The 10 best Elliott Smith songs
Elliott Smith garnered waves of adoring fans for his sensitive and introspective lyrics delivered in an eerie, almost whispered manner of singing. Smith played in the Portland, Oregon, rock band Heatmiser in the early 1990s before beginning a glittering career as a solo singer-songwriter in 1994.
Smith released five full-length solo albums during his lifetime, and two posthumous records were released after his tragic death in 2003. Smith had suffered from chronic depression, ADHD and a heavy addiction to drugs and alcohol, which all contributed to his mysterious death. Smith died of two stab wounds to the chest, although the autopsy of his body did not conclude whether these were self-inflicted or the result of homicide.
Smith was a shy, introverted person who inadvertently rose to fame in 1997 when his track ‘Miss Misery’ was used in the soundtrack for Gus Van Sant’s drama film Good Will Hunting. The soundtrack was nominated for an Oscar for Best Soundtrack and led to Smith being invited to play at the Oscars ceremony.
Smith was not used to having such a big spotlight on his career; he had been accustomed to being something of an underground artist, performing primarily in the local Portland Scene. This also contributed to his depression and potential suicide; his rise to fame was not something he ever expected to happen nor particularly wanted.
Today marks what would have been Elliott Smith’s 53rd birthday, so we’re going to compile a list of Smith’s ten best ever solo songs. Here they are.
The ten best Elliott Smith songs:
10. ‘Happiness/The Gondola Man’
A somewhat upbeat Smith track with hopeful lyrics that make Smith’s passing all the more difficult to come to terms with. It was released on the last album before Smith’s death, Figure 8, as the record’s first single.
The main song here is ‘Happiness’ while a short instrumental ‘The Gondola Man’ plays at the track’s end. The song’s conclusion sees Smith repeat the happy-sad and wistful lyric, “All I want now is happiness for you and me.”
9. ‘Southern Belle’
This track opens with Smith’s distinctive trademark style of acoustic guitar playing, constantly shifting the root note around and ringing out the remaining open notes. The production is also typically Smith-like, recorded on a simple 8-track recording unit.
The song also features a delicious lick at the last bar of each chorus before heading into a breakdown in which Smith laments, “How come you’re not ashamed of what you are?” A sorrowful song.
8. ‘Between The Bars’
One of Smith’s most popular tracks was also used on the soundtrack to Good Will Hunting and is the fourth track from his 1997 album Either/Or, the title of which was taken from Danish philosopher Soren Kierkegaard’s book of the same name.
Evidently, with reference to the existentialist philosopher, ‘Between The Bars’ deals with the difficulty of being a human being. Smith sings, “The people you’ve been before, that you don’t want around anymore, they push and shove and won’t bend to your will. I’ll keep them still.”
7. ‘Angeles’
Another track that was taken from Either/Or that Gus Van Sant chose to use on Good Will Hunting, which saw Matt Damon play a janitor who is an unknown genius, visit a psychologist – played by Robin Williams – to get to the bottom of his troubled past.
‘Angeles’ opens with a single high keyboard note before Smith dives into some of his best ever guitar work, again shifting that root note around and taking us on a journey through the depravity and depression of Los Angeles.
6. ‘Everything Reminds Me Of Her’
Something of a different pace and style for Smith, but still just as beautiful and wistful as any of his other efforts. A breakup song taken from 2000’s Figure 8 features one of Smith’s best-written riffs and is truly gorgeous.
Smith once said of the album’s title, “I liked the idea of a self-contained, endless pursuit of perfection. But I have a problem with perfection. I don’t think perfection is very artful. But there’s something I liked about the image of [an] endless twisted circle that doesn’t have any real endpoint. So the object is not to stop or arrive anywhere; it’s just to make this beautiful thing.”
5. ‘Twilight’
‘Twilight’ is taken from Elliott Smith’s posthumously released album From a Basement on the Hill. It was released in 2004, a year after his death and had initially been planned to be a double album. All the problems that led to Smith’s death hindered its production.
The track is just about as sad as any Smith song – although there are quite a few, admittedly. It sees Smith long for a loved one who he claims is “already somebody’s baby”. The song’s ‘unfinished’ quality only serves to lend it a level of intimacy that elevates it into one of Smith’s best efforts.
4. ‘Christian Brothers’
Found on Elliott Smith’s self-titled second album, his first released on the label Kill Rock Stars. The album is built on the minimalist production found on his first record Roman Candle, though the recordings are of better quality.
‘Christian Brothers’ explores Smith’s relationship with alcohol. Christian Brother is a brand of whiskey Smith used to drink excessively. He wrote the song about an intervention that his friends and family had staged for him.
3. ‘No Name #1’
Another slightly upbeat track from Smith, this time exploring the nature of loneliness, describing a character – potentially Smith himself – at a party who is “spooky and withdrawn” and who leaves because he feels like he does not belong in the party’s company.
The song is the third track on Smith’s debut album Roman Candle, on which he first exemplified the sound that his solo career would take. He shifted from the heavier sound of his previous band, Heatmiser and delivered a beautiful record of eerie lo-fi folk.
2. ‘Miss Misery (Early Version)’
This track took Smith from an underground indie artist to an acclaimed musician with worldwide fame. The song was featured during the closing credits to Good Will Hunting, though its inclusion took Smith into the limelight that, ultimately, he would have preferred to shy away from.
This version is found on the posthumously released album New Moon and features different lyrics to the one found in the film. It’s a gorgeous song, and though its consequences should not be ignored, it is undoubtedly one of Smith’s best.
1. ‘Pitseleh’
Arguably a bit of a left-field choice for Smith’s best-ever song, but ‘Pitseleh’ encompasses everything great about a Smith penned tune, from its distinctive guitar playing and happy-sad chord progression to its carefully delivered lyrics.
The song features on Smith’s fourth studio album XO, released in 1998. ‘Pitseleh’ is a Yiddish word that means ‘little one’, and the song is primarily about being loved by someone who is only in love with the person they think you are. This theme is exemplified by the lyrics, “I’m not half what I wish I was” and “I’m not what’s missing from your life now”. Beautiful.
