This
entry has actually been rather difficult to write, because I have so much to
say about this artist and when trying to choose songs to mention, I’m finding
that every song that he wrote is worth talking about. There are so many gems in
so many songs, it’s damn near impossible to just pick a few. I’m going to
attempt to limit this post to just a few of my most played songs of his, but
I’m not gonna guarantee anything!
So,
Elliott Smith has been a major part of my life for the last five years. For
those of you who aren’t familiar with his work, he was an indie singer-songwriter.
He wrote some of the most beautiful lyrics I’ve ever heard – with absolutely
gorgeous imagery and layers of emotional depth. I love the way he strings together those words... I've always had a
fascination with the way a writer strings together words, where they become a
beautiful poetic jumble – and he would use some really pretty words.His
melodies are exquisite and feature an intricate musical structure. Elliott was
an amazing guitarist and his voice… Well, I’m more than a little in love with
that voice. It’s soft, haunting, ethereal … and distinctive. But you should
know, he did not write happy and silly pop songs. His lyrics articulate
thoughts of sadness and loneliness and feelings almost anyone can relate to at
one time or another. His life was, admittedly, kind of a mess – marked by
unhappiness and drug use and ending tragically with his sudden death in 2003.
But the way he wrote about his troubles, it makes the pain and heartbreak
beautiful.
My
relationship with Elliott began in the summer of 2007 and I was immediately
taken by him. The first song of his I ever heard was “Condor Avenue” from the
album, Roman Candle. He wrote that
song while he was still in high school. That is one song that I love singing
because of all the great words and imagery he uses. “…slipped past into
rhythmic quietude”, “the chimes fell over each other”, “they never get uptight
when a moth gets crushed, unless a light bulb really loved him very much”, and
“I’m lying down, blowing smoke from my cigarette, little whisper smoke signs
that you’ll never get”… I don’t know. The words are just so pretty and paint
such vivid images. You’ll hear a lot of imagery in Elliott’s songs. His words
in “Waltz #2” about how she “stares into space like a dead China doll” are
another example. And in the song, “Plainclothes Man” (that was recorded while
he was still with his band, Heatmiser) has possibly my favorite way of
describing a photograph: “A perfect moment in a flash of light”. How amazing is
that? Or is it just me? … Yeah, okay.
My
first favorite song of his was off the album, Figure 8. “Wouldn’t Mama Be Proud.” Love the harmonies – and love
hearing Elliott singing harmony with himself. And the lyrics (as always),
pretty amazing. “Stupidity Tries” was another of my favorites upon first
listen. It has a wonderful build up and I love the guitar “falls” (I have no idea
if that’s the technical term for what’s going on, but it happens in every verse
– the first time is about 13 seconds in, after “and he’ll cut…” and the guitar
notes slide down. You would think I’d know the technical terms, wouldn’t you?).
And it’s pretty awesome that he uses the word “conquistador” in a song. Not
often that you hear that word in music – except, y’know, the Procol Harum song,
but I digress. Another song from Figure 8
that gets a lot of airtime on my playlists is “L.A.” As far as Elliott songs
go, this is maybe one of the happiest. So yeah, maybe he was feeling bad the
night before, but today he’s feeling better. It’s extremely catchy, more great
harmonies, and the guitar… Great riff and I love (love, LOVE) the palm muted,
clicky guitar bit. Kind of a ‘70s-ish vibe to it. It’s one of those songs that
always makes me smile.
Honestly
though, just about every song you listen to, you’re going to find something
amazing in it. Some of my other most played Elliott songs are “Say Yes”,
“Between the Bars” (lyrics are fantastic on both of those), “Cupid’s Trick” (as
fantastic as the album version is, I am a bit partial to the live version of
the song), “Coming Up Roses”, “A Fond Farewell”, “New Monkey”, “No Name #4”,
“Independence Day” (fabulous groove to the song), “Bottle Up and Explode”,
“Waltz #2” (yeah, I dig the way he names some of his songs too), and today my song of the moment was "Oh Well, Okay"… And then there
are a couple of bootleg recordings I got my hands on, but my favorite of those
may be the song, “See You In Heaven”. There aren’t lyrics, but the music, the
melody… It’s beautiful and uplifting.
One
of the things about Elliott though… It’s a little bizarre, but I feel a
connection with him. I feel like I know him – and what’s even crazier, I feel
like he knows me and understands me. It probably says more about me than I
should be revealing in such a public forum, but there have been periods of my
life where I’ve felt like he’s the best friend I have. I know it’s strange to
feel such a strong connection with someone I didn’t even know existed until
after he died (though, it may be a little reminiscent of “Pictures of Lily” by
The Who), but I think it says a lot about his songwriting ability – that he was
able to build that kind of connection with people through his music. I know in
reality, if I had known him, he wouldn’t have been the easiest person to be
friends with… I know enough about him personally to have figured that much out,
but I’m also pretty sure I would have loved him just the same.
My first Carpenters album. It's a
little worse for wear these days.
So… as is consistent with my music addiction, I have a
tendency to make myself various CDs of the tunes I’m in the mood for during a
week. And yes, I tend to make about 1 (sometimes 2) official mix CDs a week.
This last week, I made a CD of the music I listened to the summer before I went
into 9th grade. Okay, so that’s been a little while ago and some
people are impressed that I can remember the music I was listening to at that
time, but music has always been an
important part of my life and my life has definitely had a soundtrack. Besides,
during my early teenage years, I didn’t have too big of a variety of music. At
that time in my life, I mostly listened to the Carpenters and the Partridge
Family – with a little bit of Judy Garland soundtracks, one Petula Clark CD,
and The Beatles CD – Past Masters Vol. 2,
because I wanted the song “Let It Be”. Okay, so I was a bit of a dork. But honestly, I maintain my
love for The Carpenters. The Carpenters have been a staple in my music
collection for as far back as I can remember. I knew their albums because of my
mother and I picked out my first “grownup album” out shortly after I turned 6.
