Elliott Smith - Alphabet Town

[copaceticmusic]

love this? me too.  davesplaylist.co.uk

[dopeynhappy]

Haha this video is creepin me out, Bigtime!

[jewboyjwr]

this song is definitely about doing tweek and h probably in NYC.. its so sad and mysterious in its words. i absolutely love this song

[heyjude97]

Elliott's great to listen to when you can't bear to talk to someone on the phone.

[schwiggys]

@heyjude97

lol

[mildredpierce0]

brilliant. Elliott Smith invokes a certain emotion that no other artist can do for me.

[pennyroyaltea89]

this is nothing short of brilliant

[rissakrissa]

I love how driving this song is, with a strong melancholy undercurrent... easy to get lost

[candysays69]

What more can be said about this song? There are really no words that would do it justice. It's seriously haunted me since the very first time I heard it. Elliott was truly a rare gift...

[miracleneeder]

@samesamething this song is obviously about dope.

[chrisutley812]

this song gives me goose bumps

[edpoe92]

i got so mad when my record of elliot smith skipped today.. idk what to do with myself now

[dillonmboxx]

im going to go bawl my eyes out now.

why did you have to die?

[zoeruls]

beautiful

[samesamething]

i like to buy this song like this:current human on earth, getting to know spirit from another world that is visiting here on earth.every language on earth has something like an alphabet-correct? so anyway that's what i like to get from it. why are songs that have interesting lyrics very often assumed to be ABOUT drugs?

[samesamething]

@samesamething yeahhhh

[demoncleaner45]

this song always takes me back to freshman year in college, wandering the East Village in the beautiful New York fall

[jonty181]

I like the wheezey mouth organ

[asonjaryg]

Who you think would rather this song, God or Satan?

[renodiceman76]

It is a song that has sooo much sadness in it. I feel it, I know it. I have been to alphabet town

[renodiceman76]

Every time I listen to this song I want to cry

[jacmas]

@renodiceman76 it's terribly sad! But excellent at the same time.

[medeaculpa]

@umovelikehoney I actually think (and I know, everyone thinks this about all of his lyrics) this was actually a reference to heroin and shooting up. Sometimes the drug can be so powerful people actually vomit after shooting up (I think this is true also of first timers or drug newbies)

[VincentPrice111]

@medeaculpa Well would you actually be throwing up heroin if you injected it?

I don't know but it doesn't seem like it would.

Of course even if it wasn't, he didn't always pick the right words in terms of correctness in context.

Like the "Duracell bunny"

[breeeegs]

How is the duracell bunny line out of context? Also I assume he (Elliott) was writing about drug use from his own experience, so I don't see how it could be wrong

[breeeegs]

In any case this is such a beautiful song that it seems pointless to argue about things like that

[VincentPrice111]

@breeeegs I forget my exact meanings (even though I trust that they were correct how I intended them) but the duracell bunny line is wrong, for at least one reason, being that there is no duracell bunny, it's the energizer bunny.

I also wasn't referring to Elliott, I was referring to the guy who said you threw up injecting heroin, even though I didn't think that sounded exactly right.

I would believe Elliott Smith if he himself had said that

[breeeegs]

I think Duracell bunny sounds better just in terms of the way it fits into the song, the word energizer is too long and awkward and it messes up the rhyme scheme. Also how do we know Elliott was talking about heroin in this song, maybe he was talking about getting drunk? That would make more sense

[mymayapapaya]

@breeeegs yeah, it does sound better. I read that he realized his mistake and decided to leave it duracell

[breeeegs]

The man knew his stuff. If songwriting had a pope, it would be Elliott Smith

[breeeegs]

And maybe Bob Dylan could be the Archbishop. Or whatever the hell comes after Pope, I don't really know about this shit, I'm Jewish

[VincentPrice111]

@breeeegs Because he was directly referencing something that he thought existed, it was his bad, he even said so.

