1

Between the Bars

The Early Musical Language of Elliott Smith

Abstract Analysis of the music of American singer-songwriter Elliott Smith has until now been missing from the rising field of popular musicology. While Smith's central place in the canon of alternative, lo-fi music has long been celebrated by music critics and fans, analysis of his musical catalog has thus far been limited to purely emotional, nonspecific descriptions. Furthermore, Smith's dramatic personal life and untimely death lend themselves to study, and as a result, the specifics of his musical language have often been shortchanged. This study, as the first scholarly exploration of Elliott Smith and his music, analyzes the style of his early work, including as context a detailed overview of Smith's influences and the significance of his residence in Portland, Oregon in the mid-1990s. This study explores both purely musical (including melody, harmony, and form) and relevant extramusical factors (including text, production, and history) in Smith's early work. Analysis of this varied catalog reveals both the extent to which Smith was influenced by his predecessors and how he synthesized these influences into his own distinct idiom, one characterized by simple but deliberate recording techniques, a detailed and descriptive poetic language, subtle variations on standard song forms, and an unidiomatic approach to guitar playing. Through this truly singular musical style, Smith precisely and elegantly articulated the nuances of the human condition in a way few pop musicians have been able to, before or after Smith's short but prolific life.

Elizabeth Newton Dr. Paul Harris, Adviser Summer 2010 University of Puget Sound Tacoma, WA

Table of Contents
Introduction Overview of Musical Career Musical Background and Influences Musical Analysis
Analytical Considerations Progression of Style Production Text Melody Key & Mode Harmony Form 17 18 19 20 28 32 40 50

3 5 8

Conclusions Works Cited

62 64

Acknowledgments
Thank you to my friends and family for their support during this project, both emotionally and intellectually, especially: Kevin, Sam, Andrew, Aliyah, Amy, and Savannah. Also, thank you to Paul Harris, for your support of my research and commitment to helping me see it through to the end. Thank you to the numerous Elliott Smith fans everywhere who directly or indirectly contributed to my understanding of and appreciation for Smith's music. Finally, thank you, Elliott, for the beautiful body of music that you left behind I'm never going to know you now, but I'm going to love you anyhow. Rest in peace.

Introduction
From John Lennon to Kurt Cobain, society has long been fascinated by great artists who are lost too soon. Alternative musician Elliott Smith is no exception. The gruesome circumstances of his death two supposedly self-inflicted stab wounds to the chest launched Smith into that growing canon of artists whose creative endeavors are cut short by premature death, and whose work is ever after viewed in light of it. In 2003, at just thirty-four years old, with five studio albums, an Academy-Award nomination, and widening critical acclaim on his resume, Smith's visibility and influence in the world of alternative music was quickly growing. While at many moments throughout his later life drug-use and depression began to take a toll their toll on his creative output, by 2003, many thought Smith had addressed his destructive behaviors and was beginning to get better. In October, however, any thoughts of optimism were destroyed when Smith was found dead in his Los Angeles apartment. Since his death, Smith's music has become increasingly widespread, as has his biography been more and more explored. Smith's dramatic death was for many critics and observers nothing more than the predictable result of the alternating apathy and angst expressed in many of his songs. However, recent biographies have shown Smith as the complicated individual he was, full of the joy, struggle, ambition, and doubt that all artists face throughout their lives. Ben Nugent's biography Elliott Smith and the Big Nothing chronicles how Smith's life informed his musical catalog. Autumn de Wilde's photo biography and collection of interviews, Elliott Smith, offers privileged glimpses into Smith's personality and music through the pictures and words of those who he knew, worked with, and loved. Smith's rich musical catalog has grown even since his death, with two posthumous albums released in the years following it, and recently, the release of two remastered versions of his early studio albums. Since 2003, his music has become a central part of alternative music history, as an important influence on Northwest rock, lo-fi music, and various artists of that so often labeled singer-songwriter genre. Today, his more famous songs embody expressive acoustic music and are considered exemplary of the genre. Unfortunately, understanding and interpretation of Smith's music has thus far been limited to two varieties. First, many listeners who are only superficially acquainted with Smith's catalog

4 dismiss it as little more than the intimate, almost embarrassing ramblings of a man whose biography is most significant, at least to the average listener, because it ends with him taking his own life. That said, there are many who are deeply enamored with Smith; these fans regard his life as a complicated human struggle, and appreciate his music as a complex product of this biography that often speaks to their own experiences. This crowd has only grown since Smith's death. However, even these committed followers have failed to articulate the success of Smith's music in specific terms, with critics and fans often praising Smith's music with terms such as ethereal,1 heart-rending,2 and delicate,3 but rarely elaborating on them. While Smith's music is, for many, all of the above, no scholarship has yet been focused on Smith's music, analysis that might allow for transcendence of surface level descriptions. His catalog has long been acknowledged as worthy of analysis. It is with this study that I aim to explore the inner workings of it, trying to explain in specific terms what makes Smith's songs so compelling by analyzing the roots, progression, and defining characteristics of his musical style. In the interest of time, I have chosen Smith's early music for this study, as it both provides foundation for Smith's later work and stands on its own in terms of variety, ingenuity, and depth. The results of my study reveal that Smith's early style, like any artist's, draws on the number of genres and musicians that Smith listened to and found interesting. More than just these specific influences, his style reflects the time and place from which his albums came. The real beauty of his craft is that he appropriates this array of influences into a truly unique idiom, distinct from all other artists that came before and after. It is my hope that this study will enhance our current perception of this remarkable catalog; while we have long celebrated Smith's music for its intimacy, honesty, and emotional accuracy, we must now also recognize its precision, nuance, and complexity the result of a man fully committed to his vision and his art.

1 Jason Ankeny, Elliott Smith. 2 From A Basement on the Hill, Anti-Records. 3 Vladimir Wormwood, Elliott Smith: New Moon.

Overview of Musical Career

Elliott Smith was born on August 6, 1969 in Omaha, Nebraska. He spent the majority of his childhood in Texas, where he lived with his mother and stepfather. His biological father lived in Portland, Oregon, where Smith moved to attend high school. It was in high school that he began playing guitar and writing his own songs; according to friends, the song Condor Avenue was written when Smith was just seventeen years old. Following high school, he attended Hampshire College, a small liberal arts school in Amherst, Massachusetts, where he graduated with a bachelor's degree in philosophy. At college, he met many friends that would stay with him throughout his life, including Neil Gust, who Smith played with in a grunge band called Heatmiser from 1991 until 1996. After playing with Heatmiser for several years, Smith released a solo album on the independent Portland label Cavity Search Records in 1994. This launched a solo career that would last until Smith's untimely death in Los Angeles in 2003, at the age of thirty-four. Elliott Smith's solo career spanned almost ten years. He released five studio albums: Roman Candle (1994), Elliott Smith (1995), Either/Or (1997), XO (1998), and Figure 8 (2000). Since his death, two more albums have been released containing previously recorded, but unreleased, material: From a Basement on the Hill (2003) and New Moon (2007). Over the span of his career, Smith's music changed dramatically. Roman Candle was recorded on a four-track recorder in a basement. By the time Smith's final studio album, Figure 8, was released, Smith, then signed to the large DreamWorks Records label, was an Academy-Award nominated artist who had played at the Oscars on the same bill as adult-contemporary music superstar Celine Dion. It was not until XO, Smith's penultimate album, that he received widespread critical attention, when several of his songs (including the Oscar-nominated Miss Misery) were included in Good Will Hunting, a popular film by Gus Van Sant. A considerable amount of attention has been paid to the quality and ingenuity of Smith's final two albums. Their commercial success, combined with the inclusion of Smith's songs in more films (including the successful The Royal Tenenbaums by Wes Anderson), led to considerable media attention being directed toward him. Frequently, his earlier works are dismissed as merely stepping stones to his major-label albums. This, however, shortchanges the intricate crafting of his earlier albums. Smith's more developed material clearly owes much to the distinct style Smith developed early on, including all aspects of

6 songwriting, from his melodic conception to his approach to form and harmony. The purpose of this study is to analyze and interpret these foundations of Smith's repertoire. This early period includes songs from Roman Candle, Elliott Smith, Either/Or, New Moon, and various unreleased tracks recorded from 1994 to 1997, which have since been made available through the internet or other means. Elliott Smith as Popular Music The assumption that modern popular music is somehow less aesthetically worthy of analysis is not accurate. A growing body of focused musicological literature reflects this. Extensive studies of music by the Beatles and others have made it clear that detailed analysis of popular music is both warranted and valuable. It was not until very recently, in the last decade or so, that an attempt to create a standard set of terminology and concepts for analyzing pop or rock music was even developed. Today this analytical language is still in development and up for debate. For this study, I draw on the work of established popular musicologists for my methodology. I have decided to analyze Smith's songs on a case-by-case basis, using various methods of analysis as I see fit. In any case, my goal is to use whatever method necessary in order to explore why Smith's music works the way it does. Popular music serves many purposes: catharsis, social commentary, purely technical showcase all of these and more. What does Elliott Smith's music accomplish? Authenticity plays a central role in popular and critical reception of Smith's music. Indeed, authenticity has been an important factor in most reception of popular music in recent years. To what degree an artist is authentic is an important consideration in nearly every genre of modern popular music, from country and hip-hop to jazz and indie-rock, and an artist's level of authenticity often directly corresponds to the value their music is given by critics and audiences. As Coyle and Dolan note, authenticity is far from a quantifiable concept: Authenticity is not a quality but a way of affirming quality that now figures in many of the ways in which audiences and performers use recordings in identity formation. 4 Matthew LeMay defines this concept further when he discusses the case of Elliott Smith specifically: 'Authenticity' is, in many ways, a necessary cultural construct, one that often seems to work against hegemony precisely because it
4 Michael Coyle and Jon Dolan, Modeling Authenticity, Authenticating Commercial Models, 33.

