Cecilia/Amanda | Free Elliot Smith Song
I have to admit that Elliot Smith had alot to do with my growth as a songwriter. I was once told that I was in the running for an opening tour spot with the man. I can clearly remember the stinging feeling I had when I learned that would not happen. A stinging feeling that returned when I heard of his passing.
Here is a link to a new free song on the Kill Rock Stars site: Cecilia/Amanda
Here is a link to the full news story: Kill Rock Stars News
I am happy to see more of his material landing on one my favorite labels, Kill Rock Stars. I really like Slim Moon’s description of this music as “heartwrenchingly, gut-checkingly honest, intimate, and wise”.
Honesty in songwriting has become very rare. I think that many folks no longer view their lives as interesting and this becomes a big problem for a songwriter. Like the greatest of creative non-fiction writers, Smith had a great knack for writing lyrics that were both honest and interesting.
He combined this with and amazing sense of melody. His melodies are pretty traditional in that the follow along the lines of The Beatles, they also keep to modal scales and modulations which fall in the tool set of early classical composers.
Elliot made these incredible yet traditional melodies new with an incredibly original (and often poorly imitated) performance style. He was the master of the Loud/Soft.
Cecilia/Amanda showcases the formation of his style and pulls back the curtain on his path to his later masterpiece albums.
Check it out here: Cecilia/Amanda
PS - If anyone out there wants to get me a belated holiday present… Roman Candle on vinyl will do. HA!