About the heroin THAT WAS EXACTLY my point.

Some one said they thought it was heroin instead of alcohol, my other comment was addressing him.

[breeeegs]

okay. 

[utarefsonmetushelac]

err and his SECOND album to... to be honest a love all his work ..

[utarefsonmetushelac]

omg this is soo beautifull that i think i having an overdose of beauty i love his 1st album

[umovelikehoney]

geez, "she threw up whatever she shot down" thats a vulgar choice of words. gotta love ES

[josh753789]

Elliotts music has never made my life better. I get so annoyed with people saying that. I love it, because I connect with it, and I know that somebody else has had these feelings, but it does nothing but make me want to isolate myself more, and hate people more. It just makes me more depressed. It's beautiful, but it's done nothing but push me farther from people.

And I like it that way.

[fiveyearwinterkiss]

this song is haunted

[0bananaskin0]

I got here via a search.

Never listened to this guy before... I certainly will from now on.

This is really good, reminds me in some way of the late great Roger Keith 'Syd' Barrett R.I.P.

[candysays69]

@0bananaskin0

Yes, you must certainly listen to more Elliott Smith! I would explore his entire discography - it's worth it. If you really like this song perhaps you should start with his self-titled album, Either/Or, Roman Candle or New Moon.

[cwalker120]

after listening to this i wrote a poem about the alphabet. thanks mymaypapaya for leading me to this

[knd53]

Desde argentina!...i love this song!!!!....i love this human been...Elliott!!...in my language..."Amo esta cancion..amo este ser humano" jijiji... kiss to every one!

[polyiconoclasm]

This is the only song that has ever made me cry. And it makes me sob like a bitch every time.

[Sarinella12]

Love you Elliot

[777setsuna]

Amazing

[Crackman34]

from venezuela.. i love this singer foreverrr.. spanihh desde vzla amo este cantanteee

[Snaffle]

Thank you Elliott Smith.

[DilutePeople]

dammit elliott...but I keep listening.

[Tayl0NP]

You chose perfect video for this. Which is more than I can say for a lot of other ES vids. Thank you.

[tessparks]

this video is amazing.

[r00tabeggas]

mymayapapaya has the best videos!

Thanks again this was awesome.

[frankkociper]

this song, along with all of elliott's songs can change someone's life for the better.  i know he's already changed mine.

[cooks95]

I completely agree- I always liked Waltz # but didn't buy his albums. Then one day I bought XO -because another guy was raving about him- and it changed me right then and there. I then bought everything he ever did plus Heatmiser. What's weird is the music, singing, writing is so fantastic-but there is an intangible thing -like a spiritual thing -that is even more profound about his stuff. It's like his soul is in it- but how does anyone do that? You can't explain it and he couldn't either.

[VincentPrice111]

@cooks95 Well, at the very least it has something to do with him really putting his true feelings into his music.

When you look at something like Simple Plan, then you have an example of where that isn't done.

[Crackman34]

@frankkociper ur words so beauty.. :) from venezela

[TakeItEazy3]

@frankkociper I couldn't have said it better.

[crazydude606]

That harmonica gets me everytime.

[carterdoleman]

I've got all of Elliott's albums and they all touch me in one way or another. This song, particularly, I can't get enough of.

It's such an effective musical strategy to keep singing the same note over the changing guitar chords

[BernardBrigitte]

i dont find words to describ the music of elliott smith, it's so deep and pure ...

[VincentPrice111]

@BernardBrigitte SO PURE, SO RARE TO WITNESS SUCH AN EARTHLY GODDESS

[TheSucklingPigJedi]

@BernardBrigitte How about deep and pure?

[lefthandpath54]

Great mellow Smith song. This and Clementine are great for when I want to relax.

[tutani]

The harmonica is so good in this song, he could have used it a bit more..

This is one of my favourite songs.

[embrassemoi04]

agreed. 5 stars

[bang3387]

Awesome vid for an awesome song.