Elliott Smith followed up XO two years later with 2000’s Figure 8, which would end up as his final release before his suicide.
Figure 8 was his most baroque and expansive album yet, and perhaps his most critically-acclaimed. Smith had a larger profile now, at least by the standards of an indie singer-songwriter, and he reacted to the expanding spotlight by going to wonderful new places musically.
Personally, it was quite a different story, but with Smith, who from the start projected a tortured persona, it was never clear how truly tortured he was.
As with his previous two releases, I’m tempted to call Figure 8 Smith’s best album. At any rate, those three albums represent as strong a winning streak as I can point to by any artist.
About a third of the album’s 16 tracks are delicate acoustic affairs, not unlike Smith’s earliest material though better produced. Some of those songs, including ‘Easy Way Out’ and ‘I Better Be Quiet Now,’ are among the very best tracks he’s ever recorded. But I wanted to use today’s Song of the Day to give a feel for the more robust material that dominates the album and takes his music in a whole new direction.
‘Son of Sam’ is the album opener. It obviously references the famous serial killer, though I don’t know if the song is literally about him or using him as a metaphor for something else. Thoughts?
I told the boss off and made my move
Got nowhere to go
Son of Sam, son of a shining path, the clouded mind
Couple killer each and every time
I’m not uncomfortable, feeling weird
Lonely leered, options disappear
But I know what to do
Son of Sam, son of a doctor’s touch, a nurse’s love
Acting under orders from above
King for a day
Son of Sam, son of a shining path, the clouded mind
Couple killer running out of time
Shiva opens her arms now
To make sure I don’t get too far
I may talk in my sleep tonight
Because I don’t know what I am
I’m a little like you, more like Son of Sam
Meet Me In Montauk 
Another wonderful song from Smith. It really is such a tragedy that he is not with us, because I really think he ranked as one of the best songwriters of the past 20 years.
Hmmm…. while the song is alluding to the Son of Sam, the video is all about the French film The Red Balloon. Why might Smith have wanted to create a video that calls to mind images of innocence and childhood while lyrically referencing a notorious “couple killer”? And what do either of those references have to do with Smith himself? Is he, figuratively, of course, also a couple killer? Does he consider himself the innocent child always in search of the red balloon but never quite able to get it into his grasp? Does the red balloon symbolize something the Son of Sam wants? Quite provocative!