| The Smiths – Paint a Vulgar Picture Lyrics | 16 years ago |
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It's about worshipping pop stars and then becoming one yourself. At the death of a long-forgotten star, the record company seeks to make money out of his brief posthumous fame, and people argue about who knew him best. His life was a matter of seeking to please the media and the crowds. Meanwhile, M remembers being so obsessed with this star back in the day that he once touched him at a sound check. He can't believe that this once-great man has now died in relative obscurity, just to be dragged through the same system that brought him down in the first place. And now M himself is a star and he thinks about the business that he's in: 'You're just the same as I am'. He knows he's in the same game, but he can't get out of it. Perhaps in theory he had a choice about pursuing this career -- but who could turn it down? Especially an idol-worshipping, 'faceless' kid from an ugly new house... |
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| Elliott Smith – King's Crossing Lyrics | 16 years ago |
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I like the way he's playing with injecting and sex: i.e. penetration images. Obviously that's most apparent when he talks about 'injecting his ex wife' because he has no sex life. It's echoed when he talks about going on a 'date' with the 'white lady'. The question isn't whether or not the song is 'about drugs'. Of course it is. But the question should be: what's he trying to say about drugs? They're taking over his Christmas, his personal relationships. In short, to use his own imagery, they're fucking him. But I'm not sure that there isn't another, more sinister dimension to the song. The idea of fireworks in your head featured on his song/album 'roman candle' ('my head is full of flame'). And he talks about that in the context of 'method acting' to pay his bills, i.e. write his songs. I can only take this as a bit of a 'fuck you' to the audience. We love Elliott Smith for his raw emotions, etc. But he's recognising the toll that takes on him: he's got to keep playing the part of the depressed, abused addict, because that's what we all lap up. The 'Either/Or' title of a previous album was taken from Kierkegaard's book of the same name. Near the beginning, he says that the worst thing you could possibly be is a poet: everyone wants you to stay unhappy, because that's when you sing the most sweetly. There's something like that going on in this song. |
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| Elliott Smith – Condor Ave. Lyrics | 17 years ago |
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I can’t imagine how anyone could find this song to be ‘without symbolism’. I think the imagery and word-play is stunning. A few of my favourite examples: - ‘threw the screen…’ sounds identical to ‘through the screen…’ (i.e. going through a windscreen in a car crash) - He’s screaming like people at fairgrounds. The screams that you hear at a fairground are the screams of people who are afraid they are going to crash. And, of course, the car crash happens at the entrance to a fairground. - The drunk man looks 'like he’s buried', which, of course, he’s about to be because he was killed in the crash. - The smoke signals he is sending are ‘little whispers’. He’s worried about 'making a whisper out of her'. So 'making a whipser' turns out to be about turning her into smoke. - The last verse is full of images of lights going on and off: the moon, the headlights, the cigarette, the ‘burning out’ of the crash, the light bulb, etc. It makes me think of a few different things: the headlights of the car, the bad street lighting (?), the attraction between the two of them which proved fatal, as well as the obvious death/life imagery of light, and of the moth getting crushed because it is drawn to the light. Perhaps some of these are unintended, but I doubt that they all are. And I don’t really care much whether they were or not. |
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| Elliott Smith – Easy Way Out Lyrics | 18 years ago |
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I don't think he's writing about himself. It doesn't come across that way and there's no hint in the words that it's really him. Would you really write 'I wish you luck... whatever's left of you' to yourself? Would you really write 'I heard you found another audience...' to yourself? To me, it sounds more straight forward. He's writing to somebody who used him, gave him the boot and found someone new. |
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| Eels – Going to Your Funeral Part I Lyrics | 18 years ago |
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At the start, E appears to be talking to 'us' - the listeners: we are who he says 'Look...' to. But it becomes obvious that the song is actually addressed to his sister - at her own funeral. The box (coffin) holds 'the sand that was once you'. It's a very powerful image: a train-of-thought lyric addressed to the deceased at her own funeral. What always gets me about this song is the resulting contrast between him getting over it and him totally incapable of dealing with it: 'what I need to miss is you', he says to someone as he instructs her to look at the people assembled for her funeral. He's obviously not going to be able to miss her if he keeps on pretending she's there. |
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| Elliott Smith – Everything Reminds Me of Her Lyrics | 18 years ago |