7 cannot be conferred by any one authority.5 That said, fans and critics seem to universally label Smith's music as authentic. The fact that no one person decides which music is authentic and which is not means that authenticity is largely a personal descriptor, dependent upon a listener's unique connection with a song or artist. Leppert and Lipsitz describe the appeal of country icon Hank Williams, a description that without revision can be applied to Smith: He encompassed the experiences of life's full range of contradictions, hopes and failures for a society which unquestionably recognised in him both what they loved and hated of themselves. 6 It is likely that the general perception of Smith's music as sincere7 comes from this ability to channel and express a wide spectrum of human emotions, expanding the number of people who can relate to Smith and therefore consider his music authentic. It is not just Smith's lyrical themes that offer this emotional connection, but also his musical style itself. His early recordings are easy enough to play that most amateur guitarists can produce a passable rendition of them, but his polished finger-picking, blurring of the difference between harmony and melody, fast-paced verbal delivery, and quick chord progressions still leave room for admiration and offer inspiration to growing musicians. This blend of accessibility and challenge today makes Smith's music appealing to listeners and musicians alike. Beyond the connection Smith's lyrics provide, authenticity shows up in his music itself. An important quality of his music is the unique way in which Smith use various musical trends. His music clearly comes from many styles, which I will address below. But what makes his music remarkable is that it is not just a mixture of previous styles, and it is in fact difficult to place his music in a genre at all. We see patterns and trends in Smith's music that are truly unique and have had significant influence on alternative music created since Smith's death.

5 Matthew LeMay, XO, 92. 6 Richard Leppert and George Lipsitz, Age, the Body and Experience in the Music of Hank Williams, 23. 7Alex Steininger, Elliott Smith, In Music We Trust.

Musical Background and Influences

In order to better understand this musical culture that Smith came from, it is necessary to examine the time period and region in which Smith's music was created. Smith relocated several times in his life; born in Texas and a college student in Massachusetts, he later lived variously in Portland, Oregon, New York City, and finally, Los Angeles, where he died in 2003. The music of his early period, however, was produced right after his college years in Portland, a city whose musical climate in the 1990s is described well by Ben Nugent. As Nugent chronicles in his Smith biography, the musical scene in Portland was such that everyone played in bands, but no one expected to make a career of it. You played in bands because you grew up listening to cool bands and it was just natural,8 Nugent quotes Smith's friend Pete Krebs as saying, The assumption in Portland at that time was that nobody would ever make any money off their music. 9 In West coast cities like Seattle and San Francisco, by the mid-1990s alternative music, once seen as an underground college scene, was now seen as mainstream, and hip-hop and dance music were beginning to take the lead as subcultural styles. These rising trends, as Nugent notes, were financially catastrophic to anybody who hoped to make a living with an acoustic guitar, 10 as solo guitar music began to feel dated or clich. Portland, however, was an exception in many ways. The city was largely resistant to the increasingly popular aesthetic of bands like Nirvana, Pearl Jam, and the Offspring, and also never really caught on to rising trends like hip-hop and rave music. As Nugent writes, Portland's rock musicians were both overwhelmed by and resistant to the commercially successful grunge pouring out of Seattle in the early '90s, and sought to set themselves apart from both big-time alternative rock and club music by disavowing glitz and bourgeois comfort. 11 One of Smith's friends went so far as to describe the relationship between Portland and Seattle musicians as downright hostile, saying of Portland, If you were from Seattle, you just weren't welcome there.12 Smith, like many in Portland, was aware of tension between his own musical aesthetic and the broader music scene. At the time it was the Northwest - Mudhoney and Nirvana [Seattle
8 Benjamin Nugent, Elliott Smith and the Big Nothing, 51. 9 Ibid., 52. 10 Ibid., 81. 11 Ibid., 46. 12 Autumn de Wilde, Elliott Smith, 140.

9 grunge bands]- and going out to play an acoustic show was like crawling out on a limb and begging for it to be sawed off,13 Smith commented in an interview in 1998, reflecting upon the musical culture in which Roman Candle was released in 1994. That Smith's music stands so apart from either mainstream or regional music of its time is perhaps a testament to Smith's openness to various styles of music, including classic rock, modern folk, experimental mod-rock, 1980s pop, and soul. Autumn de Wilde's photo biography of Smith includes several interviews with friends and colleagues, the majority of whom reflect upon Smith's diverse tastes at least once in their interview. His favorite artists included George Jones, Bob Dylan, the Beatles, Tom Waits, Neil Young, Nico, Left Banke, Big Star, Stevie Wonder, Led Zeppelin, the Beach Boys, Rush, Chicago, Heart, The Kinks, Elvis Costello, and Oasis. 14 One friend jokingly described him as a closeted Chicago fan,15 speaking both to the elitist music-culture that Smith came from in that Chicago was too mainstream and to the fact that Smith appears to have resisted this tendency toward musical elitism. I attempt here to describe Smith's stylistic roots not as an effort to pigeon-hole Smith or force him into a specific genre, but rather recognize style as a useful concept for exploring certain patterns and trends that recur frequently within various regions and time periods. In doing so I hope to set a backdrop for the musical analysis that makes up the majority of this paper. Punk and Grunge: A Style Appropriated The sound of Smith's music does not immediately suggest a punk aesthetic, one marked by distortion, loud power-chords, and shouted vocals. In fact, Smith's aesthetic suggests much the opposite: soft vocals, chromatic harmony, descriptive lyrics, finger-picked guitar lines, and minimal personnel usually, just himself. However, Smith grew up listening to punk and postpunk music, and himself played in Heatmiser, a post-punk band. Until 1996, Smith remained active in Heatmiser, even as he released his solo work. Heatmiser in many ways fit perfectly into the early 1990s alternative rock scene that it grew from, sounding alternatively like icons
13 Matthew Fritch, Down On the Upside. 14 de Wilde, 60-147. 15 Ibid.

10 Nirvana, Pearl Jam, and Sonic Youth. When Smith decided to begin a solo career, officially beginning with the release of Roman Candle in 1994, his music was something radically, delicately different. Smith's music is seen by many as a resistance to the loud, stadium rock of the 1990s, yet his early solo music retained many qualities of the punk aesthetic, including lo-fi production techniques, aggressive lyrics, an apathetic, ironic approach to emotional expression, and dark subject matter including themes of depression, drug abuse, and violence. The unique manner in which Smith appropriated these elements into a distinct musical style is the subject of this study. Ultimately, however, Smith's music departs from the punk idiom in several significant ways. First and foremost, the rich harmonic palette that Smith employs throughout his catalog is a far cry from the infamous three chords that punk made itself famous for. As Coyle and Dolan observe, Punk found its first audiences by disclaiming tradition.16 Smith's music is not nearly this self-aware; nowhere does Smith state or can we infer from his music that he wished to abandon the style of those that came before him, and in fact, it appears that Smith felt very much indebted to his various influences, given the number of artists whose songs he covers in live performances. Of the looming grunge icon of the 1990s, Nirvana, Coyle and Dolan argue that the band rages against the very limits that define its excellence. 17 But Smith never intended to surpass limits nor resist them. His goal all along, it seems, was simply to write good music. Modern Country: Texas Roots Smith's music is often considered by critics a blend of country and punk, and upon analysis, this label is, although vague, perhaps not too inaccurate. Many elements of Smith's songs, both musically and thematically, are rooted in the country tradition as much as a punk one. Country music, like most popular music, has received little scholarly analysis. While many have written on themes like race, gender, and region as they relate to country music, few have analyzed the musical specifics of this genre. However, it is clear that Smith's music shares many specific qualities with country music. Formally, Roman Candle and Elliott Smith both extensively use strophic forms with a refrain at the end of each strophe or verse, which country music uses
16 Coyle and Dolan, Modeling Authenticity, 31. 17 Ibid., 32.

