What I find curious when I dive into Elliott Smith's lyrics are the plethora of references to institutions of authority in some way, especially the army or the police. Figure 8 is particularly awash with such references in the form of metaphor or more explicit referrals:
Now I'm a policeman directing traffic
Keeping everything moving, everything static
I'm the hitchhiker you recognize passing
On your way to some everlasting...
(Junk Bond Trader)
This metaphor of a policeman directing traffic reoccurs towards the end of the album in the song "Happiness/The Gondola Man"
Activity's killing the actor
And a cop's standing out in the road
Turning traffic away
Now the title of the album is "Figure 8" and the later reference is probably deliberate as Smith explores the movement of life and the idea of infinity. We can almost imagine this constant flow, constant movement. The policeman in "Junk Bond Trader" is Smith himself, acting as a living contradiction because the traffic is both moving and static, illustrating how we are almost perfect contradictions as human beings. Later on in "Happiness", the traffic is being turned away which could hint at an accident or on a symbolic level an attempt to deflect away from finding the deeper, emotional meaning to the situation at hand. We are not led to understand what truly happened in the song although it touches on regret, and the importance of listening to friends and receiving advice properly when it comes to how to handle an emotional situation. Then Elliott picks up the third party references and transfers them onto his own view of his own mortality and the root of his true desires:
What I used to be will pass away and then you'll see
That all I want now is happiness for you and me
"Happiness" is certainly one of his most moving songs as it reaches us on so many levels and is, for me, one of his best lyrics because it starts off with what seems a simple theme and delves deeper - stretching out to touch our hearts with the final, emotional plea outlined above.
Continued in Part 3 (Coming Soon)
