Author Archives: g

this week I’m diving into one of my all time favorite albums, Either/Or by Elliott Smith. we’re gonna go track by track talking about each song. and other things. but that’s the main point. ok anyways!

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a little background info

“If everybody really acted like how they felt all the time, it would be total madness.” -Elliott Smith (from an interview that’s not mine)

release date: february 25th, 1997

genre: indie folk, indie rock

producers: Elliott Smith, Tom Rothrock, Rob Schnapf

singles: Speed Trials (released october 1st, 1996) and Ballad of Big Nothing (released june 28th, 1998)

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track by track

track one: Speed Trials — to be honest this was one of my favorite tracks at first with this album, and I still love it, but maybe just not as much as before. I go through phases. but it’s still a great one. personally I think you can’t listen to this one without the next one, they go together perfectly and seamlessly, which is another thing I love about the overall album.

track two: Alameda — now this is a jam right here. lyrically it’s absolutely genius! I’m obsessed with it. I see this as someone having a conversation with someone who’s a bit of a masochist or something like that. with lines like “thinking about your friends / how you maintain all them in a constant state of suspense / for your own protection over their affection” and “nobody broke your heart / you broke your own because you can’t finish what you start” to “if you’re alone it must be you that wants to be apart” Elliott was such a genius. his writing was just so different than anything else.

track three: Ballad of Big Nothing — this was one of the first Elliott songs I ever heard and I immediately loved it. the constant driving but simple drums here with those simple chords is so good. I haven’t looked much into what Elliott meant by his lyrics on this album so I just base it off of my general conclusion but here I think of someone telling another person to just go, just do whatever they want because “it doesn’t mean a thing, big nothing” as he says.

track four: Between the Bars — the lyrics to this song are heartbreaking. it seems to be a conversation between a person and their weakness, which in this case is alcohol. but I think it can be applied to any weakness and setback we all have. some iconic lyrics here are “stay up all night / with the things you could do, you won’t but you might / the potential you’ll be, that you’ll never see / the promises you’ll only make” and “the images stuck in your head / people you’ve been before that you don’t want around anymore / that push and shove and won’t bend to your will.”

track five: Pictures of Me — ah, my favorite. this wasn’t a song that captured me upon my first listen, but diving deeper into this album I fell in love with it. this song is like being perceived in a way that you don’t like, and just generally being tired of dealing with ridiculous, untrue people. “You’ll be the victim of your own dirty tricks / you got yourself to tease and displease” is a line I love. I also love “I’m not surprised at all and really, why should I be / see nothing wrong, see nothing wrong / so sick and tired of all these pictures of me / completely wrong, totally wrong” I feel like that captures it all perfectly.

track six: No Name No. 5 — this is another one of my favorites. just that guitar part and Elliott’s vocals alone work perfectly together, I love it. this is a very lonely, slow, and sad song. “sweet, sweet smile and it’s fading fast / cause everybody’s gone at last / don’t get upset about it, no, not anymore / there’s nothing wrong that wasn’t wrong before” wow.

track seven: Rose Parade — this is another one of the first songs I heard from the album. it’s really good, I think this is one of the more popular songs from this album as well. Elliott’s music is just very calm (sounding, at least.)

track eight: Punch and Judy — ahhh Punch and Judy! another favorite. this song is like the past, it feels like looking back on the past, and loneliness. such a beautiful song. “they walk in a circle / through all the sidewalk scenes they used to be apart of one time / now everybody just stared and whispers / driving around up and down division street.”

track nine: Angeles — this is like looking at or walking in the snow during the night. I don’t know how else to explain it, that’s just what I see. or being all bundled up in a coat and hat and scarf and playing this in a bar with just your acoustic guitar. I love this song and the places it takes me.

track ten: Cupid’s Trick — to be honest I haven’t given this song much thought. I’m listening to it as I’m writing this, though. oh wait that part (0:30) okay I remember now. anyway I also really enjoy this song. I’m guessing this has something to do with love considering the title. musically, this may be one of my favorites though.

track eleven: 2:45 AM — I used to be so into this song back before I even got into the whole album. I used to go outside and swing whilst listening to it, I think it was winter at the time so I was freezing but it was worth it. this is a winter album.

track twelve: Say Yes — for some reason when I hear this I usually think of the movie 500 Days of Summer, not sure why. it just gives that vibe. but I am a big fan of this one too, I got into it around the same time as 2:45 AM (haha funny.)

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well I hope you enjoyed reading my thoughts on one of the (arguably) best most poetic and genius albums of all time. go listen for yourself if you haven’t heard it already, and come back and thank me later!

as I continue these weekly blog posts (I’m a nerd!) I’ll figure out how to make them more interesting. but for now; bye bye !