11 frequently. The form of Smith's songs and the descriptive, story-telling approach of his lyrics will both be discussed in-depth later. Additionally, many songs from Elliott Smith draw heavily from the blues elements, like call-and-response and riff-based forms, that inspired much modern country and rockabilly of the 1950s and 1960s. Concerning content, Smith's early music blends themes common to American country music and the punk and grunge of the 1990s. Nugent describes the thematic material that Smith shares with country and grunge legends, with Smith, in his opinion, belonging to the tradition of country singers like Hank Williams and Johnny Cash, and Nirvana front-man Kurt Cobain, due to their addiction laments, disavowals of vice, and caustic self-portraits. 18 It is these darker sides of country that Smith seems to channel. Smith's country roots go back to his childhood in Texas. Statements from friends indicate that he had kind of serious love of some modern country music, said Sean Croghan in Autumn de Wilde's photo biography of Smith, continuing, I think he got that from living in Texas. 19 While Smith seemed to hold some resentment toward his home state, this feeling was occasionally replaced by strong affection; he even had a tattoo of Texas on his upper arm. Friends note that Smith especially loved Hank Williams and George Jones. The country artist that Smith both heavily draws inspiration from is Hank Williams, an artist whose songs Smith frequently covered on tour, including They'll Never Take Her Love From Me and Crazy Heart. There are many similarities between Williams and Smith; both men died young, were known for poor live performances, and sang on themes of loneliness and isolation. Furthermore, both men were arguably feminist artists. Leppert and Lipsitz discuss Williams' crossing of gender boundaries, noting that while Williams came a from a paternalistic generation encouraged to widen their distance with women, he presented a masculine voice that longed for reconnection with the feminine, that refused the oedipality of the dominant culture. 20 Both Williams's and Smith's voices are frequently characterized as thin, soft, or lacking certainty.21 Describing Williams's tendency to slide down between descending intervals, Lipsitz and Leppert note that this is a musical practice more commonly located in the singing of women
18 Nugent, 56. 19 De Wilde, 75. 20 Leppert and Lipsitz, 30. 21 Ibid., 27

12 than men, given that it reflects uncertainty, vulnerability, and failure, qualities that perfectly apply to Smith's voice as well. Just as Williams's singing style stands out against the overtly masculine voices of his genre, Smith's vocals stand out against most other music released at the same time, from Jeff Buckley's confident, smooth croon (released the same year as Roman Candle) to Marilyn Manson's shocking vocals on his debut album (released the same month as Smith's Roman Candle). Perhaps most importantly, Williams and Smith were both viewed in their time as musicians who were decidedly authentic22 with both modern country music and alternative music in the 1990s being genres in which authenticity was a necessity for survival.

Folk: Telling Stories A genre close to country that Smith is undeniably influenced by is folk. Smith's relationship to folk has long been covered in the media, to the extent that in many interviews, Smith seems wary when the subject comes up. Upon being asked how he feels about his music being considered folk music, Smith said in 1998, I really like folk music, but I don't like it any more than any other style. It's sort of like punk as a style, it belongs to something in the past. As a way of life, it's something very alive.23 This being said, there is certainly undeniable influence of American folk musicians in Smith's music, and he was clearly aware of his potential place in their lineage. He covered many folk musicians in concert, notably Cat Stevens, and quite extensively, Bob Dylan, including the songs Ballad of a Thin Man, Black Jack Davy, and When I Paint My Masterpiece. Furthermore, his inclination toward pentatonic melodies hints at folk music, however, pentatonicism is prevalent in most forms of non-art music. His chord voicings are certainly more akin to folk guitar playing than that of jazz or heavier rock. The primary way that Smith resembles folk greats is not musically, but lyrically. Smith takes his place in a long line of song-poets that many would argue began with Bob Dylan, and surely continued with Joni Mitchell, Neil Young, Paul Simon, and Leonard Cohen. 24 Just as Dylan,
22 Lipsitz and Leppert, 24. 23 Matthew Fritch. 24 Dai Griffiths, From lyric to anti-lyric: analyzing the words in a pop song, 42.

13 Mitchell, and others have had their lyrics published as poetry in extensive collections, Smith's lyrics can easily stand alone as poetry. His lyrics' role in the formation of his unique style are discussed at length below. Where Smith clearly departs from the folk tradition is his musical message, or lack thereof. Folk's role as protest music, or as resistance to commercial culture, is nowhere to be found in the music of Smith. Smith's music never resists the status quo, nor is it in favor of it; rather, his music generally avoids value-judgments of culture altogether (with some exceptions, primarily in his later work). Smith himself dispels the notion that his music is folk: [Folk songs] usually involve a moralistic point about something you ought to do, or ought not to do, or about some injustice that's been done to somebody. I don't write like that. 25 Perhaps the romanticization of Smith as a folk-singer, despite only limited connection to this genre, is rooted in the historic perceptions of folk musicians as possessing more integrity than a pop singer. Although Smith himself often defined his songs as pop music, 26 many fans, holding great respect for Smith, may prefer to view him as the voice of the common man that folk music embodies, rather than a product of the commercial facade that pop music is often considered to represent. Those that consider Smith a folk musician often go without mentioning the true origins of folk music: a music meant to resist modernization and return to a simple, pastoral, pre-industrial time.27 While Smith's lyrics, touching on themes of drug use, urban life, and unhealthy relationships, doesn't seem especially pastoral, compared to much mainstream music that was made nearing the turn of the millennium, Smith's songs do express a more sincere, earnest message. For comparison, in 1997, the year that Smith released Either/Or, Radiohead released their technology-driven landmark OK Computer and experimental-rock band the Flaming Lips released Zaireeka, a stereo album comprised of four separate LPs that were meant to be played simultaneously, therefore restricted to only those with proper gear. Bands of the arena rock scene, like Linkin Park and Hoobastank, also grew in popularity with songs about paranoia and frightening images of an industrial world. Smith's seemingly simple, brief songs from Either/Or
25 LeMay, 21. 26 Elliott Smith MTV Interview. 27 Coyle and Dolan, 27.

14 do seem anti-modern by comparison, describing not the impending threat of Y2K or a modern world gone to chaos, but rather, elements of everyday life including cracked sidewalks, street parades, driving around downtown Portland late at night, and waking up next to someone you love. This is not to say that Smith's early music was entirely uncharacteristic of its time; its lo-fi, straightforward appeal was shared by releases during the same year from fellow indie-rock Northwest artists, including Modest Mouse, Built to Spill, and Sleater-Kinney (whose stylistic traits are elaborated on below). What made Smith's music distinct from these bands was not necessarily its subject matter, but its delivery; these other Northwest bands set their arguably folk-inspired themes to distorted, jammy rock music. Conversely, Either/Or's themes were set against solo guitar accompanied by an occasional drum-set or amplifier, a contrast that made labeling Smith a folk musician seem all the more appropriate. Pop: Concise, Accessible Musical Style As resistant as many of Smith's fans may be to categorizing Smith as a pop musician a genre often avoided for its association with commercial, financial ambitions it is this general style that Smith's music most directly reflects and the genre that Smith himself defines himself by. While pop is a vague category at best, describing artists as diverse as Elvis Presley and Lady Gaga, certain stylistic traits do exist to explain pop music, including a hook or chorus, repeated lyrics, accessible themes, straightforward melodies, and short songs usually under three or four minutes. Smith loved pop music from the 1960s, most notably John Lennon and the Beatles, the Beach Boys, Left Banke, and Big Star.28 This is clear both from interviews with Smith and those who knew him, and also from the songs he covered, mostly in concert, but also on record (in the case of Big Star's Thirteen, which appears on New Moon). These pop influences show up throughout Smith's music, but most obviously beginning with Either/Or. For Smith, who defines himself as a pop musician more than a punk, country, or folk artist, the difference between pop music and other music comes not in musical style, but in purpose and meaning. He told MTV interviewer Carson Daly, A [pop] song can mean nothing, or it can mean
28 De Wilde, 59-75.

15 lots of things, and no one can be sure which ones they are. 29 He contrasts this apparent ambiguity of pop music to the moralistic text of folk music that often emphasizes a specific point or lesson. Indeed, in much pop music and in Smith's music specifically, it is an openness for interpretation that makes songs accessible to a diversity of listeners and contributes to their perceived authenticity, a concept whose import in popular music is discussed at length above. Lo-Fi: Doing a Lot With a Little More an aesthetic than a genre, lo-fi (short for low fidelity) describes music that uses minimal recording equipment or studio effects. The appeal of the lo-fi aesthetic is generally that it gives an impression of authenticity or emotional intimacy; the impression that the artist cared more about making meaningful music than buying expensive studio equipment. During the late 1980s and 1990s, lo-fi bands were quite prevalent in the realm of alternative music, partly in reaction to the glamorous studio pop produced in the 1970s and 1980s. By the mid-1990s, the phrase soft is the new loud had become an oft-used clich in music reviews, speaking to the decade's shifting aesthetic values values that lo-fi musicians like Smith played a central role in defining. Smith's first two albums, Roman Candle and Elliott Smith, are undeniably lo-fi records, and in fact exemplify the genre as well as any album possibly could. Recorded in a basement in Portland on a four-track recorder with an old guitar (Nugent, cite), the audible tape hiss of Roman Candle helped to define the sound that many artists today emulate with much more extensive equipment. As one critic describes Roman Candle, listening to it feels like you have walked in on the middle of something.30 This sensation perfectly captures the appeal of the lo-fi movement; witnessing art not intended for the public ear, or at least music that gives this impression, greatly plays into the authenticity that so many find in Smith's music. Further supporting Smith's status as a lo-fi icon, it is evident from interviews that brands or quality of recording gear were never his top concern. In an interview in 1998, Smith described his pickup as real cheap, like forty bucks31 and was unable to recall the model of his Yamaha
29 Elliott Smith MTV Interview. 30 Barnaby Smith, Elliott Smith: Roman Candle reissue. 31 Roger Len Smith, What They Play.