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"Why are you staring into outer space, crying? Just because you came across it, and lost it?" I enjoy this line. It's a nice parody of how people might try to cheer you up post break-up/rejection/whatever. After all, the answer to the first question is in the second question. Or, to put it another way, the answer to both, collectively, is 'yes'. The irritating and unhelpful questions are almost cut into (in the rhythm of the song) by the refrain: 'everything reminds me of her'. Of course, one of the things that's reminding him of her is people who keep on saying things like 'is it because you came across it and lost it?'. I also think this song is very much like a Beatles song: it reminds me of the song 'You've got to hide your love away', on 'Help!'. Similar subject, similar lyrical tone, similar sound. If Elliott Smith was a Beatles fan, which I'm told he was, then the similarity probably didn't escape him. |
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| Wilco – Jesus, Etc. Lyrics | 18 years ago |
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Wasn't the addressee of the song 'right about the stars' because each star IS a setting sun (sort of)? At least, the sun is a star etc. I'm sure there's more to the line than that - the whole song is peppered with 'cosmic' imagery - but it's worth pointing out, anyway. |
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| Bob Dylan – If You See Her, Say Hello Lyrics | 18 years ago |
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The song is both a love song and a parody of a love song: On one level, it's straight forward. Dylan loves some girl. He misses her. He wants her back. Blah Blah. That's the boring bit. But on another level, there's an awareness that what he's actually saying is ridiculous. As the song progresses, we learn: -He's asking someone to 'say hello' to some girl, even though he has absolutely no idea where she is (he 'might' be able to specify the city) -He assumes that whoever he's talking to will not only find her, but probably kiss her and 'get close to her'. Seems unlikely, but often when people are in love/obsessed they assume that everyone else shares their object of affection/obsession. -'I hear her name' - It's not clear whether people are saying her name because they know her and are talking about her - or whether they are saying her name, referring to somebody else. He's getting upset because they're talking about e.g. a different Sara. What's more, the singer is constantly undermining and contradicting himself: -'I'm alright' vs 'things get kinda slow' -'I won't stand in the way' vs 'I tried to make her stay' (He 'won't' stand in the way because he can't) -'Our separation... pierced me to the heart' vs 'we've never been apart' -'Don't tell her [I haven't forgotten her]' vs 'Tell her she can look me up' (What's he supposed to say? 'Bob's forgotten you completely, but you should really look him up sometime...'?) Not that the song isn't heart-felt... That's why it's good. Dylan manages at once to come across as both in love/obsessed with some girl - and also to recognise through the words (although the 'singer' doesn't recognise it) just how ridiculous he is being. |
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| Elliott Smith – Rose Parade Lyrics | 18 years ago |
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"the trumpet has obviously been drinking because he's fucking up even the simplest lines i'd say it's a sight that's quite worth seeing it's just that everyone's interest is stronger than mine" Funny. Presumaby, 'everyone' is interested in the parade itself. But Elliott Smith's interest is in the 'sight worth seeing', which appears to be the trumpet player drunk and messing up his parts. In other words, ES expresses his perceived distance from the crowds and his tendency to focus on the negative by picking out someone 'fucking up' where 'everyone' else is marching, winking, waving, having fun. |
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| Bob Dylan – Desolation Row Lyrics | 18 years ago |
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I agree with the significance of the letter in the last stanza - but I'd understood it differently: "All these people that you mention Yes, I know them, they're quite lame I had to rearrange their faces And give them all another name" Here is our clue. Dylan has received a letter from someone - a girl, let's say. In the letter, she mentions a bunch of people he used to be friendly with, and gives him some news about each: 'Jimmy's become a doctor now...' [Dr Filth]; 'Suzie's just turned 22...' [Ophelia 'neath the window]; 'you'll never guess what! Alfie became a priest...' [the phantom of the opera] etc. Angered by the letter, it's tone, it's content, whatever, Dylan writes this song with those people as its subject, putting them in a hell-hole called 'desolation row'. He doesn't, however, give them their real names. Instead, he 'rearranges their faces and gives them all another name'. This is a song about friends he used to know, who he now despises. It's a reaction to some letter he received. |
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| Sparklehorse – Tears on Fresh Fruit Lyrics | 18 years ago |
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If this song is about anything, it seems to be about emotional detachment or the inability to communicate or connect emotionally. He's watching some girl crying. Meanwhile thinking about how her tears are dripping onto his fruit - presumably ruining the fruit for him. You might think he should be concentrating on the girl - why is she upset? What can he do to help her? Instead, he seems to be worried about the fruit. Similarly, he can't get a pretty, lullaby tune out of his head - even though it's inappropriate for the moment. |
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