Chords for Elliott Smith: Plain & Simple - RETROACTIVE REVIEW

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ [E] _
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
_ _ _ _ [Gb] _ _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _ [Abm] _ There's great [Gb] music, and [E] there's bad music.
_ [C] Mediocre [E] and _ [B] passable.
_ Stuff that _ [Gb] inspires you, and songs that _ disgust you. _
And then _ there's Elliot [Abm] Smith. _
_ _ _ _ _ [Bm] _ _ _
_ _ _ [Eb] Plain and simple.
You know, [C] she did this one song in the middle of her set that [Ab] _ _ we were _ [F] both knocked out by.
And [Ab] afterwards, she _ comes [N] over, and I had to go, I said, that just came out of _ nowhere.
[G] That killed me.
[Eb] And then she [Gb] just kind of rolled her eyes and went, no, [G] it's my friend's [B] song.
And [Ab] my first question was, are _ _
[F] any of his other songs that good? _ _
She just looked down at the ground and just went, _ _ all of his songs are that good. _
I'm _ waiting _ _ _ _ _ [D] for the train.
Elliot Smith is [F] the poster child [Bb] for low-key acoustic [E] music you can find in any gentrified [F] coffee shop.
Often compared throughout his life to [D] artists like Paul Simon or Nick Drake, [Am] singers-songwriters
known for [Bb] their very sullen [C] and minimalistic material.
[Bb] But what makes Elliot [A] worth looking into is not [Bb] what he's known for so much as where he started. _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _ [A] Heatmiser was formed as the brainchild of both Smith and fellow Portland musician Neil
Gust, who both agreed to share vocal duties between songs, with each of them [A] singing whatever
they had written.
_ Seven, five, _ nine, one, [C] _ _
two, three, _ _ _ _ _ _ _
_ _ [A] _ four.
And it comes as no surprise who wrote their best [Db] stuff. _ _ _ _
[E] _ _ [F] _ _ _ _ _ [A] _
_ _ _ [E] _ _ _ _ _
_ _ _ [F] _ _ _ [Gb] _ _
_ _ [Db] _ _ _ [E] Do you [Gb] hear me?
_ [A] _ _ _ _
_ Even though his best work didn't start happening until he went [Ab] solo, this is what makes Elliot's
career so [Gb] fascinating to me.
We always hear about people who want to go louder.
How do you make the song feel [E] bigger?
But for Elliot, it was [F] more noise [E] he had to cut through to reach [A] his audience.
I [Db] can't get _ [E] _ out.
[Gb] I'm in a [B] _ distant [E] crow.
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
[F] _ _ _ [Ab] _ _ _ [G] _
So what happens when he goes the complete opposite [Ab] way?
_ _ _ [Gm] _ _ _
_ [F] _ _ _ [G] _ _ _ _
_ [Ab] _ _ _ _ _ _ _
_ _ [Db] _ _ _ _ _ _
_ [Eb] _ _ _ _ _ _ _
_ [Db] _ _ _ [Bbm] _ _ _ _
[Ab] _ _ _ _ _ _ _ [G] _
_ Before he's even said anything, the song has gone in four [Ab] different directions and
he has you hooked without [A] even noticing.
[F] Listen to it again, but pay attention [Bb] to how his guitar blossoms [Eb] from low to [Ab] high. _ _
_ [Gm] _ _ [Gb] _ _ [G] _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _ [Ab] _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _ [Db] _ _ _
_ _ _ _ [Eb] _ _ _ _
_ _ _ _ [Db] _ _ _ _
[Bbm] _ _ _ _ [Ab] _ _ _ _
_ [Db] _ _ [G] _ The song is literally growing right in front of us, [Abm] but the progression is so quick that
each melody comes off as a natural [Bb] reaction instead of a separate part.
Since he felt Heatmiser's style had so little dimension, _ Elliot's goal going solo seemed
to be him doing as much [Ab] with as [G] little as possible, and so his talent wasn't knowing
how to hit us, [Gm] but how to hook us.
It's not just the [Bbm] density of his music, but how easily he can make it snowball into
a beautiful wall of [G] sound.
_ _ She took the old small [Ab] bill out past corner _ avenue, the [Db] paragraph slid a drunk [Bb] man's sins.
_ By the gate she's driving to, got his hat and bottle [A] back in between [Db] his [F] teeth.
_ [Bb] One of the other things I've wondered about him going solo was how he'd ration his use
of open strum chords.
And whether it was him preferring pluck strings or a reluctancy to go loud, it seemed he [Gm] didn't
want to [Ab] overpower his music.
The intimacy came from us [Bb] wanting to hear him, which came from how quiet he would play.
So what you hear in [A] his music is someone in [Eb] complete control [E] of the mood for [F] every song he plays.
_ _ _ You spent _ _ _ _ _ everything you [D] had. _ _ _ _
_ _ _ [Bb] _ _ You [Em] wanted _ _ [F] everything to _ stop _ _ _ _ [Dm] that bad.
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ [Bb] _
[G] Now this didn't mean he was opposed to playing loud.
In fact, that understanding of musical dynamics made him even better the more he went on,
as he started warming up to how he could [Gb] expand his sound [B] without betraying that intimacy.
_ The [E] _ _
_ _ _ [D] _ _ [E] _ _ _
_ _ _ gentle breeze in the lane, _ _ _ _ _ _ [Em] spinning in his hair on a [C] chain.
_ _ _ _ _ _ Good morning, [D] love, _ it's a beautiful _ [F] _ _ _ day.
[C] _ _ [F] _ [Em] _ _ _ _
And what I think he found was he didn't [Ab] even need a guitar to do any of this.
He could [F] achieve the exact [Gb] same thing with his [A] piano.
I [Db] keep singing over [Bbm] _ _ everything.
[Gb] _ Everything _ means nothing to me.
Everything means nothing to me.
Everything _ means nothing [C] to me. _ _
_ _ _ [F] _ _ That may sound overly dramatic, but the way he has the melody feed [Eb] into itself lets it
inflate [Gb] like an emotional balloon that builds and builds until the orchestra eventually
_ capitalizes on its growth.
[Ebm] _ Everything _ _ means nothing [Db] to me.
Everything _ [Ab] means nothing to [Gb] me.
Everything _ means nothing to me.
Everything means nothing to [Db] me.
_ _ Everything [Ab] means nothing to me.
[Gb] And that's what you find in Eliot's work.
[Ebm] Layers upon layers of rich [Bbm] melodies happening all at once, as soft and clear as possible.
So as music [Bb] continues to get louder and louder, and we ask for more and more, I think there's
something we can all learn [Gb] from someone like Eliot.
A guitar has six strings, so use them. _
Don't relegate six opportunities to one note.
If you want your music to [Gm] have life, then don't be afraid to flesh it out.
He could show me a million different ways you could go with the song.
I'll never forget this either.
He said, _ just _ _ listen [Dm] to where the song wants to [Eb] go.
It's already wanting [A] to go somewhere.
[Eb] He's right, you know, it's [D] almost like these songs [C] exist and they want to go somewhere.
[Bb] _ You just, [Gm] it's almost like you're in the [Bb] way.
And if [Eb] you can just grab on to like [Bb] where this thing's going, [Eb] _
you'll be fine.
[Bb] There's great music, [F] and there's bad music.
[Bb] _ And then there's Eliot, _ the guy you hate, because he's just that [Gm] good.
I'm never _ gonna [Eb] _ know [Gm] you now, [Cm] but I'm [Gm] gonna love [F] you _ [C] anyhow.
[Gm] _ _ _ _ [Bb] _ _ _ _ [Eb] _ _
_ _ [Bb] _ _ _ _ [Eb] _ _
_ _ [Bb] _ _ _ _ [F] _ _