16 guitar, illustrative of the type of concern he had for equipment. During his later period, Smith paid closer attention to the specifics of his recording, but at least through 1998, Smith's approach is undeniably lo-fi. While, as discussed, Smith's music draws from a number of genres, it is the lo-fi canon that Smith's music is most frequently included in. While his music is more thematically and musically tied to many other genres, aesthetically speaking, it is indeed the lo-fi genre that Smith's music resembles and has influenced most. Many important indie-rock bands of the late 1990s openly borrowed heavily from Smith's aesthetic, including Death Cab for Cutie and Bright Eyes. While many artists like Beck, Modest Mouse, and Built to Spill began as lo-fi artists out of necessity and later progressed to a more acoustically developed sound, other important members of the lo-fi canon, most notably Smog, Neutral Milk Hotel and Daniel Johnston, built their entire aesthetic around lo-fi and never chose to move anywhere beyond this; Elliott Smith certainly belongs to the former group of artists. Smith's music stands apart from all of these artists in that, even in his most bare, lo-fi recordings, he exhibits an impressive range of formal, thematic, melodic, and harmonic variation and creativity. A Genre of His Own Perhaps because of these varied influences, Smith's music doesn't end up sounding too much like any of them. As a result, it is difficult to label Smith as an icon or group him as part of a canon. As popular music critic Matthew LeMay writes: His work is at once too musically unique and too aesthetically broad to fit into any clear lineage. Elliott Smith will never really be owned by the history of acoustic music or folk music or lo-fi music, or even pop music his work will always be, simply, Elliott Smith music.32 Today, his music stands apart from so much music of the last two decades in that it is not a display of resistance, a postmodern parody, or a commercial gimmick; it is the straightforward, honest, and at times raw expression of an individual who felt compelled, like all of us, to create. In the following section I explore the inner workings of Smith's distinct musical style.
32 LeMay, 118.

17

Musical Analysis
Analytical Considerations Before presenting the analysis of Smith's music, there are several points that should be noted. Firstly, the majority of this study approaches the studio recordings of Smith's music. While Smith performed in concerts frequently, he is not known for his strong live performances. Due to his skills as a guitarist, many songs on his recordings that feature two or even three guitar tracks are replicated by Smith on only one guitar in performance. His songs, however, generally leave little room for improvisation and when Smith did improvise or jam in concert, it was often more toward the end of his career on music from later albums. For the purpose of studying his first three albums, I will focus primarily on the versions of songs that exist on studio recordings. In some cases, I have used live videos of Smith or B-side recordings to offer a different perspective on a song, to clarify a guitar fingering, or to make informed inferences about a stylistic choice. Prior to this study, the vast majority of Smith's catalog was not written down. The nature of popular music and the freedom of vocal lines makes transcribing melodies accurately while simultaneously making them decipherable quite difficult. Given that the majority of this study focuses more on pitch than rhythm, and in the interest of simplicity, I have notated melodic rhythms in musical examples in the clearest way possible, at the expense of some accuracy (dotted sixteenth notes and thirty-second note rests are quite difficult to read). In any case, all musical examples should be listened to as well as read from the page. Further concerning notation, I have written all parts out in the range most easy to read I have avoided ledger lines and in general placed parts in an octave where most notes are placed in the middle of a staff. Overview of Smith's Style The years covered in this study, 1994-1997, are made up of a variety of songs and albums. Music from this time offers foundation to Smith's later albums, but also stands on its own as an engaging and dynamic set of songs. Certain stylistic factors pervade all of Smith's music, regardless of album or time period. These include extensive vocal multi-tracking, descriptive

18 lyrics, syllabic text-setting, instrumental riffs, and melodies shared by guitar and voice. On Smith's later albums, expanded instrumentation, more obvious vocal hooks, more developed production, new approaches to harmony, and longer song forms were slowly added. Within Smith's early period patterns both appear and are broken. His songs from 19941997 all (or almost all) feature short song forms, chromatic harmony, and a variety of forms, generally including developed verses. Within this time period, however, Smith's style does change and develop. Below is a table that summarizes the progression of Smith's musical style from Roman Candle to Either/Or. This table acts as a preview to what I will elaborate and expand upon in the remainder of the study.
Progression of Smith's Musical Style, 1994-1997

Roman Candle (1994) Lyrics (Text) Little repeated text High syllabic density Focus on storytelling Short vocal refrains Internal rhyme Melody Step-wise motion Chromatic motion

Elliott Smith New Moon (1995-1996) Medium syllabic density Short vocal refrains

Either/Or New Moon (1996-1997) Low syllabic density Expanding importance of chorus More repeated text Step-wise motion Occasional leaps Extensive pentatonicism Modal ambiguity Minor and major modes Longer harmonic progressions Diatonic and chromatic harmony Verse forms Verse-chorus forms Instrumental verses Bridges, double-bridges Extensive multi-tracking of both guitar and vocals More refined production No songs over 4 minutes long

Angular melodies of steps and leaps Chromatic motion Pentatonicism Modal ambiguity Minor and major modes Half-chords Unusual chord progressions Diatonic and chromatic harmony

Key/Mode Harmony

Mostly minor modes Half-chords Oscillating harmony Diatonic and chromatic harmony

Form

Strophic forms Verse forms Linear forms verse-chorus forms Use of motifs for formal design Instrumental verses Bridges Limited equipment Vocals, drums, guitar, bass, harmonica Tape hiss One song over 4 minutes long Vocals, drums, guitar, bass, harmonica Some additional personnel Tape hiss Three songs over 4 minutes long

Production

Other factors

19

Production
Smith's first two albums, Roman Candle and Elliott Smith, are undoubtedly lo-fi music. Smith used limited recording equipment for both albums, using four-track recorders for the majority of these songs. The most defining trait of these early recordings is Smith's vocal multitracking. He uses multi-tracking to serve two purposes: to harmonize with himself, and to add texture and depth to recordings otherwise lacking in studio effects by singing the same part twice, on two different tracks. On many songs on both Roman Candle and Elliott Smith, it appears that he did not attempt to make the two vocal tracks line up; indeed, the phasing created by two out-of-sync parts is one of the most distinct aspects of Smith's early catalog. The best example of this is perhaps Alphabet Town. The extensive use of multi-tracking carries over to Either/Or, however, the technique is altered, or some might say, refined. On this album, the most poppy sounding tracks, Between the Bars, Angeles, and Say Yes all feature both the guitar and vocal parts on two separate tracks, like his earlier work. Now, however, Smith has gone to great care to make the two tracks sound identical. While he could have easily edited, spliced, and mixed his recordings using digital technology, he instead opted for an arguably more authentic approach and instead of tampering with his live performances, he simply superimposed two of them on top of each other. As biographer Ben Nugent notes, this creates doubt in the listener's ears as to how many guitars are playing; while the two tracks are unison imitations of each other, present are tiny differences that inevitably creep in[,] creating a sense of depth and something similar to a subtle echo. Applying a reverb track to the sound wouldn't have produced anything nearly so delicate. 33 These slight nuances, hardly perceivable to the listener, contribute to the distinct sound of Smith's music. In the sections to come, I explore how Smith applied this attention to detail to all other areas of his music.