It was The Carpenters Singles 1969-1973. My
favorite song became “Hurting Each Other” and I used to play it over and over.
At 6, I obviously didn’t understand the feelings behind the song, but I knew it
was a beautiful song – and I still love it. And there’s something about her voice
when she’s singing just before the chorus “Oh why should it be”… It’s strange,
but it’s one of those moments that I can listen to over and over. So, yeah… My love for The Carpenters started ages ago and it
ebbed and flowed during various stages in my life. I really only had the one
album until my serious obsession began at age 11. I don’t really remember what
kicked off the obsession, but I remember dusting off my old cassette tape and
popping it into the stereo and I was hooked all over again. I listened to that
tape so many times throughout that year and the following Christmas I got a CD
player and a Carpenters two-disc
compilation album: Yesterday Once More.
That’s another album I listened to pretty much non-stop for months – my favorite
song during that time was “Calling Occupants of Interplanetary Craft” – and this song kicked off my fixation for
getting the album, Passage (which was
out of print at the time). Over the following couple years, I sunk most of my
allowance into buying Carpenters albums (though, The Partridge Family received
a great deal of my allowance money as well… I had it bad for Keith Partridge).
I think a lot of my favorite Carpenters songs during this time tended toward
their non-hits: “Let Me Be The One” (from Carpenters),
“Maybe It’s You” (from Close To You),
“Love Me For What I Am” (from Horizon),
“Boat to Sail” (from A Kind of Hush),
“Where Do I Go From Here?” (from Lovelines),
“I Can’t Make Music” (from Now and Then),“I Won’t Last A Day Without You” (from A Song For You), and “Turn Away” (from Ticket to Ride)…
I learned quite a few of their songs on the piano during this
time too. “Hurting Each Other” was the first song I learned by them. And I
remember sitting at the piano with my headphones on, trying to play “Flat Baroque”
along with the recording… Richard is a much better pianist than I am, let me
tell you! I could play most of the “Bacharach/David Medley” with the recording
though (and here’s another little music-related secret of mine: I kind of have
a thing for medleys).
Somewhere along the line, during my high school years, I
didn’t listen to them so much. I didn’t
seriously start listening to the Carpenters again until a few years back… I
don’t really know why I didn’t… It might have been the “non-cool factor”, or
maybe I had too much other music to listen to, or maybe I just burned myself
out on them in my early teenage years. Whatever the reason, I looked them up on
youtube a few years back and was hooked all over again. Being an adult at this
point, I heard them again with fresh ears – and a new perspective. Yes, I knew
all the songs like the back of my hand, but I heard them differently than I did
before (and even found some songs I hadn’t known before – outtakes from Karen’s
solo album). I had a better understanding of music and what real talent is.
Now, I know they get a lot of crap. “They’re too sugary, too sentimental, too
melodic”. They’re definitely not rock
and roll, but… I don’t know if I can really consider them a guilty pleasure
because, really, I’m pretty proud of being a fan of theirs. I’m proud of
knowing all their music! So no, not a guilty pleasure (the Partridge Family on the
other hand, might fall into that category - but that's a subject for another time…). Why not? Because, no
matter what anyone says – they were extremely talented individuals. Karen’s
voice is what always gets mentioned – and it rightfully should. It was
incredible. She had nearly a 4 octave range. She had impeccable phrasing,
resonance, and consistently perfect pitch. No vocalist has ever matched her
vocal quality- the haunting, sadness and the natural mellowness. She never
screeched (like so many vocalists are apt to these days). She always produced a
lovely pure and rich tone. But it wasn’t just Karen’s voice – She was an astounding
drummer… after trying to play the drums, I became aware of just how fantastic
she was and how much natural talent she possessed on the drums… She’s also the whole reason I wanted to play
the drums. Of course, you can’t over look Richard’s contributions – and
amazing pianist, composer, and arranger. It’s the combination of the 2 that
make them what they are. And the layers and layers of Carpenters voices in each
recording? Nothing can quite compare to that.
My Recommendations –
Albums: A Song For
You, Close To You, and Carpenters
Songs:Hurting Each
Other Goodbye
To Love Let Me
Be The One We’ve
Only Just Begun All You
Get From Love Is A Love Song
And here’s a little clip from their appearance on The Tonight Show. Karen really rocked on
the drums.
This
entry has actually been rather difficult to write, because I have so much to
say about this artist and when trying to choose songs to mention, I’m finding
that every song that he wrote is worth talking about. There are so many gems in
so many songs, it’s damn near impossible to just pick a few. I’m going to
attempt to limit this post to just a few of my most played songs of his, but
I’m not gonna guarantee anything!
Honestly
though, just about every song you listen to, you’re going to find something
amazing in it. Some of my other most played Elliott songs are “Say Yes”,
“Between the Bars” (lyrics are fantastic on both of those), “Cupid’s Trick” (as
fantastic as the album version is, I am a bit partial to the live version of
the song), “Coming Up Roses”, “A Fond Farewell”, “New Monkey”, “No Name #4”,
“Independence Day” (fabulous groove to the song), “Bottle Up and Explode”,
“Waltz #2” (yeah, I dig the way he names some of his songs too), and today my song of the moment was "Oh Well, Okay"… And then there
are a couple of bootleg recordings I got my hands on, but my favorite of those
may be the song, “See You In Heaven”. There aren’t lyrics, but the music, the
melody… It’s beautiful and uplifting.
