Depression Session

Elliott Smith


Surprisingly enough, I have never written anything about one of my favorite artists, Elliott Smith. If you don't know Elliott, he mostly played an acoustic style of music, with very deep, depressing, lyrics which many could relate to. He wrote what obviously he was feeling at the time, or what he was doing in his suicidal life. Elliott also was no amateur at the guitar, with his playing matching his singing, and being just as intricate as his lyrics. Even though, it is tough to just pick one song to share, take a listen to All Cleaned Out, from the album New Moon, which was a collection of songs written that were never released, because of Smith's death. The song is not hard to understand, with lyrics "Here comes your pride and joy, the comic little drunk you call your boy, makin everybody smile", but jumps to what is seemingly the harsh reality being, "Who takes your pretty plan, and then becomes a disappearing man, after a little while". Smith in his lyrics, comments regularly about his own lifestyle, which was what many would refer to as, Rock and Roll. Elliott was known for his heavy drug and alcohol use, mixed with his own depression, and even though he would attempt to clean up, it would eventually lead to his own suicide. Smith could be talking about his own cleaning out, with all the times he attempted to get clean, and his writing "I saw you with your make up runnin down, now whats that all about?", seems to show possibly a girlfriend/lover, showing her happiness for his getting clean. Interestingly enough though, the song includes chords, that are so upbeat that the song could be misconstrued. I believe the song shows with the bright guitar a positive outlook, while the lyrics tell another story, what an interesting mix of vocals, and instrumentation. So give this song a listen, and enjoy.