33 Nugent, 95.

20

Text
The focus of this study is on the musical style of Elliott Smith, and therefore I will not spend much time addressing the meaning of Smith's lyrics; if musical forms and keys are subjective and difficult to interpret, then the many layers of Smith's lyrics are that much more subjective. However, given that nearly all of Smith's music uses words as an important, if not central, medium for conveying meaning, it would be irresponsible to omit acknowledgment of them completely. Smith's lyrics are complex and provide a rich body of meaning and function for analysis. He uses a straightforward vocabulary in deceptively complicated ways. Smith rarely repeats lines of lyrics in songs, and nearly every line of text is new with some exception. As Matthew LeMay describes Smith's lyrics, Smith's reliance upon a simple and straightforward vocabulary often masks the complex and consistent internal language of his work, not to mention his unerring precision as a lyricist.34 In general, the words of his songs serve three primary functions: first, emotional expression. Most of Smith's songs include some amount of personal expression, often targeted at a specific person or group. These emotions are frequently apathy, doubt, disgust, anger, and isolation, but also show up in the form of hope, fascination, and genuine concern. Some especially emotion-driven texts include No Name No. 1, Roman Candle, 2:45 A.M., Whatever (Folk Song in C), and All Cleaned Out. These songs act essentially as confessionals, or intimate expressions of a specific sentiment. Secondly, Smith's lyrics serve a descriptive function, describing details about a specific person or place, or recounting a specific event in the form of a story. Exemplary songs of this nature include Condor Avenue, High Times, Rose Parade, and Pretty Mary K. Of course, many songs feature both emotional expression and description. A number of motifs recur throughout Smith's early work, including images of the moon and stars, icicles, snow angels, and white saints. Furthermore, Smith makes many allusions and references, to everything from mythological characters to locations in Portland, Oregon. The most commonly mentioned references or metaphors that Smith uses are related to self destruction, alluding to suicide or drug and alcohol abuse.
34 LeMay, 116.

21 Despite a commonly held belief that Smith's early music is influenced by Smith's own drug use, in fact, Smith's hard drug use did not begin until after his first three albums were already recorded. Furthermore, interviews with Smith have indicated that he often used drug metaphors as a venue for discussing other concerns.35 Of themes like drug addiction and suicide in Smith's music, LeMay writes, These issues in and of themselves never seemed to be of much interest to Smith; it was their bearing on bigger questions of agency, intellect, and emotion that intrigued him.36 While exploration of these bigger questions that Smith addresses in his text must be saved for another study, it is necessary to acknowledge that these themes exist in Smith's text in order to understand how his music, the subject of this study, expresses them. The third role of Smith's text is what I will now focus on more specifically. Apart from their meaning, words also function as music themselves they occupy time and space, as sounds with rhythm and also play a role in our interpretation of a song's form. I will now look at Smith's lyrics as they contribute to his musical style. Separately, in the section on form, I will consider how lyrics help indicate form. Verbal Space One useful concept for exploring text in popular music is verbal space. In his discussion of analyzing words in pop songs, Griffiths uses this idea. Verbal space describes the way in which musical phrases and sung or spoken words come together in terms of rhythm. As he explains, Tonal music's phrasing creates spaces which the words in performance occupy ... Verbal space is thus a key point at which music and words trade off each other's rhythm.37 He points out several musicians, including Bob Dylan, Lou Reed, and Elvis Costello, who use verbal space to their advantage to create interest. Musician Leonard Cohen used the term syllabic density as an even more specific way to evaluate the way words fill up musical space. 38 Throughout Elliott Smith's catalog, he uses variations in verbal space and syllabic density to create tension, indicate form, and offer contrasts in mood or tone. This technique is most
35 Ibid., 116. 36 Ibid., 116. 37 Griffiths, 43. 38 Ibid., 45.

22 obvious on his earlier works. A good example of interesting use of verbal space is the song Christian Brothers from Elliott Smith. Here, Smith creates contrast between the verses and the refrain by contrasting the amount of syllables sung per bar of music. In the verses, each of the following lines of text occupies two bars of music:
verse 1 No bad dream fucker's gonna boss me around Christian Brothers gonna take him down. verse 2 Fake concern says, "What's the matter, man?" And you think I ought to shake your motherfucking hand.

In the refrain, however, much more space is occupied by each syllable, with each of the following lines occupying two bars of music:
refrain Don't be cross, it's sick what I want I've seen the boss blink on and off.

Thus, the syllabic text-setting of the verses, with one word per musical note, combined with vulgarity, creates a seething, ironic tone. By contrast, the more melismatic setting of the refrain, with each word lasting over several different pitches, creates a contrasting, gentler tone. A technique that Smith often uses related to contrasts of verbal space is recitation. In a style legitimized by Bob Dylan and other folk singers, Smith frequently uses recitation of words on a static pitch to express urgency or other strong emotions. Dylan and others frequently would recite a passage on the ^5 scale degree.39 For example, in Big Decision from New Moon, Smith's use of contrasting verbal space is enhanced by a similar contrast of recited versus sung words. The syllabic density of the verse and refrain sections is low, with only two or three syllables sung per rhythmic measure. However, in a transition prior to each verse, Smith recites eight to ten syllables very quickly in this same amount of musical time, over somewhat unmeasured guitar strumming. As an example, here are the lyrics of a verse, with one musical measure passing per line of text,
39 Walter Everett, The Foundations of Rock, 178.

23 versus the words from the transition, also with one music measure per line of text.
Transition (on ^5) God, people wonder if you're sick, spilled out on the city slick, puffed up like a macho jerk, don't even try it, it'll never work, Why you wonder? What you wonder for me? Why you wonder? What you wonder for me? Why you want what I cannot be? You know I can't stay sooo----ber From verse I believe you, I wanna be you, I believe you, I wanna be you, I know you're not through with it yet It's a big decision I know you're not through with it yet. It's a big decision.

In Georgia, Georgia from New Moon, Smith again exercises contrast of verbal space, even within a single section of a song. For example, in the final A section, Smith sings the following, with one line of text per two measures of music:
Georgia, Georgia, I can't understand you since. (11 syllables) You have no forgiveness, (7) No attention left to pay, (7) The quiet way you leave and just forget it all just takes my breath away. (18)

In doing so, Smith creates interest in a repeating melodic and harmonic form. While this short song is built off of just two main contrasting A and B sections, within these sections, Smith avoids redundancy by continually varying the way he uses verbal space. In Pretty Mary K from New Moon, the text of the verse occupies very little verbal space. The text of the verse begins with three beats of melody, followed by five beats of rest, a pattern that continues for the first half. The chorus, however, is an obvious contrast to this. Although the chorus is half as long as the verse, the space is much more filled with text. This contrast is illustrated below, where one line of text represents two bars of music.
Verse (16 bars total) Oh, Mary K, I can see your face, down there in the waves, faded and erased. But I know it's just the reflection of the moon; Chorus (8 bars total) I'm going to go down in the water Fill my mouth up full of sand I'll be waiting, still impatient, with my dead imag-nation while you're with some other man.

24
a big fake resembling you.

Poetic Devices Smith uses extensive internal rhyme, where rhyme occurs not just at the ends of poetic lines but within them. See below for examples of internal rhyme or internal assonance (similar vowel sounds). From Pretty Mary K:
I'll be waiting, still impatient, with my dead imagination while you're with some other man.

In My New Freedom, for each verse, Smith follows an end-rhyme scheme of ABCC, with the second line always containing an internal rhyme as follows:
I know how to handle the situation How to be discrete and admit defeat You can go, and I'll say what I should I'm doin' okay, pretty good. A B C C

Last Call on Roman Candle features extensive assonance, using 's,' 't,' and 'j' sounds:
You're a crisis, you're an icicle, You're a tongueless talker, You don't care what you say, You're a jaywalker and you just, just walk away.

No Name No. 2 from Roman Candle is full of interesting use of rhyme, alliteration, and recurring motifs, even within just the different verses. The rhyme scheme is inconsistent between verses, with Smith freely rhyming words without an apparent form. The letters on the right indicate the rhyme scheme within each verse.
Verse 1 Concrete hands picked up the telephone ring A Do you know who you're talking to? B No, and I don't care who. B

25
She whispered quiet terror news; He didn't give a hoot, Said do what you have to do. B B B

Verse 2 All she had to do was speak, A Mouthpiece to cheek, A Please say no more. B I'm lying here on the ground, C A strip of wet concrete. A Her name was just a broken sound, C A stuttered step you hear when you're falling down. C Verse 3 You better start watching what message that you send now No more situations I only go in to be kicked out. He got knocked down leaving like he ran into a clothesline And remembered a couple of words that hid a crime You're just fine, you'll be just fine, But, I'm on the other line.

A A B B B B

The text of No Name No. 2 is clearly telling a story, with each verse adding on to the story. The song switches between narrators, with the voice of each verse or even each line often unclear. We are unsure who is speaking with whom, but the basic setting, a phone call, stays constant throughout the verses. Smith plays off of a few images that recur as motifs, including concrete, falling or getting knocked down, and communication. These strong images tie together ambiguous lyrics and offer form to Smith's story. As mentioned, Smith rarely repeats lyrics throughout a song, especially on Roman Candle and Elliott Smith. Even on vocal refrains, he often changes at least some part of the lyrics when the refrain recurs. In Alameda from Either/Or, the first chorus is as follows:
For your own protection over their affection. Nobody broke your heart You broke your own 'cause you can't finish what you start.

For the second, final chorus, Smith uses the same rhyme scheme, but with slight variation in the first line the words are different, but the rhyme scheme is the same as the first chorus, even though it happens over a minute later in the song. The second chorus:

26
You're all pretension, I never pay attention, Nobody broke your heart You broke your own 'cause you can't finish what you start.

