“2:45 AM” is the 11th track off of Elliott Smith’s 1997 album Either/Or.
This song, in many ways, encapsulates Smith’s style with its stripped down aesthetic and uncomplicated but downcast lyrics.
[Verse 1]
I'm going out sleepwalking
Where mute memories start talking
The boss that couldn't help but hurt you
And the pretty thing you made desert you
I'm going out like a baby
A naive, unsatisfiable baby
Grabbing onto whatever's around
For the soaring high or the crushing down
[Chorus]
With hidden cracks that don't show
But that constantly just grow
[Verse 2]
I'm looking for the man that attacked me
While everybody was laughing at me
You beat it in me, that part of you
But I'm gonna split us back in two
[Chorus]
Tired of living in a cloud
If you're gonna say shit now, you'll do it out loud
[Verse 3]
It's 2:45 in the morning
And I'm putting myself on warning
For waking up in an unknown place
With a recollection you've half erased
[Chorus]
Looking for somebody's arms to
Wave away past harms
[Outro]
I'm walking out on center circle
The both of you can just fade to black
I'm walking out on center circle
Been pushed away and I'll never go back
2:45 AM was written by Elliott Smith.
2:45 AM was produced by Elliott Smith & Rob Schnapf & Tom Rothrock.
Elliott Smith released 2:45 AM on Tue Feb 25 1997.