Status
Elliott Smith song
Alternative Version/Title
3
Untitled Song in E Minor
Written By
Elliott Smith
Recording Sessions
2000 (Unknown location - LP6 Early Recordings) - uncirculating
January-October 2003 (New Monkey Studios, Los Angeles, CA and Smith Residence, Los Angeles, CA - Sessions with Fritz Michaud)
Availability of Official Release
From a Basement on the Hill
Lyrics
From a Basement on the Hill version:
the king’s crossing is the main attraction
dominoes are falling in a chain reaction
the scraping subject ruled by fear told me
whiskey works better than beer
the judge is on vinyl, decisions are final
and nobody gets a reprieve
and every wave is tidal - if you hang around
you’re going to get wet
i can’t prepare for death any more than i already have
all you can do now is watch the shells
the game looks easy that’s why it sells
frustrated fireworks inside your head
are going to stand and deliver talk instead
the method acting that pays my bills
keeps a fat man feeding in beverly hills
i got a heavy metal mouth that hurls obscenity
and i get my check from the trash treasury
because i took my own insides out
it don’t matter cos i have no sex life
all i want to do now is inject my ex wife
i’ve seen the movie and i know what happens
it’s christmas time
and the needles on the tree
a skinny santa is bringing something to me
his voice is overwhelming, but his speech is slurred
and i only understand every other word
open your parachute and grab your gun
falling down like an omen, a setting sun
read the part and return at five
it’s a hell of a role if you can keep it alive
but i don’t care if i fuck up
i’m going on a date with a rich white lady
ain’t life great?
give me one good reason not to do it
(because i love you)
so do it
this is the place where time reverses
dead men talk to all the pretty nurses
instruments shine on a silver tray
don’t let me get carried away
don’t let me get carried away
don’t let me be buried away
2000 Live Version (transcribed by snowballinhell):
the problem i have with the soul contraction
swallowed up slowly like a bad reaction
all around what you do and say while the symptom falls further away
you live in silence but you can’t describe it
so what’s the point of talking at all?
the store bought injury.. the family cane
just another boy bad at the game
this is when you need a friend to keep you moving around
‘cause all your thinking has made you slow
you might be stopping out.. you know
frustrated fireworks inside your head
there’s a lit fuse smoking.. you caught instead
what you’re dealing.. but it’s just a start
was a time since your problem was a poison dart
and you act like a cowboy.. whatever’s in my hat
i’m a hardboiled hero and i’m not so bad
but i didn’t know when to run from this
a proud fan is gonna see you shatter
i know that there really isn’t anything the matter
nothing is gonna be crying words.. they only want their voice to be heard
they use it sometimes to show that they’re around
or they build you up a theory like the walls of a town
a tired and ancient ruler right now.. the neighborhood slaves are hardly skilled
open your parachute and drop your weight
float on down to the center and investigate
i did my self requirement.. better cop out hard
or i’ll leave right now
‘cause this feeling of loving.. i felt it in my chest
like the nighttime footsteps of an unknown guest
i know it wasn’t me.. i wasn’t moving..
i felt thunder.. the rain was pouring
i know it must be something wrong all this is restoring
you don’t have to live in a life’s mistake
stay in the center and wait
stay in the center and wait
stay in the center and wait
Unknown version (from partial lyric sheet displayed in Heaven Adores You):
the compound heart became a soul contraction
the chorus inside was an adverse reaction
the singing scream of a failing fake
slamming what’s left of the break
the judge wore vinyl, decisions were final
The scene put my head in a spin
the needle jumped (crossed out: from a low end blast) cos……..
(crossed out: like an autograph)
(crossed out: like a puppet)
thought when I bought it it (crossed out: sounded great) had never been
you can’t prepare for and prevent war, you have…….
(crossed out: the other version) (crossed out: the one you pick’s got a lot……..)
the other one there and it’ll have its turn
Unknown version (from partial lyric sheet provided by William Todd Schultz):
…an autopsy on a crashed sex-life
(crossed out: show) (crossed out: give the man) puts (crossed out: we gave) you on a drip dad…
I’ve seen the movie I know what happens
(crossed out: it’s christ)
It was christmas time there were needles on (the tree?)
a sleepy santa claus was saying (line below: handing) something (to me?)
his voice was overwhelming but his speech (was slurred?)
I said I only understand every other word
open your parachute and grab your gun (crossed out: don’t)
(crossed out: rushing up destroy you song) or the world below
communication and all that junk
(crossed out: it’s a hell of a role, and I used to bring…)
…catch him
From a Basement on the Hill version:
Live Version performed on May 9, 2000 at 328 Performance Hall, Nashville, TN: