Elliott Smith's XO (12 page)

Indeed, among the countless live and demo recordings I have pored over, there are some true clunkers—awkward, inelegant, obvious, and cloying musical and lyrical snippets born of the same creative mind that gave us
XO.
Smith, like all of us, was given to his share of good ideas and his share of bad ideas. It is impressive, to say the least, that Smith conjured enough critical distance from his own work to distill a glut of demo recordings and unfinished songs into a handful of concise and unerringly strong records.

It is also impressive that an artist as clever and self-aware as Smith never released an album that intentionally and explicitly sought to counter his popular construction—no
Get Happy!-esqae
retort to the critics who saw him as a one-dimensional caricature.
In an interview with
Salon.com
, Smith demonstrated a keen awareness of his own popular image, and of how that image differed from his own understanding of his music:

I just make up songs that to me feel human. And they’re bound to be seen by some people as confessional or depressing, some sort of real one-way assessment that is not how they are to me…. And it’s really easy not to worry about all that, except for the persistent questions that come up. Maybe not in this interview, but in a lot of them. “Why are you so sad?” … There must be some reason why I always get these questions, which to me seem like totally surface things about my music. There’s a lot in my music that I find happy and optimistic, in both the melody and the lyrics.

Just as every single one of Smith’s records is cited in support of his cultural myth, every single one of Smith’s records is subtle and substantive enough to outlast it. Smith was not afraid to take his cues from timeless, canonical albums—the very kind that are often seen as critically and creatively unapproachable on account of their creators’ singular “genius.” Smith detested artistic self-importance, but he was never afraid to take his
work
seriously—to listen, write, think, and edit until he crafted a record that could hold its own among those he most admired. It is an
approach too inclusive, too pragmatic, and too daunting to be the stuff of cultural myth. Instead—like
XO
itself—it is improbably, beautifully, real.

*     *     *

Ghosts may not exist as metaphysical apparitions, but they do exist as semantic artifacts. Any piece of writing about an artist like Smith is, in a sense, haunted. Smith’s death hangs heavy over every line of his lyrics, and every word written about him. Aside from the insurmountable sadness of a creative life cut short, Smith’s untimely death seemed only to validate the mythology surrounding his body of work. As an end point to the narrative of the “tortured singer-songwriter,” it could not be more fitting; some pieces written after Smith’s death read as “I told you so” as much as they did “I’m sorry.” Many brief obituaries offered only a sad, shallow glimpse into a wonderfully rich creative life: “singer-songwriter who struggled with drug addiction.” Or, in the words of the UK
Guardian,
“No one was too surprised when Elliott Smith—a boozy, druggy Oscar-nominated folk singer who had talked openly about killing himself—was found dead.”

These articles are problematic not because they overstate the extent of Smith’s personal troubles
(which, again, I don’t see fit to comment upon here), but rather because they insist upon a particular correlation between the darker parts of Smith’s biography and the whole of his musical output. This correlation inevitably sparked a search for “clues” in Smith’s lyrics; when
New Moon
was released in 2006, internet forums were abuzz with discussion of the already-long-leaked “Georgia, Georgia,” and its lyric “Oh man, what a plan, suicide.” Most of this chatter omitted the line’s conclusion, “… it’s just not that much different from my own affair,” which positions its subject matter as metaphorical, not confessional. Indeed, Smith’s interest in themes of drug addiction and suicide was not simply a reflection of his personal opinions on these subjects, let alone his personal experiences. These issues in and of themselves never seemed to be of much interest to Smith; it was their bearing on bigger questions of agency, intellect, and emotion that intrigued him. (Smith was, after all, a student of philosophy and the son of a psychiatrist.)

As I have suggested, this tension between rational thought, creativity, and experience is not simply a passing thematic concern of Smith’s; it is at the very core of his lyrical approach and musical philosophy. Smith’s reliance upon a simple and straightforward vocabulary often masks the complex and consistent internal language of his work, not to mention his
unerring precision as a lyricist. Few musicians manage to write with Smith’s pinpoint emotional accuracy, and fewer still manage to do so without sacrificing the coherency of their work as pop music.

Ultimately, the distinction that must be made is that between the craftsman and the craft itself. The particulars of how the “real life” of Elliott Smith informed his work are not really accessible to anybody other than Smith himself, who insisted both in interviews and in his music that personal struggle does not translate into great art. Indeed, as Negus suggests, the very idea that art is a mere transposition of preexisting emotions and experience is a fallacy. The urge to understand Smith as a human being is by no means an innately ghoulish one; Autumn de Wilde’s picture and interview book does a great job of providing nonlinear glimpses into Elliott Smith’s life via people who knew him. It is the urge to reduce his life into a cartoonish narrative, then read that narrative back into his music, that threatens to bleed the color, life, and complexity from an amazing body of work.

De Wilde’s book is interesting largely because it consists largely of interviews with artists and musicians. The “Elliott Smith” who exists as a ghastly foregone conclusion seems very different from the Elliott Smith treasured by fans and musicians alike. Indeed, many of the most interesting conversations I’ve had about
Smith’s music have been with musicians; Smith’s work ethic, craft, and formal discipline are tremendously inspiring. Still, I doubt that Smith will ever be categorized as a hugely influential musician; his work is at once too musically unique and too aesthetically broad to fit into any clear lineage. Elliott Smith will never really be owned by the history of “acoustic” music or “folk” music or “lo-fi” music, or even “pop” music—his work will always be, simply, Elliott Smith music.

Indeed, while Smith is often invoked as a cautionary figure, his devotion to songcraft was nothing short of instructive. In an interview with
Comes With a Smile,
friend and frequent musical collaborator Sam Coomes described watching Smith come into his own as a musician:

I’ve known Elliott for a long time. And when I first met him I thought he was a talented musician—but I know a lot of talented musicians; I never thought he was the
most
talented or anything. But he’s just pushed himself and grown as a musician pretty intensely over the years and I’ve been able to watch it from close range and that’s extremely instructive—musically—but it’s also gratifying to see a friend and associate pick himself up like that and get a wider recognition.

Smith worked tirelessly to make himself a better musician, and the result of that work lives on, strong
and stunning as ever.
XO
stands as a tremendously powerful statement that art can transcend and outlive the difficulties we face; that even if a writer is “stuck inside [his] imagination,” the products of that stasis can be remarkable. Focusing on the supposed tragedy of Smith’s personal life serves only to rarify his suffering and belittle his creative achievements. There is no dearth of pain and sadness in the world, but there are very few albums as singular and exquisite as
XO.

Larry Crane was extremely helpful in constructing a timeline for the events leading up to
XO’s
release; I hope I have accurately reflected the information he provided.

Philip Fischer meticulously compiled and transcribed the live and demo recordings addressed in this book.

Whenever possible, lyrics cited are verified by official materials. Unverified lyrics were transcribed by myself and/or Philip Fischer.

[Author Unknown] “Elliott Smith,”
Guitar Player,
September 1998.

[Author Unknown] “Luke Wood,”
Record Labels and Companies Guide
[
http://www.record-labels-companies guide.com/interview-dreamworks.html
].

Anderman, Joan, “Tunesmith to the Miserable,”
The Boston Globe,
March 26, 1999.

Anderman, Joan, “Elliott Smith: Unfazed Songwriter Embraces His Beloved Outsider Mantle with ‘Figure 8’,”
The Boston Globe,
May 12, 2000.

Barrie, J. M.,
Peter Pan.

Barthes, Roland, “The Death of the Author,” in
Image, Music, Text
(Noonday Press, 1977).

Bates, Jim, “Walkin’ After Midnight,”
Jim,
November 6, 1997.

Chelin, Pamela, “Elliott Smith,”
The Big Takeover
no. 43, late 1998.

Cromelin, Richard, “‘Misery’ Has Company,”
The LA Times,
April 19, 1998.

Darnielle, John, “Roman Candle,”
Last Plane to Jakarta,
Spring 1998.

de Wilde, Autumn,
Elliott Smith
(Chronicle Books, 2007).

Dornan, Matt, “Elliott Smith,”
Comes with a Smile,
Winter 1998/1999.

Ellis, John, “Stars as Cinematic Phenomenon,” in Butler, Jeremy,
Star Texts: Image & Performance in Film & Television
(Wayne State University Press, 1991).

Farber, Jim, “Folkie Swings Into Pop,”
New York Daily News,
September 6, 1998.

Filene, Benjamin,
Romancing the Folk: Public Memory & American Roots Music
(UNC Press, 2000).

Fricke, David,
“Sea Change,” Rolling Stone,
October 3, 2002.

Fritch, Matthew, “Down on the Upside,”
Magnet,
September/October 1998.

Greenfield-Sanders, Timothy, “The Delicate Sound of an Explosion,”
Interview,
August 1998.

Hundley, Jessica, “Mr. Misery, He’s Not,”
Salon.com
, May 1, 2000.

Jenkins, Mark, “Elliott Smith’s Emotional Snapshots,”
The Washington Post,
March 19, 1999.

Kellogg, Carolyn, “And the Winner Is …,”
Launch: Music on Yahoo!,
February 24, 1998.

Kelly, John, “Dreaming Up a Song,”
The Irish Times,
November 28, 1998.

Moon, Tom, “A Singer Gone Slick? Fans Needn’t Worry,”
The Philadelphia Inquirer,
October 5, 1998.

Moran, Caitlin, “The Yolk in the Egg-White of Life,”
The Times,
May 29, 1998.

Moses, Michael, “Smithery Loves Company,”
Launch: Music on Yahoo!,
November 19, 1998.

Negus, Keith,
Music Genres and Corporate Cultures
(Routledge, 1999).

Negus, Keith,
Popular Music in Theory
(Wesleyan University Press, 1996).

Negus, Keith and Pickering, Michael,
Creativity, Communication and Cultural Value
(Sage, 1994).

Nugent, Benjamin,
Elliott Smith and the Big Nothing
(Da Capo Press, 2005).

Peisner, David, “Elliott Smith: The Well Rounded Interview,”
Well Rounded Entertainment,
1998.

Perry, Tim, “An Academy Award Performance,”
The Independent,
May 30, 1998.

Peterson, Richard A.,
Creating Country Music: Fabricating Authenticity
(University of Chicago Press, 1997).

Powers, Ann, “Vulnerable No More: Gloomy Becomes a Tad Bouncy,”
The New York Times,
May 23, 2000.

Punter, Jennie, “An Original Steps Awkwardly into the Light,”
The Globe and Mail,
August 29, 1998.

Rayner, Ben, “Singer Thrust Into the Spotlight,”
The Toronto Star,
August 25, 1998.

Rosen, Craig, “Capitol S’Track Boosts Elliott Smith,”
Billboard,
February 21, 1998.

Siegler, Dylan, “Smith Follows Up ‘Good Will’ Boost—Oscar-Nominated Artist Makes DreamWorks Debut with
XO,” Billboard,
August 1, 1998.

Smith, R. J., “Elliott Smith: He’s Mr. Dyingly Sad, and You’re Mystifyingly Glad,”
Spin,
January 1999.

Sullivan, Jim, “Elliott Smith Takes the Low-Fi Road to Oscar,”
The Boston Globe,
March 12, 1998.

Sullivan, Jim, “Smith lets ‘Miss Misery’ Sit Out His Paradise Set,”
The Boston Globe,
October 7, 1998.

Thomas, Karen, “‘Misery’ Puts Songwriter in the Academy’s Company”
USA Today,
March 20, 1998.

Weinstein, Deena, “Art Versus Commerce: Deconstructing a (Useful) Romantic Illusion,” in Kelly, Karen and McDonnell, Evelyn,
Stars Don’t Stand Still in the Sky: Music and Myth
(New York University Press, 1999).

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Dusty in Memphis
by Warren Zanes

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Forever Changes
by Andrew Hultkrans

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Harvest
by Sam Inglis

4.
The Kinks Are the Village Green Preservation Society
by Andy Miller

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by Joe Pernice

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by John Cavanagh

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Abba Gold
by Elisabeth Vincentelli

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Electric Ladyland
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Sign ’O’ the Times
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The Velvet Underground and Nico
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Live at the Apollo
by Douglas Wolk

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by Allan Moore

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by Dai Griffiths

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Led Zeppelin IV
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