saying brother can you spare
sunshine for a brother
old man winter’s in the air
walked me up a story asking how you are
told me not to worry you were just a shooting star.
— sweet adeline, elliott smith (1969-2003)
elliott smith never seemed comfortable with fame. or maybe fame never knew what to do with him. did you see him on the academy awards in 1998? he was up against celine dion and they had all of the noms perform one after another. i don’t remember who sang first, but she did her chest-banging full-orchestra rendition of the titanic theme and he just stood there with his guitar, strumming his way through “miss misery” from good will hunting. celine won, as her deal with satan demanded, but what a show of contrast, a display of heart versus surface… seeing the two of them, hand-in-hand and taking a bow. in september of that year, he was at the variety playhouse and i was in attendance. already it was obvious that the label of “folksinger” was starting to make him itch. his show was all electric and nothing like the sad troubadour that critics saw in him. nothing like the voice that became a sound signature of the late 90s, appearing in other films like the royal tannenbaums, american beauty and keeping the faith.
his voice had an earnestness. it wasn’t bombastic, made for love themes perched on the bow of a ship, but sincere and sad, full of rain and grey mornings, loss and only just so much hope.
