Existential Ambivalence

“I think words are bound to… Every word carries a whole bunch of meanings behind it, like the tail of a comet, you know? And it gets really complicated when you pile them up on each other, and in a way, it gets so complicated that people trying to talk about novels can spend an entire career just talking about one author.
The crossword puzzle gets so complicated, but that’s part of what’s so interesting about it. If it was really comprehensible, and you could really understand some song or something like that, then it wouldn’t be so interesting to listen to any more, you know? I can deal with a couple of direct lyrics on a record of mine, but if they were all songs like “Somebody That I Used to Know…” or “Easy Way Out”, if they were all songs that were simple and direct, then it would be hard for me to sing them over and over again, because I’d have to go back to a very specific place to be inside the song when I’m playing it. And anyway, I feel like I’ve already made up some pretty straight, story- type songs in the past, and now I’m interested in more impressionistic, fragmented little movies.” Elliott Smith (via elliottsmithappreciation)