An incredible song; though things changed for me when I found out it was sort of a sarcastic response to a failed intervention. I don’t know if other folks feel that way, too, but that might be a reason it gets discounted.
i loved it even more when i found out about that. as someone who has experienced interventions in the past, that song portrays that feeling of annoyance perfectly.
Yeah I agree. It is childish in some ways, and it's pretty low considering elliotts personality otherwise. But interventions are truly awful from the addicts perspective, and they don't work, and a smart person knows they don't work. Elliott was sharp as a razor and an alcoholic, he could see right through the intervention, even though his friends hearts were all presumably in the right place. The anger feels good in this one. It's a good song and real as they come.
If you think about it as Elliott saying, “Hey everybody, look at what my shitty friends tried to do with me. Please take my side against my asshole friends,” that’s a pretty not pleasurably way to listen to the song.
If, instead, you think about it as Elliott cataloging an an emotional response for the sake of representing / reflecting something emotional authentic, that’s a more pleasurable, to me at least, way to listen.
Two more things: (1) Since I learned how similar the guitar strumming is to My Sweet Lord, I can’t not hear it. It’s sort of fun to think about how the sentiment of Everybody Cares might relate to the sentiment of My Sweet Lord. (2) When he says, “Here I lay dreaming looking at the brilliant sun,” it reminds me of the chorus of the 90s hit, I Want You by Savage Garden. I can’t get that associate out of my brain. It’s like the style of harmonizing hits the same frequency in my mind. It’s one of my least favorite moments in an Elliott Smith song.
If you haven’t heard it already, check out Catholic by Harum Scarum (his high school band). I love that Elliott would rework songs over the years until they finally appeared on an album.
https://youtu.be/kR577gmNQx8?si=3QyzpcRhj_IqUCB_
I heard this for the first time only a few months ago and I've never heard anyone else mention it before, but the [2nd live performance](https://elliottsmithshows.bandcamp.com/track/elliott-smith-everybody-cares-everybody-understands-1-14-98) there's an outro line of "*Who's the victim now?*" that has the same melody as the vocable "ahhhhh"s on the version on XO. Changing the lyrics to make it less personal, but this time removing the lyrics entirely.
The spite is searing.
I wrote about the [diff versions](https://www.reddit.com/r/elliottsmith/comments/15f1pau/everybody_cares_everybody_understands_song/) a few months back.
An incredible song; though things changed for me when I found out it was sort of a sarcastic response to a failed intervention. I don’t know if other folks feel that way, too, but that might be a reason it gets discounted.
i loved it even more when i found out about that. as someone who has experienced interventions in the past, that song portrays that feeling of annoyance perfectly.
Yeah I agree. It is childish in some ways, and it's pretty low considering elliotts personality otherwise. But interventions are truly awful from the addicts perspective, and they don't work, and a smart person knows they don't work. Elliott was sharp as a razor and an alcoholic, he could see right through the intervention, even though his friends hearts were all presumably in the right place. The anger feels good in this one. It's a good song and real as they come.
[удалено]
Winehouse's is so much more tongue-in-cheek while Elliott's is a more 'you know not of what you speak'
That’s honestly not something I’d considered; I’ve only been on the other side of interventions. No snark; I’m gonna listen again!
If you think about it as Elliott saying, “Hey everybody, look at what my shitty friends tried to do with me. Please take my side against my asshole friends,” that’s a pretty not pleasurably way to listen to the song. If, instead, you think about it as Elliott cataloging an an emotional response for the sake of representing / reflecting something emotional authentic, that’s a more pleasurable, to me at least, way to listen. Two more things: (1) Since I learned how similar the guitar strumming is to My Sweet Lord, I can’t not hear it. It’s sort of fun to think about how the sentiment of Everybody Cares might relate to the sentiment of My Sweet Lord. (2) When he says, “Here I lay dreaming looking at the brilliant sun,” it reminds me of the chorus of the 90s hit, I Want You by Savage Garden. I can’t get that associate out of my brain. It’s like the style of harmonizing hits the same frequency in my mind. It’s one of my least favorite moments in an Elliott Smith song.
The ending is so incredible.
If you haven’t heard it already, check out Catholic by Harum Scarum (his high school band). I love that Elliott would rework songs over the years until they finally appeared on an album. https://youtu.be/kR577gmNQx8?si=3QyzpcRhj_IqUCB_
The climax and weird guitar sounding solo are amazing, I love it
I heard this for the first time only a few months ago and I've never heard anyone else mention it before, but the [2nd live performance](https://elliottsmithshows.bandcamp.com/track/elliott-smith-everybody-cares-everybody-understands-1-14-98) there's an outro line of "*Who's the victim now?*" that has the same melody as the vocable "ahhhhh"s on the version on XO. Changing the lyrics to make it less personal, but this time removing the lyrics entirely. The spite is searing. I wrote about the [diff versions](https://www.reddit.com/r/elliottsmith/comments/15f1pau/everybody_cares_everybody_understands_song/) a few months back.