty Mary K
But a soldier's uniform waved you away
I walk round the dock and talk to St. James
Though I'm already done
And ask everyone "have you seen her?"
Pretty Mary K
Have you seen her?
Pretty Mary K
Lyrics submitted by EnjOy IncUbus, edited by ghost06
Track duration: 03:25
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I don't have any obvious interpretations either.
The bridge stands out; I'd start there. "Here's what you get for things that haven't happened yet."
Sort of "No good deed goes unpunished" meets Minority Report. Ugh. Well if I had a knack for embedding deep emotional themes in simple words, I'd be writing songs. Not as good as his though.
Some passing thought about ketamine became a jumping-off point? Uhhhhh maybe. Nearly everyone is way too quick to assume Elliott's lyrics are about drugs. I mean, pick a song and read the comments here.
So by interpreting it that way perhaps it is the same. He's walking around town looking for this prostitute 'Mary K'
"There's a soldier lying in bed
With a wound to the head
Calling out to pretty Mary K"
I guess could be interpreted as other men who sleep with her, perhaps their 'wound to the head' is there lack of a sex life / a loved one. So they 'call out to' or visit her.
The later half could be interpreted as him visiting a brothel perhaps. St James perhaps an ironic name for someone who runs the place.
I'm not really sure on this song though, anyones guess is as good as mine.
"It's kind of a calm, soothing, cool sounding song. It is kinda does the same thing over and over again and I like it 'cause it puts me in a trance. It's kinda like a drug, but it's not, it's a song." Elliott Smith
Can be found in the following link:
youtube.com/…
P.S. 'The Velvet Underground' have two songs named 'Ride Into The Sun', one is an instrumental and the second have lyrics. It's definitely the instrumental that Elliott was talking about in the quote.
"Pretty Mary K": That's a cryptic song; there's something about some sort of nurturing that wasn't...like seeking that out and not being able to get it. Elliott plays the drums on that one. There's weird drumming on that song...It's about a soldier that ends up in a hospital. Mary K is a nurse. That song is really personal. We never got into it. Maybe it's a metaphor for a combative person who's fighting off nurturing and then realizes that he lost it, and so he tries to find it again. But it's too late; she's already gone."
I think Joanna has it right (and not for nothing, but I think Joanna's word holds some serious gravity when dealing with Elliott's lyrics).
Well, thank you!
I went down to old Joe's bar room, on the corner by the square
Well, the drinks were bein' served as usual, and this motley crowd was there
Well, on my left stood Joe McKennedy, and his eyes were bloodshot red
When he told me that sad story, these were the words he said:
I went down to the St. James infirmary, I saw my baby there
She was stretched out on a long white table, so cold, and fine, and fair.
Let her go, let her go, God bless her, wherever she may be
She can search this world over, never find another man like me
When I die Oh lord please bury me In my high top stetson hat
Put gold coins over my eyelids So the boys wil know I died standing pat
Get six crapshooting pallbearers Six chorus girls to sing me a song
Put a jazz band behind my hearse wagon To raise hell as we roll along
Get sixteen coal black horses, to pull that rubber tired hack
There's thirteen men going to the graveyard Only twelve men are coming back
Well, now you've heard my story, well, have another round of booze
And if anyone should ever, ever ask you, I've got the St. James infirmary blues!
(taken from wikipedia)
many Many versions of this song have been made...elliott being a lover of music undoubtedbly heard atleast one of them. whether he was referencing louis armstrong or bob dylan or billie holiday i don't know. maybe he just liked the mystery of the song, how it references an infirmary (i.e. mental health or rehab) and it's sadness/ lost love aspect.
personally i love the song. i never noticed this reference to it even though i love elliott smith. i only read about it in the wikipedia article which can be found here:en.wikipedia.org/wiki/…
Everyone wants me to ride into the sun
But I ain't going to go down
Then, in this song, he says that he "Rode into the sun"
Interpretations?
"It's kind of a calm, soothing, cool sounding song. It is kinda does the same thing over and over again and I like it 'cause it puts me in a trance. It's kinda like a drug, but it's not, it's a song." Elliott Smith
Can be found in the following link:
youtube.com/…
P.S. 'The Velvet Underground' have two songs named 'Ride Into The Sun', one is an instrumental and the second have lyrics. It's definitely the instrumental that Elliott was talking about in the quote.
1) Death is the obvious theme. it sounds like he's thinking about how it will be when he dies. he's the soldier..got fucked over by the world
2)possibly about some drug? he's in the infirmary calling out for that heavenly drug to take all the pain away (mary K)