Album: Elliott Smith (1995)

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• Your hand on his arm
  Haystack charm around your neck
  Strung out and thin
  Calling some friend tryin' to cash some check
  He's acting dumb
  That's what you've come to expect
  
  Needle in the hay
  Needle in the hay
  Needle in the hay
  Needle in the hay
  
  He's wearing your clothes
  Head down to toes a reaction to you
  You say you know what he did
  But you idiot kid, you don't have a clue
  Sometimes they just get caught in the eye
  You're pulling him through
  
  Needle in the hay
  Needle in the hay
  Needle in the hay
  Needle in the hay
  
  Now on the bus
  Nearly touching this dirty retreat
  Falling out
  6th and Powell, a dead sweat in my teeth
  Gonna walk, walk, walk
  Four more blocks, plus one in my brain
  Down downstairs
  To the man, he's gonna make it all okay
  I can't be myself
  I can't be myself and I don't wanna talk
  I'm taking the cure
  So I can be quiet whenever I want
  So leave me alone
  You oughta be proud that I'm getting good marks
  
  Needle in the hay
  Needle in the hay
  Needle in the hay
  Needle in the hay
  Needle in the hay
  Needle in the hay
  Needle in the hay
  Needle in the hay Writer/s: Steven Paul Smith
  Publisher: Universal Music Publishing Group
  Lyrics licensed and provided by LyricFind

Comments: 8

• Chonginstrong from The North.Anybody who has had a heroin addiction will tell you, this song is about being strung out on heroin and going to score, it feels like your never gonna get to the man " 4 more blocks and the one in my brain" he talks about getting the bus to go and score his s--t, and the track marks " you oughtta be proud that I'm getting good marks" it's a big f--k you I'm a smack head song! Beautiful, first song I ever learned to play.
• Fatjopa from Cookeville, Tnand, Bad Astronaut made it famous...thank you Joey Cape.
• Joe from Roseville, CaThe line, "I'm taking the cure" is an allusion to William S. Burroughs' heroin retrospective, "Junkie." In the book, "taking the cure" refers to a voluntary stay in a jail/rehab to get oneself off of heroin.
• Frank Zappa from Baghdad, -2002 interview with Q magazine. Smith said "this song is about having sex with your mum"
• Ryan from College Park, MdYet again, this song was written long before his problems with drug addiction.
• Amanda from Titusville, PaThis is my favorite song. I love Elliott Smith and especially listen to him when I am depressed. For those of you that cant get enough of Elliott Smith check out the band he was in before his solo career it was "Heatmiser" the name of the album to check out is "Mic City Sons"
• G from Paris, FranceWho is this Mark from Kansas, and why won't he spare us his insight?
• Kristene from Nowhere, TxThis is an amazing song that he supposedly wrote while trying to recover from his drug addiction. Note the title, 'Needle in the Hay', which is probably in reference to, what else, the lost cause of trying to find a needle, or hope, perhaps, in this case, in a haystack, or in life, sobriety. I don't know, that was just my guessing. Anyway, this is a great song, and he was the most amazing artist to ever walk the planet.

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