He also does this, to a lesser extent, with the chorus of No Name No. 1 from Roman Candle. In each return of the chorus, Smith repeats the line leave alone, you don't belong here, but alters the rest of the text.
Chorus 1 Saint like with your warning. Leave alone, you don't belong here. Chorus 2 Go home and live with your pain. Leave alone, cause you know you don't belong here.

Chorus 3 And when I go, don't you follow. Leave alone, because you know you don't belong. Slip out quiet, nobody's looking. Leave alone, you don't belong here.

In the case of Pretty Mary K from New Moon, no sections of text are repeated, and even when the chorus harmony recurs, new text accompanies it. However, the text is tied together through certain fragments that repeat, as seen in the lyrics of the first two verses below, with repeated fragments in bold.
Verse 1 Pretty Mary K walks along the dock With some sailor's pay shoved down in her sock. Pretty Mary K with some little boy in blue Who can't stay away from you. Verse 2 Pretty Mary K took him back to town I'm down here by the bay where the water pounds Up against the wall crying black and blue It keeps me away from you.

Vocal Refrains While Smith rarely repeats text in a song, he does frequently add a brief vocal refrain at the end of a verse (in his strophic forms) or chorus (in his verse-chorus forms). These short vocal refrains, often just the title of the song itself, help provide form and a feeling of return to nonrepeating text. They are one way in which Smith channels the idioms of American country and

27 folk music. Some songs with vocal refrains in the place of a repeated chorus are: Go By, Almost Over, Condor Avenue, Clementine, The White Lady Loves You More, Satellite, and Going Nowhere. Sometimes, Smith will not simply repeat the vocal refrain, but rather, will incorporate the refrain phrase into a new line of text each time it recurs. Often times, the repeated phrase is given new meaning when inserted into a different context, to the extent that it is not obviously recognized as a refrain at all, but rather, just part of newly composed lyrics. For example, see the ends of each verse of Going Nowhere:
verse 1: I won't walk the stairs with you tonight, going nowhere. verse 2: She said, 'you've got a lot of things to learn,' going nowhere. verse 3: A silent expression, things you may allow, going nowhere. verse 4: I was off in some empty daydream, going nowhere. verse 5: He walked over to her like before, going nowhere.

These examples all illustrate the subtle and inventive ways that Smith uses simple language to convey a variety of emotions and ideas. In the sections to come, I explore how Smith applies this innovation to melody, harmony, and form.

28

Melody
Beyond lyrics, Smith's varied melodies are perhaps the characteristic that most contributes to Smith's widespread appeal and connection. In Smith's catalog of over one hundred songs, no two melodies sound alike or even very similar, with each song featuring distinct and interesting melodic range, contour, and rhythm. Over the course of Smith's early period, his approach to melody changes considerably. While early songs like Roman Candle and Needle in the Hay achieve the emotional edge that they do through melodies driven by half-steps and minor seconds, the pop-driven melodic and harmonic lines on Either/Or are primarily stepwise and diatonic. Roman Candle and Elliott Smith feature melodies that are primarily syncopated or displaced, while the melodies of Either/Or are more consistent. One technique that Smith uses is recitation of text on the fifth of a chord, before a descending melodic figure. This, as Walter Everett observes, is a technique that Bob Dylan and other folk singers used frequently.40 Smith uses this recitation style in Big Decision, Condor Avenue, and Whatever (Folk Song in C). Smith's songs, which in general feature a wider melodic range than the average pop or rock song, also utilize contrasts of range between sections to their advantage. Frequently, Smith uses oscillation in one section, generally the verse, and then arpeggiation in a chorus or refrain to expand the range of the melody. Examples of this abound in his music. The melody of the verse of Whatever (Folk Song in C) from New Moon, also a rounded binary form, is set up in a similar manner. In the A phrases, the melody rarely repeats a pitch consecutively, with mostly steps and skips, with the same pitch repeated no more than three times in a row. The B phrase, however, begins with nine Es in succession (the fifth of the chord), an example of recitation.

B
40 Walter Everett, Foundations of Rock, 178.

29 The melody of the A section (verse) of No Name No. 1 from Roman Candle oscillates between D and C exclusively for eight bars. The B section (chorus) melody, however, expands into an arpeggiation of a G major chord, extending the range of the song from the major second featured in the verse up to a full tenth. When Smith finally reaches the E at the top of the phrase, functioning as an escape tone, the emotional impact is quite strong. Interestingly, the vulnerability created by the high E initially embarrassed Smith; the range of the melodic line made Neil Gust, Smith's friend and Heatmiser bandmate, laugh the first time he heard it. 41 See below for the contrasting verse and chorus melodies.

verse of No Name No. 1

chorus

At a party------------he was waiting--------looking kind---a

spooky and withdrawn

Go

home

and live with

your pa-----in. Leave alone.

You don't belong...

The same technique is used in Speed Trials from Either/Or. In the verse, E dominates the melody, attacked twenty-one separate times. The verse is capped off with slight movement, oscillation between C and B . Smith achieves contrast in the chorus not only rhythmically (short, punctuated notes in the verse, versus long or slurred notes in the chorus), but also through range the chorus begins with the E that is so important in the verse, but then falls in a dramatic descent down a major sixth to G.
41 Nugent, 56.

30
verse of Speed Trials

He's pleased to meet you underneath chorus

the horse in the cathedral with the glass stained black

It's just a

brief

smile ------------------------

Crossing your face.

In My New Freedom, the verse (an AABA, rounded-binary form) begins with arpeggiation, with two A phrases arpeggiating C# minor and E major triads. The B phrase, however, provides contrast, oscillating between only A and G#. Following this contrast, the verse returns to the A phrase, nicely completing a rounding binary form. See below for the A and B phrases.
A phrase of My New Freedom

You can go B phrase

any

time you want.

I won't watch

if it hurts too much.

Don't wanna celebrate my new free------dom, have a drink

to you 'cause you made it new...

Important Intervals Sixth An important interval in Smith's music seems to be the sixth, either major or minor. Sixths

appear frequently in his melodies, with many melodies spanning the range of a sixth or leaping an interval of a sixth. Also, he often uses sixths in his vocal harmonies, which will be discussed later. Three songs that feature a sixth as a central interval are illustrated below: St. Ides Heaven, Speed Trials, and Between the Bars.

31
St. Ides Heaven verse (major sixth)

Everything

is exact----------ly

right

when I walk

'round here

drunk

every night.

Speed Trials opening riff (major sixth)

Between the Bars chorus (minor sixth)

Peo ---

ple ----

you've been be fore

that you....

Half-Steps Very few of Smith's melodies are strictly diatonic; most feature at least some chromaticism. Especially in Smith's earliest music, half-steps and minor seconds show up frequently in his melodies, often times right at the beginning of the song. In the opening melody from Alphabet Town, we have a line constructed entirely from descending minor seconds and minor thirds, resulting in a very unusual sounding melody:

Alpha----------bet

cit----y

is

haunt-------ed.

Similarly, Roman Candle also opens with a descending half step, from G-F#. This figure is followed by another half-step interval, C#-D. These two figures make up the motif that Smith then uses throughout the remainder of the song in different variations:

He played

him

self.

32

Condor Avenue from Roman Candle also opens with half steps, in a chromatically rising melody:

She took the Oldsmobile

out past Condor Avenue

Key and Mode

All of Smith's music is decidedly tonal and all of his songs emphasize certain tonal centers or groups of pitches. That said, keys and modes in Smith's early music, like much popular music, are frequently ambiguous and difficult to interpret. Roman Candle and Elliott Smith, especially, feature extreme ambiguity. Some songs from Either/Or, the newest album analyzed in this study, begin to become more diatonic in the vein of Smith's later period, while others including two that will be elaborated on below contain the extreme mode mixture from his earlier albums. While Smith's approaches to text, melody, harmony, and form depart in many ways from the work of his contemporaries, this modal ambiguity so present in his music fits squarely into other alternative music being created in the 1990s. Chris McDonald articulates the frequent modal ambiguity of guitar-oriented alternative rock music. He describes the central importance of third relationships in alternative rock music, coining the term modal subversion to describe cases in which the mode of a song as established by an initial chord (say, AMaj) is then subverted by a subsequent chord (for example, a C major chord following the AMaj, whose C root subverts the C# of the A chord). While in art music, chords like this would be explained through a concept like modemixture (borrowed chords), McDonald argues that this explanation characterizes chords like this as anomalies in reality, these chords related by thirds play key structural roles and are central to the style of alternative rock music. While McDonald primarily focuses on the role of power chords (chords without a third) in creating modal ambiguity, which Smith rarely uses, the general concept is nonetheless useful in examining Smith's harmonic sense. Smith's early work is characterized by a mixture of major and minor mode. In many songs,

33 he uses a diatonic scale, but the tonal center of this mode is often unclear. This trend is best illustrated by example. Below are several songs in which the first scale degree and sixth degree of a major scale are emphasized so equally that it is difficult, and perhaps useless, to argue which mode the song is in. Everett observes this quality in some music of the Beatles's more tonally ambiguous work, writing that these songs derive some of their expressive power from a doubletonic complex resulting in a conflict of priority between tonal areas suggestive of relative major and minor.42 Perhaps the most obvious example of this double-tonic complex is in My New Freedom, in which the melody is constructed equally from E major and C# minor triads. Besides these triads, the melody emphasizes C#, both as the highest and lowest notes of the song. However, the song ends on an E major chord, indicating that this should perhaps be viewed as a song with two tonal centers, C# and E. Here is the first phrase of the verse melody for example:

You can go

any

time you want.

