Sunday, June 24, 2007

Miss Misery

An awesome singer, Elliot Smith was an American singer-songwriter and musician. His primary instrument was the guitar, but he was also proficient at piano, clarinet, bass, harmonica and drums. Smith had a distinctive vocal style characterized by his "whispery, spiderweb-thin delivery" and use of multi-tracking to create vocal harmonies. Smith rose to mainstream prominence when this song "Miss Misery", written for the film Good Will Hunting, was nominated for an Oscar in the Best Original Song category in 1998. More than three-quarters of that soundtrack was written and sung by him.

Smith battled with depression, alcoholism and drug addiction for years, and these topics would often appear in his lyrics. At age 34, he died from two stab wounds to the chest. The autopsy evidence was inconclusive as to whether the wounds were self-inflicted.

In any case, this is a great song. Just ignore the visuals, if you like.


Miss Misery - Elliot Smith

I'll fake it through the day
With some help from Johnny Walker red
And the cold pain behind my eyes
It shoots right through my head

With two tickets torn in half
And a lot of nothing to do
But it's alright cos some enchanted night
I'll be with you

Tarrot cards
And the lines in my hand
Tell me I'm wrong
But they're untrue

Got plans for both of us
That involved a trip out of town
To a place I've seen in a magazine
That you left lying around

I can't hold my liquor but
I keep a good attitude
Cos it's alright some enchanted night
I'll be with you

Though you'd rather see me gone
Than to see this
Come the day
I'll be waiting for you anyway

Next door the tv's flashing
Blue frames on the wall
It's a comedy from the 70's
With the lead no one recalls

To vanish into oblivion
Is easy to do
And I cry to see when you talk to me
The day you said we were through

But it's alright some enchanted night
I'll be with you

4 comments:

IAmZeroZero! said...

Hmm...the pain that most great artistes go through...so that we could just enjoy these great numbers...

which brings me to another point, why 'suffer' just to be brilliant in what we do?

No Pain No Gain perhaps?;)

Anyways, Miss Misery brought me much pleasures somewhere back in time;)...I have to admit, it lifted me up somehow.

RIP Elliot. And thanks for the beautiful music.

ghoose said...

Good will Hunting being a brilliant movie & a brilliant soundtrack... Elliot's melancholia filled sound haunting yet familiar.....that infinite sadness...the perpetual vacant lot.... the other end of the spectrum where king of pain rule the desert heart .. where its beutiful in its own right coz its also part of our bleeding heart in the sanctity of
the Merciful....

enemy said...

Melancholic music as a cathartic. Its an outlet... The rain helps to cleanse the pain away, with the Will of God.

TheHoopoe said...

Besides "that infinite sadness...the perpetual vacant lot..." - there is much honesty in his music. It seems like you can almost just "touch" him.

Totally an under-rated performer. Remembered how nervous he was when he sang during the Oscars...