Under The Influence: Elliott Smith

At what age did you realise you wanted to become a musician?
Probably five, as soon as I heard The White Album. It was pretty much my inspiration, that and AC/DC.

Elliott Smith: NME (2000)

My friends and I were just starting to teach ourselves guitar in 1980. I was 11 and really into Beatles songs like Julia and Sexy Sadie— cool, kaleidoscopic chord changes. I was totally immersed in trying to figure it all out, and it was slowly happening when some madman gunned down the guide. At first, kids at school acted like it was a hoax. It didn’t seem real at the time, and to be honest, I rarely think of John Lennon as dead. There’s too much life in his music to think of him as gone. For some reason when I think of him now, I usually picture him the way he looked and sounded during the 'hairy and scary' phase, around the time of Abbey Road. Definitely on his own trip. It’s neat when you’re a kid to see people who aren’t scared to change.

My folks were Beatles fans and supposedly played Sgt. Pepper’s for me before I was born. In junior high I thought that A Day in the Life was probably my favourite song ever. Of course, now I have many, many favourite songs, but a lot of them are still Lennon songs. For example:

I’m Only Sleeping

Most songs that bring up wanting to be left alone in some way or another don’t do it as gracefully as this one. It’s cool to express and defend your own interior space without getting all hostile about it; this song makes it seem easy. I also like the way it feels as if it’s pulling itself along with its own momentum instead of being pushed forward heavily with the kick drum.

Tomorrow Never Knows

The first line kinda says it all, really. Again, it’s like he’s describing a solid internal state you can maintain without doing battle with the outside world. Sometimes the most amazing thing to me about Lennon is that he kept a positive identity despite such a cracked upbringing and crazy fame.

Cold Turkey and Jealous Guy

Being this honest can be risky, which, of course, is an excellent idea. It’ll either be sappy or brave. Or both. He chanced it and won. Other people have to write this way all the time. Lennon had access to all floors. Didn’t he also write:

I Am the Walrus

It’s dark, complicated, funny, and popular; it rocks; and it contains the phrase “goo goo g’joob.” Lyrics all over the place. I like songs like this because they activate my imagination. Coherence is fine and all, but it’s not the measure of interesting lyrics. Sonically, this song seems to be coming from a person who just busted out of incarceration somewhere.

Across the Universe

This song is fluid and musical in a way that, to me, overarches all the cultural and political commentary that surrounds his life. A really cool song can sometimes make a dream and reality trade places, maybe for the better.

Elliott Smith: SPIN (Jan 2001)

Five Beatles Cover Version by Elliott Smith

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Ray Davies Reviews Revolver

Paul McCartney was one of the most competitive people I've ever met. Lennon wasn't. He just thought everyone else was sh*t 

Ray Davies (The Kinks) in Revolver: How the Beatles Reimagined Rock 'n' Roll by Robert Rodriguez

As well as that gem, here's another I found via Rodriguez's book - Ray's review of Revolver for Disc and Music Echo Magazine in Aug '66

'Really, it's a load of RUBBISH'

Taxman - It sounds like a cross between the Who and Batman. It's a bit limited, but the Beatles get over this by the sexy double-tracking. It's surprising how sexy double-tracking makes a voice sound.

Eleanor Rigby - I bought a Haydn LP the other day and this sounds just like it. It's all sort of quartet stuff and it sounds like they're out to please music teachers in primary schools. I can imagine John saying: 'I'm going to write this for my old schoolmistress'.

I'm Only Sleeping - It's a most beautiful song, much prettier than 'Eleanor Rigby'. A jolly old thing, really, and definitely the best track on the album.

Love You Too - This sort of song I was doing two years ago--now I'm doing what the Beatles were doing two years ago. It's not a bad song--it's well performed which is always true of a Beatles track.

Yellow Submarine - This is a load of rubbish, really. I take the mickey out of myself on the piano and play stuff like this.

Good Day Sunshine - This'll be a giant. It doesn't force itself on you, but it stands out like I'm Only Sleeping. This is back to the real old Beatles. I just don't think the fans like the newer electronic stuff. The Beatles are supposed to be like the boy next door only better.

Got To Get You Into My Life - It just goes to prove that Britain's jazz musicians can't swing.

Tomorrow Never Knows - Listen to all those crazy sounds! It'll be popular in discotheques. I can imagine they had George Martin tied to a totem pole when they did this!

So, after listening to each track three or four times, the Ray Davies verdict: This is the first Beatles LP I've really listened to in it's entirety but I must say there are better songs on 'Rubber Soul'.

Go to KindaKinks.Net to read the whole review

10:9 I'm So Tired

It's not surprise that a song called I'm So Tired was written by John Lennon, the Beatle dubbed “probably the laziest person in England” and the composer I'm Only Sleeping and Good Night (Paul's Golden Slumbers being the only non-Lennon sleepy Beatles song).

What is more surprising is that it is such a well crafted, compact (ticket 2) song, worthy of Lennon's '64-'66 golden period, but with grungy production and real sense of humour. A perfectly written song with a woozy melody that is surprisingly 'vertical' for Lennon. John himself held it in high regard -

One of my favourite tracks. I just like the sound of it, and I sing it well

Lennon accompanies his own excellent vocals with some great organ playing, along with electric and acoustic guitar, McCartney doubles on electric piano, and Ringo overdubs a second kit (panned centrally on the choruses with the original kit panned left). Ringo, like the rest of the band, is on form, a subtle swing almost undetectable on the chorus (where everyone is banging out ¼ notes) but coming through on the verse.

More surprises? Though there's a massive contrast with the ragged Bungalow Bill, in terms of writing and performance, both songs were recorded and completed in the same session, the day before Lennon's 28th birthday.

Does the song consist of early period 'verse and bridge' structure (ticket 26) or more modern pop style verse and chorus? On balance the “You say I'm putting you on” feels more like a chorus but if so, it's one of the rare occasions that the title appears in the verse, rather than the chorus.

The spoken outro is gibberish, rather than anything meaningful in french, and certainly not any backwards masked message about Paul being dead.

The most fascinating elements to this song are the way it's built on a 12 bar structure though it isn't a blues, the use of madrigalism to unify the mood of the lyrics and music and as always a judicious helping of crazy out key chords. We'll cover some of those next time!