Which can be read as a schizophrenic and hedonistic war of choice inside Tracks on Either/Or as a reflection of the ideas in Kierkegaard’s “Either/Or,” In this respect it is perhaps uniquely well-suited among the Private world of addiction and beauty and yet so outwardly talented as a poetĪnd musician. Gets us close enough to the artist to give us an idea of what it might haveīeen like to experience great tension between being so utterly closed in a SuCH a PPPPinball…speeeeeeeeeeeeeeeed triiiiaaaaaaaaalllllsss…”). Using his last breath to hiss and spit out one final beautiful curse (“…you’re There’s action here too: theĭrums are propulsive, the guitar’s rhythmic downstroke is relentless, theĬonsonants are forced into our ears with an exhausted anger, like Smith is Into a bleak but inexplicably attractive morass. Ringing drums, and doubled-up vocals whispered as much as sung–draws us Sparse arrangement–Smith’s quietly-played, clean electric guitar, minimal, Sets the atmosphere of painful intimacy the rest of the song reinforces. The decision to leave this naked artifact of the recording process Matheny's thoughts on the song: “Speed Trials” opens with a jarring noise: a click and a thump followed by a Mean that doing drugs just make you feel better briefly, then you're back to all of your Someone else: i think songs are percepted by people mainly by their own (past) experiences. The song isĪbout running away instead of dealing with what needs to be dealt with. Lonliness by running back to familiar grounds and never committing. The song is about the freightened, desperate race of distracting oneself from his Only and always RIGHT HERE AND NOW regardless of the story you tell yourself Produced by that frantic ignorance: the ignorance of not understanding that there is Through changing around physical stances. The song is about theįrantic dellusion that self-security and happiness and completeness can be produced Introspective things that need to be looked at and resolved. One of the interpretations over at is this: This song is about a person's inability to confront herself and really look at the scary, I might very well be wrong, as I've never stopped to analyse them without the music, and I very well could do such a thing, as OP has them up there, but I'm lazy. Interesting observation!Īs for the lyrics, I've never really took attention to them, other than his other songs, mainly because on the surface they don't make much sense to me, as if he's just trying to conjur some imagery into the listener's brain, without any real coherent narrative. However, Speed Trials is in an open tuning, and Needle in the Hay is in either E or D standard. Ive also noticed that the guitar work is a little similar to Needle in the Hay, and that song is also the first track of it's album. That and I think it's his most famous one, too.Īnyway, something I've noticed is the production seems to me a bit more lo-fi than the rest of the album. Honestly, only reason I started with Either/Or is because it's my personal favorite album of his. Hopefully it'll get some newly needed traffic here! I'm a bit confused that you didn't start with Roman Candle, but this is some great change, none-the-less. There's always something you go back running toĭo you think it’s a good single to start off Either/Or with? You're such a pinball, yeah you know it's true When all the people you think you're above You little child, what makes you think you're tough I'm running speed trials standing in place It's just a brief smile crossing your face May be a long time 'til you get the call-upīut it's sure as fate and hard as your luck In the cathedral with the glass stained black Lyrics: He's pleased to meet you underneath the horse Producer(s): Elliott Smith / Tom Rothrock / Rob Schnapf In-app link: spotify:album:1Od4S26RB37khls09dsUxLĪlbum: ( ) and ( ) Speed Trials is the first song on his accalimed album Either/Or. I’d like to do these chronologically for Either/Or first and then maybe continue with some other albums. I thought it would be nice to have a “Song of the Week” on here as well. Hey guys! I’ve seen many subreddits for specific artists do this (e.g.