Status

Elliott Smith song

Written By

Elliott Smith

Recording Sessions

January - February 1995 (Uppinghouse Residence, Portland, OR - Self-Titled session)

Availability of Official Release

Self-Titled

Lyrics

I’m a junkyard full of false starts
And I don’t need your permission
To bury my love under this bare light bulb
The moon is a sickle cell
It’ll kill you in time
You cold white brother riding your blood
Like spun glass in sore eyes
While the moon does it’s division you’re buried below
And you’re coming up roses everywhere you go
Red roses follow

The things that you tell yourself
They’ll kill you in time
You cold white brother alive in your blood
Spinning in the night sky
While the moon does it’s division you’re buried below
And you’re coming up roses everywhere you go
Red roses

So you got in a kind of trouble that nobody knows
And you’re coming up roses everywhere you go
Red roses

First known live performance

1996-02-13 (Neal House, Columbus, OH, USA)

Notes

The first Elliott Smith solo song to have a music video. Directed by Ross Harris.

Video

Live electric version, performed on October 21, 2000 in Atlanta, GA