Don’t Go Down
Status
Elliott Smith Song
Alternate Title/Version
Don’t Look Down
Written By
Elliott Smith
Recording Sessions
2000 (Unknown location - LP6 Early Recordings) - uncirculating
January-April 2001 (Two Beers & Everybody Sings; Chateau Brion - Los Angeles, CA - Brion Sessions) - unofficially circulating
May 2001 - Spring 2002 (Satellite Park Studios, Malibu, CA - McConnell Sessions) - 2 versions, one officially released and one uncirculating
Availability of Official Release
From a Basement on the Hill
Lyrics
i met a girl
snowball in hell
she was hard
and as cracked as the liberty bell
i got her to
come on and move in with me
and i said i’d find a better place
we could spend eternity
don’t go down
don’t go down
stay with me, baby stay
her mama called me a thief
and her dad called himself
commander in chief
i fought him off with my love
but i knew the sense of worthlessness she would have to raise above
don’t go down
don’t go down
stay with me, baby stay
don’t go down
don’t go down
stay with me, baby stay
she had a dream
woke up in shock
she had seen
her own body outlined in chalk
i split the scene the globe been spun
and her ghost leaned down to kiss me
with a message from the sun
don’t go down
don’t go down
stay with me, baby stay
don’t go down
stay with me, baby stay
don’t go down
stay with me, baby stay
Note
In the early acoustic version of the song, Elliott used the lines “…was a total commander in chief” and “No fingerprints were found on the gun” instead of “I split the scene the globe been spun”.
In an even earlier version noted by William Todd Schultz in his 2014 psychobigraphy on Elliott Torment Saint, the chorus was “Don’t look down / Look at me / I’m going to stay”. We have determined that these lyrics were used in the LP6 acoustic demos recorded in 2000.
Audio:
Acoustic version (Brion sessions):
From a Basement on the Hill version: