“We broke up a month ago/ And I grew up, I didn’t know/ I’d be around the morning after” – “Say Yes”
The Hard Truth: We all have that one person we could sit around for hours impossibly attempting to grasp at their inner thoughts, but recognizing that we’ll never know is both a loss and a relief. “I can sit wondering what in world you think about/ I don’t think I’m ever gonna figure it out” – “I Don’t Think I’m Ever Gonna Figure It Out” “And for all you know, you’re the only one who finds it strange” – “Satellite”Ī Certain Loneliness: Individuality can be scary and forlorn at times, but it’s imperative to remember the freedom it brings. It’s hard, but important, to pursue the former. Distraction: Individual trauma combined with mutual understanding creates a space for growth or destruction. “And it’s okay, I knew exactly what you meant/ When you said you were an accident” – “Drive All Over Town”Ĭompassion vs. Listed below are some of my favorite Elliott Smith lyrics that express some version of combined emotion: His songs are never just sad they exist as multiplicities. His lyricism and unmatched natural voice express the very duality I’m describing.
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Elliott Smith certainly knew how to write a melancholic and agonizingly sorrowful track, but he also knew how to do it with nuance. It is built upon loss or paired with hope or overwhelmed by joy.Įlliott Smith is a name most indie music listeners of any age would recognize, but I’ve found that he is all too often polarized within the sad song realm. I probably did know true pain then, as anyone who’s been alive for any length of time does, but the more I listen to Elliott (I can’t help but use his first name as if I knew him) and the older I grow, the more I understand that pain is not a lonely feeling.
I remember hearing “Between the Bars” for the first time and thinking I understood true pain as I sat atop my IKEA loft bed after a long day of the seventh grade. I self-admittedly fell for Elliott Smith idolization when I was twelve years old.