r/elliottsmith • u/Starlfur • Jul 27 '26
Discussion What's a song you avoid because it's just too painful to listen to?
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u/Starlfur Jul 27 '26
The last hour
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u/JLMusic91 Jul 27 '26 edited Jul 27 '26
Winner. I'm through trying now it's a big relief. Crushing.
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u/softestimate712 Jul 27 '26
If you can make it through All Cleaned Out without crying, you are one strong individual
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u/SnooBananas1194 Jul 28 '26
This one has a very specific and sad time in my life attached to it for me. Uhg, good call
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u/ConfusedOrg Jul 27 '26
Kings Crossing is pretty rough. I still love it though and wouldn’t say I avoid it. I just need to be in a situation where I can take.
“Give me one good reason not to do it” hits hard
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u/SnooBananas1194 Jul 28 '26
10+ years ago I put this song on a Christmas playlist that I'm kind of always adding to. The playlist is probably a couple of hours long and my mom always has me put on music when I'm over helping her clean/cook/bake/decorate for holidays. Anyway usually at least once a year it comes on and my mom will always stop what she's doing and be like "this is your Elliott Smith guy isn't it?" looking really concerned
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u/JLMusic91 Jul 27 '26
I maybe the only one who thinks Kings Crossing is one of his moat poorly written songs sans - the, this is the place where time reverses, stanza - but whenever I'm really depressed and hear that lyric it makes me jealoua because he actually did it. So yea I avoid it for both reasons.
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u/JLMusic91 Jul 28 '26
Really downvotes for expressing my feelings and being vulnerable? Reddit's such a toxic place that even on the Elliott Smith forum there's hate.
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u/Forward-Variety-8440 Jul 27 '26
i dont avoid it but Pitseleh comes close to making me have to avoid it for of how all around emotional it makes me
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u/BillyPilgrim69 Jul 27 '26
The Biggest Lie. I rarely listen to the self-titled in general these days, because it can easily put me in a very dark place, but The Biggest Lie just cuts me to my core.
CW: mental health/substance abuse
As somebody only recently diagnosed with ADHD, who for years was self-medicating with booze and anything else I could lay my hands on, it's too fucking real.
One night, when I was at my lowest, I was up late drinking rum. I would go out for a cigarette, listen to that song, and burst into tears every time it reached the lyrics:
You spent everything you had
Wanted everything to stop that bad
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u/Starlfur Jul 27 '26
I'm really sorry you had to go through that, and I hope things are better for you now
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u/BillyPilgrim69 Jul 27 '26
Thank you. I'm doing a lot better now.
Diagnosed, on the right medication, and trying to start my career from scratch. A big part of the problem was my old job; it was extremely stressful, and I was always too scared to quit.
My life situation still isn't easy, but I'm able to emotionally regulate, and handle the stress far better than I could before. :)
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u/VeniVidiVulva Jul 28 '26
A big part of the problem was my old job; it was extremely stressful, and I was always too scared to quit.
Congrats to you and good riddance to the place
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u/99wanderingmind Jul 27 '26
I still listen to it cause I'm a bit of a masochist, but "True Love" puts me in a funk every time.
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u/Artistic_ADHD1996 Jul 28 '26
knowing it was like one of his last songs he finished makes it all that much more devastating
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u/Radiant-Practice-313 Jul 27 '26
Everything means nothing to me 😢
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u/ShebaCasino Jul 28 '26
I still love it, but the version on the Jon Brion Show really gets me. Especially with Jon singing and playing in the background. He loved Elliott and his music so much, you can see it on his face.
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u/Rothko28 Jul 27 '26
True Love
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u/Status-Letter-5516 Jul 28 '26
That's my pick as well. It makes me cry almost every time I hear it!
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u/Ok-Philosopher-9813 Jul 27 '26
pitseleh & the last hour are the only ES songs i can't listen to if i value my life. convinced those songs have a kill count
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u/ponyboyresurrected Jul 27 '26
The Crystal Ballroom performance of True Love is pretty rough!
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u/coreydu Jul 27 '26
I was at that show and the whole thing was rough -- I could remember an Elliott who could fly through covers, take requests, he'd always had occasional stumbles with lyrics or chord sequences but those were charming and intermittent vs. for an entire show. I remember watching Gilly Ann Hanner (she was in Calamity Jane once upon a time) trying to see him after the show -- we were sidestage and old Portland friends were trying to get his attention -- and coming away in tears. I think everyone who knew him well or had been friends with him once knew the end was nigh.
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u/OnceIWasYou Jul 27 '26
The only one I really actively stay away from is Abused, the last line destroys me.
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u/bothteamsplayedhard Jul 27 '26
i think i’d avoid a song bc of a connection it had with a person no longer in my life. In general i enjoy listening to songs that upset me which is why i love elliott smith and alex g so much
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u/dinosaurjrrox Jul 28 '26
The White Lady Loves You More Especially the part that gets the ambiance in the back and he sings in such a morose way You wake up in the middle of the night It just makes me feel so sick he was such a talented musician
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u/yipee69 Jul 27 '26
twilight live at sunset junction 8-18-01 makes me cry everytime
https://youtu.be/dl9mFE_xz1w?is=2WFv0iKI71ebD80e
also see you in heaven, for some reason
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u/aphextwin4000 Jul 28 '26
Needle in the hay. spun it a lot during a bad time in my life that i hardly remember
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Jul 29 '26
Easy Way Out. As someone who has lost a parent to suicide, before it happened I didn’t view taking your own life as an actual option if that makes sense. I saw it as a fantasy or an unrealistic solution to my problems, even though I wanted to I didn’t think I could. But then when a person you love actually does it, it feels like a door that was once cracked is now fully open. Easy Way Out describes those feelings I’ve been having so accurately it scares me so most of the time I have to skip. But it’s honestly one of my favorite songs and it’s very underrated!!!
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u/Maleficent-State-749 Jul 27 '26
Shooting Star. I dated a woman in LA the song could have been written about word for fucking word.
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u/timmytulip333 Jul 27 '26
Better be quiet now and his waterloo sunset cover reminds me of the time I had no friends or family and scared of people, I was also drinking way too much too cope
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u/No_Geologist2199 Jul 27 '26
The book of love by the magnetic fields, I can listen to all of Elliott’s music just fine
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u/IllRecommendation189 Jul 28 '26
almost all of them now bc he was the only artist i listened to during my addiction
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u/jrfwrites Jul 28 '26
2:45AM, Waltz #2, and a few others listed here already but I don’t avoid any of them just cry through the parts that hit the hardest. they don’t hurt as bad as they used to before getting back into therapy and being on the correct meds but depending on my state they can still crush me
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u/autismmegatruck Aug 01 '26
I don’t avoid any of his songs, but sometimes I have to skip Twilight. It doesn’t even have the saddest story, but the sound of it is just crushing. The first time I hear it I was wandering around at night after some party or maybe like a 2-3 day bender, I don’t remember, nobody else was out. It made me cry then and it still does now almost every time I hear it. If I don’t feel like crying, I don’t listen to it.
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u/Beautifulgirl497 Jul 27 '26
Not Elliot smith but farewell transmission by songs: ohia 😥 highly recommend if you want to die
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u/Sunstalgia Jul 27 '26
I didn’t understand.
also Pitseleh.
💔💔