I won't watch

if it hurts too much.

In the verse of Alameda, B major and G minor are both potential tonal centers. The melody begins on B, but much of the melody oscillates around G, and the harmonies in the guitar use both B and G as their roots. B seems to emerge as the real key of the song, with the striking A major chord in the second and sixth bars functioning as a VII (a standard dominant chord in rock music), whereas in the key of G minor, the A major would function as a II or V/V that does not lead to V, which both seem less likely. However, taken in full, the progression of the verse is as follows: B A Gm E7 This progression seems to have come from simply a diatonic descent from B to G, but this leaves the final E7 ambiguous as to function. In the key of B, this E7 functions as a IV, and thus a plegel cadence, while in the key of G minor it would serve as a VI chord a deceptive cadence. It is perhaps the vocal harmonies in the background that make the case for us, with Smith's voice singing the following pitches on ah:
42 Everett, The Beatles as Musicians, 20.

34

Gm

E7

The final resting point on G brings a sense of finality and arrival, indicating that perhaps G, at least according to our ears, is the tonal center of the verse of Alameda. McDonald notes the importance of third relationships not just within harmonic progressions, but also on a larger, structural scale. In the case of Smith, third relationships dominate key/modal changes (perhaps as definite as a modulation) between formal sections, generally between the verse and the chorus or the verse and the bridge. These third relationships can include both relative relationships (i.e. C major and A minor) and chromatic third relationships (i.e. C major and A major). This seems to be common in popular music, as noted by Stephenson in his discussion of key and mode in rock music. 43 Examples of this in Smith's catalog include Single File (verse in E minor, chorus in C minor) and Southern Belle (verse in C minor, bridge in A major). This modal ambiguity in Smith's music is complemented by his frequent alternation between relative chords (i.e. between C major and A minor), which occurs in Ballad of Big Nothing and Speed Trials. This is, of course, easy to do on guitar, by changing or adding just one note in the chord. Smith also frequently alternates between chords of a parallel relationship, for example, between F major and F minor. As a form of mode mixture, this further muddies our conception of mode or key by challenging standard tonal progressions. This, of course, is a quick and fairly simple way to alter the tone of a song, again by changing just one note. He uses this extensively in Ballad of Big Nothing and Southern Belle. Two Case Studies of Modal Ambiguity In Speed Trials, the song is decidedly in the key of C major. It appears that perhaps Smith even played this song in an open C guitar tuning. However, the guitar line that repeats throughout the verses obscures this C center, opening with a falling major sixth from E to G (with an E drone) and then a diatonic climb to B natural, avoiding the C that the song is centered
43 Stephenson, 147-148.

35 around:

The harmony of the verse does little to unambiguously support a C tonic, with the guitar alternating between C major chords and the relative A minor, suggesting that the song is perhaps in A minor, not C. Furthermore, the vocal melody of the song is centered completely around E, only making us further question the importance of C. It is not until the chorus that we feel confident of the song's tonal center, with obvious half-cadences (moving from sub-dominant IV to dominant V) closing each four-bar phrase to create traditional dominant-tonic tension and solidify the song's tonal center. That said, mode is still rather ambiguous is the song Mixolydian or Ionian? Conflicting B's and B naturals leave room for doubt. The guitar riff of the introduction and verse emphasizes the B natural leading tone. However, in the vocal melody, no B naturals occur at all during the verse. Finally, in the chorus, the vocal melody ends on B natural, functioning as the third of a G major chord (V in the key of C). See below: Guitar riff

Final bars of verse

to destroy their mas----ter.

Pre-chorus
No one'll know where you are-----------(are)

Chorus

It's just a

brief--

smile------------------

crossing your face

36

As another striking example of modal contrast, 2:45 A.M. from Either/Or starts off with a riff that will repeat throughout the song: a G mixolydian scale stopping on ^ 7.

However, this riff leads into the chord progression Em CMaj GMaj, with brings great modal ambiguity. Is the tonal center of the song G major, or is it E minor, the relative key, and the first chord of the song? The fact that the F natural of the riff leads to an E minor chord makes the F natural feel almost like an upper chromatic neighbor tone to E, making it the central note of the riff, not G. Of course, this riff could imply that the song's key center is C, however, the initial E minor chord (iii in the key of C) that begins the song then does not seem to make much sense. Furthermore, after the riff repeats twice, it changes slightly; it chromatically descends to E, further supporting E as a tonal center:

If we think of the song in E phrygian (the F natural being a ^2), then the progression of the verse could be labeled: i VI III, which aligns with common-practice chord progressions, although it does not end conclusively. This lack of conclusion harmonically, however, may be resolved in the chorus. The original G mixolydian (or E phrygian) scale riff repeats throughout the verse, but in the bar before the first refrain, the F natural is raised to an F#. This F# leading tone might seem to ensure us that the song's tonal center is G, however, the G that the F# resolves to does not function as the root of a chord, but rather, as the dominant seventh of an A major chord:

The chorus uses the following chord progression: AMaj7 Amin7 DMaj CMaj. If still

37 thinking in the key of E minor, then these chords could be heard as providing conclusion to the verse progression, functioning as IV7 iv7 VII iv. The major IV7 chord acts as a borrowed chord, and the alternation between major and minor IV chords is something Smith did frequently. Considering that VII frequently functions as a dominant chord in both rock music 44 and Smith's music specifically, when we combine the verse and chorus progression, we have all standard harmonic functions, from tonic to tonic prolongation to sub-dominant to dominant to a halfcadence: I VI III IV iv7 VII VI

Thus, although 2:45 AM's tonal center is ambiguous, E seems to make the most sense. When the song is analyzed with this E tonal center, the contrast between the F natural of the verse riff and the F# leading into the chorus seems to be best described as the difference between E phrygian and E aeolian minor modes. Contributing to the modal ambiguity of Smith's music is the fact that many phrases end with a descending minor third, a pattern that comes from the minor-pentatonic scale ( 7, 5, 4, 3, 1). The use of a minor-pentatonic scale in melody is not uncommon in popular music. Walter Everett, in a survey of popular music from the 1950s and 1960s, notes that after the major scale, the minor-pentatonic is the most important resource for melodic material. 45 The vast majority of Smith's melodic phrases end with a descending interval, and more often than not, this interval is a minor third. It happens that this minor third interval occurs between the ^3 and the ^1 of a minor scale, or ^1 and ^6 of the relative major scale. The intermediate scale degree, ^7 of the major scale (or ^2 of the relative minor), is often skipped or omitted. See the below example, which illustrates two possible interpretations of the five note sequence that recurs frequently in Smith's music:

44 Walter Everett, The Beatles as Musicians: Revolver through the Anthology, 146. 45 Everett, Foundations, 166.

38 In tonal music, this ^7 (or ^2 in minor) acts as a powerful leading tone that helps to indicate key. Without it to guide us, it is difficult to define the scale as exclusively major or minor. Wilfrid Mellers notes, in a discussion of folk music and pentatonicism, that the whole steps and minor thirds encountered in pentatonic scales feel natural to humans due to their relation to the harmonic series. Additionally, she notes the significance of the lack of a leading tone: In pentatonic tunes the semi-tonic leading note of modern diatonic and chromatic scales, pressing upwards towards harmonic resolution, is almost never encountered. 46 This lack of a leading tone is, for her, an important characteristic of folk music, as opposed to Western art music, which frequently demands a leading tone as a function of dominant-tonic harmony. 47 See below for a variety of examples in which a vocal phrase ends with this descending 4, 3, 1 pattern. Smith's songs so frequently end with a descending minor third that the listener may tend to hear this dropping interval even when Smith does not actually sing it. Although some examples below do use ^2 in the passage, note that most use the pentatonic scale exclusively, skipping this leading tone altogether. It is this lack of a leading tone that contributes to so much modal ambiguity.
Going Nowhere Rose Parade

stairs with you ton-------ight. Condor Avenue

seem to be goi------ing the oth-------er way. St. Ides Heaven

make Satellite

a whisper outta you.

In

St.

Ides

Heaven.

Single File

like the

washed

out------

world be------low.

46 Wilfrid Mellers, God, Modality and Meaning in Some Recent Songs of Bob Dylan, 144. 47 Ibid., 145.

39
My New Freedom

be---------

better to you

better to me.

