Elliott smith either or lyrics genius
When I'm in the studio, almost every time I’ll think of him: What would he do, or how would he approach the story I have in my head? So, I thought, ‘Why not carry him with me in some way?’” But I see him almost as this presence that follows me. “It’s funny,” the UK singer-songwriter tells Apple Music, “because I know a lot of people-a lot of artists-with Elliott Smith tattoos. When he sings, “I’m tired of dancing on a pot of gold flake paint,” he taps into the weight of wearing the mask we all wear from time to time.On her 21st birthday, Arlo Parks decided to get a new tattoo-the words “Either/Or” inked on her ankle in her close friend’s handwriting. At first listen, a track like “Good To Go” sounds straightforward, but it’s rife with overdubs, tight harmonies, and unique chord structures that generally go unnoticed.Įlliott Smith is bookended by two of the singer-songwriter’s most heart-rending compositions, “Needle In The Hay” and “The Biggest Lie.” There is both a beautiful sense of fragility and a nagging sense of disease to the latter, as if Smith were foreshadowing his tragic future. One of the most impressive aspects of Smith as an artist was how much he could accomplish with such simple-seeming arrangements. It was later covered by Queens Of The Stone Age in 2007. Like so many cult figures, Smith’s emotionally poignant songwriting blurred the line between reality and artifice, leaving it open to interpretation.Įven as most of Elliott Smith sees the singer bare his soul over hushed tones and intricate guitars, his raw emotions spill out on songs like “Christian Brothers.” Originally arranged as a Heatmiser song, Smith channels his rage throughout the track, exposing a level of repressed intensity that’s ever-present. “It was cool to find so many photographs of him having a good time.”ĭespite the speculation surrounding Smith’s lyrics, the singer wasn’t under the influence of drugs or even heavy alcohol consumption during the album’s creation. “We found so much about him that was able to balance out the perceptions of him being such a downer,” he revealed. Nikolas Rossi, director of the 2015 Smith documentary, Heaven Adores You, said that Smith was “incredibly funny, witty, well-read and extraordinarily generous”. Yet even as Smith alludes to some darker tendencies on songs like “Needle In The Hay,” “St Ides Heaven” and “The White Lady Loves You More,” his keen sense for observational details and impeccable songwriting prevent them from sounding like hopeless dirges. To this day, many consider Elliott Smith’s self-titled album to be the late singer-songwriter’s most intimate and revealing record. The album’s recording was divided between the home studios of Heatmiser’s drummer (Smith’s longtime high-school friend Tony Lash) and local audio engineer Leslie Uppinghouse, both of whom are credited on the album with “mixing assistance”. Lord introduced Smith to her boyfriend at the time, Slim Moon, owner of record label Kill Rock Stars, who would go on to release Elliott Smith and its follow-up, Either/Or, before Smith signed to DreamWorks in 1998. Electric guitar lines fly in and out, while Smith’s vocals are confessional whispers demanding that listeners show up for the music and participate. It was staggering.” A latter-day Nick DrakeĮlliott Smith creates an inverted sonic landscape where sparse, paper-thin drums eat away at the edges of layered, melodic down-tuned acoustic guitar reminiscent of Nick Drake, Bert Jansch and John Fahey. I knew there was something special in the production and the sonic capability of this very primitive way of recording. “It was lo-fi, sure, but you could tell there was a lot of thought that went into the texture of the way these songs were sounding. “I was so impressed with the sound,” she said in a 2015 interview with Consequence Of Sound. Lord was in awe of the recording’s quality, musical arrangements, and lyrical content. During this time, Smith played Lord a new song, “Needle in the Hay,” which would become his self-titled album’s opening track. Lord was floored by Smith’s performance and asked him to join her on a month-long tour. He befriended singer-songwriter Mary Lou Lord, who had caught his set at the legendary Seattle venue Velvet Elvis. “I knew there was something special”ĭuring the recording of the album, Smith pulled double-duty between his burgeoning solo career and his indie rock band, Heatmiser, scraping together a living working odd jobs.