In the case of Alphabet Town from Elliott Smith, the entire bridge is constructed from an E minor-pentatonic scale:

know what you are

just don't

mi------------------------------ind.

These stand as just a few of a large number of examples of pentatonicism in Smith's music. This descending minor third plays a central, if not primary, role in distinguishing Smith's melodic style and contributing to the overall melancholy quality of his musical aesthetic.

40

Harmony
I don't know what it's called. But I like it: Playing What Sounds Good To an outsider, the most striking qualities of Smith's music might be his extensive lyrics or his diverse set of melodies. However, it is apparent that Smith himself was particularly fascinated by harmonic progressions. His friend told interviewer and photographer Autumn de Wilde that he genuinely loved the emotions that were generated by chord changes. 48 Smith describes his approach to writing chord progressions as very imaginative, without much methodology. He said in an interview, I don't really think of [songwriting] in terms of language, I think of it more like shapes.49 He has also noted his inclination to play chords in second inversion, with the fifth played on the lowest string of the guitar. His approach to chords is clearly to play whatever he sounds best, and he rarely follows conventional chord progressions or styles of guitar playing. While his knowledge of music is far from limited, it is hardly formal. As a perfect illustration of his tendency to prioritize the way a chord actually sounds over its theoretical explanation, in one interview he described a chord he had just played: I don't know what it's called. But I like it. 50 Progression of Harmonic Style Many critics have noted the progression of Smith's music from more dissonant to less dissonant, or more intricate to less intricate. Analysis of his catalog confirms this general trend. In more analytical terms, chords used on Roman Candle feature many extensions and suspensions that are atypical of rock or most pop music. Unusual notes in these chords are often the result of Smith incorporating a melodic line into a guitar part or Smith playing multiple guitar lines at once. Many chord sequences are comprised of oscillation between two chords. However, due to the numerous suspensions and extensions present in his music, a seemingly simple harmonic progression might actually include quite a few subtly different chords. For example, a song might center around what are essentially CMaj and Amin chords, but include CMaj7, Cmin, Cmin7, Asus4, A6/9, Amin7, etc. A similar approach to harmony appears on Elliott Smith. By Either/Or, however, Smith uses a more typical harmonic language. This is not to say
48 De Wilde, 210. 49 Elliott Smith Songwriting Lesson. 50 Ibid.

41 Smith's earlier style has disappeared, and in fact songs like Alameda or Speed Trials clearly spring from his previous work. However, in general, his newer music features staples of rock harmony like I, IV, V, and VII. His chord progressions are generally longer, featuring distinct chords with traditional functions. More widely heard songs like Between the Bars and Say Yes do contain the chromaticism of Smith's first two albums, when chromatic harmony is used, it is in a controlled manner in predictable places like a bridge or transition. This contrasts Smith's earliest work, in which non-chord tones and non-common practice chords appear frequently and often unpredictably at any point in a song. Unidiomatic Guitar Style Smith's approach to guitar playing is very unidiomatic, surely due to the fact that he is selftaught and never received formal training on the instrument. In most of his songs, there are two guitar tracks one with chords and another with finger-picking or a melody line. Also, one of these parts generally includes a bass line played simultaneously on the lowest string on the guitar. These two guitar tracks make it impossible to analyze exactly what Smith is playing, however, his music can generally be characterized as featuring quick finger-picking, fast harmonic motion (often with one chord change per beat), and the combining of both melody and harmony into the guitar part. As another example of Smith's non-idiomatic style, he frequently used alternate tunings, primarily a standard D tuning, with all of the guitar strings tuned down a whole step from their standard E tuning. He uses this tuning with such frequency that we can call it characteristic of his guitar playing. Songs that he usually played in standard D tuning include Southern Belle, Going Nowhere, My New Freedom, St. Ide's Heaven, Between the Bars, Say Yes, Placeholder, High Times, and Satellite, among others. In an interview with Acoustic Guitar magazine in 1998, Smith described this tendency to play in a D tuning as simply a mistake that eventually became a habit: I tune all the strings down a step. That happened by accident a couple of years ago. I didn't have my own guitar for quite awhile, and I'd play my girlfriend's guitar. I don't have perfect pitch and I didn't realize that it was way lower, so the E string was actually a D, the A string was a G, and so on. So, nowadays I just tune that way,

42 and when I play older songs that were written in normal tuning, I put a capo on. 51 Half-Chords One technique that Smith frequently employs is a style I will call half-chords. Whereas traditional guitar playing of most styles utilizes all six strings of the guitar, or in some cases five, to get as much sound as possible, Smith often only plays two or three notes at once. This style was made his trademark on Needle in the Hay from Elliott Smith, popularized by its use in the Wes Anderson film The Royal Tenenbaums, but many of Smith's early songs use this same guitar sound, including St. Ide's Heaven (Elliott Smith), High Times (New Moon) and Southern Belle (Elliott Smith). The effect is that by emphasizing only two or three notes at one time, Smith is able to keep a drone or open interval sounding on one or two of the strings while easily adding second or third changing note that forms a melodic line. The best example of this is Needle in the Hay. From the very beginning, the song is highly unconventional, with the guitar playing just two notes a major second apart. The introduction of the song is played with only two strings pitches plucked at a time. In the verse, this expands to three pitches played at once, but Smith still refrains from playing conventional guitar chords. It is only in the bridge of the song where full, regular guitar chords are strummed. The first half of the introduction of Needle in the Hay features four half-chords, shown here out of rhythm:

If the intervals are analyzed, we end up with a major second, a major third, and two open perfect fifths. The final two chords, E5 and A5, imply a sort of V-I motion, indicating that the song might be thought of in the key of A minor. It is interesting that Smith uses these open fifths in the context of other alternative music. Many punk and grunge musicians make use of power chords open fifths without a third. Power chords are generally simple to play on guitar, and allow players to move freely between chords by simply moving one hand position up and down the neck, strumming all strings of the guitar. Here, however, Smith takes this punk tradition and appropriates it into a hushed, intimate song, playing
51 Roger Len Smith.

43 only two notes at a time without the reckless strum generally associated with power chords. Although Needle in the Hay is soft, it is anything but delicate, and so perhaps Smith retains this quality of the punk aesthetic he draws from. The second half of the introduction features six new chords, two of them distinct only because they contain a chromatic passing tone:

This sequence appears to be an Amin7 chord progressing to a CMaj chord and finally ending on a FMaj chord in first inversion. Analyzed in common practice terms as: i7 (iMaj7) i III (III+5) VI This progression makes little sense, and it is clear that it is best analyzed in terms of leading tones, with at least one pitch staying constant through each change and either one or two pitches changing, almost always by half-step. These small, chromatic movements between chords contribute to the intimate and dissonant feel of Needle in the Hay. Melody Guiding Harmony, or Vice Versa? Smith has emphasized his tendency to write focus on a chord progression while writing a song, and then find the implied melody that arises from that harmonic sequence. 52 Because Smith often embeds parts of the vocal melody in his guitar parts, his chords often include suspensions. Smith so frequently does this that it is worth considering whether Smith wrote his chords first and followed with melody, or vice versa. We have reason to believe that the former is true. Sometimes, extended or irregular chords appear that, when analyzed alongside the corresponding melody, calls forth this question. In the case of Southern Belle, Smith ends a chord sequence with Cm, Csus4, and Cmajor, in a row. This is an atypical progression for rock or popular music, but given the melody, whose pitches correspond to the altered notes within the Crooted chords, it seems to make more sense. The end of a verse in Southern Belle:
Cmin Csus4 Cmaj

52 Ibid.

44

how

you

want.

A similar situation occurs in Speed Trials, where we are unsure if Smith altered a regular sequence of chords because he liked the alterations, and then made the melody fit these chords, or if Smith altered his chords to include the melodic pitch. The chorus alternates between C, D9, Fmaj7, and G. Instead of just playing major triads, he adds nines and major sevens, so that the E held for essentially the duration of the chorus does not clash as a dissonant drone. Rather, it blends into the harmonic texture as it adds complexity to a potentially simple progression, at first functioning as the third of a C major chord, then as the ninth of a D9, and then as the major seventh of an Fmaj7:
Cmaj D9 FMaj7

It's just a

brief

smi-----------------ile

croossing your face.

Root Movement A common way to analyze harmonic patterns is through root movement. The nature of many of Smith's songs make this sort of analysis difficult or, oftentimes, obsolete, given that his songs often lack a distinct bass part, with a bass line inconsistently included in the guitar part. However, toward the end of Smith's early period, several songs feature more clear divison of bass and melody, offering clear root movement for analysis. The best examples of this come from Either/Or. Typical root movement in rock and popular music harmony are discussed in general terms by both Stephenson and Everett. Stephenson articulates the frequency of ascending thirds, descending fourths, and descending seconds in rock root movement. 53 Similarly, Everett emphasizes the important role of thirds in root movement. 54 While some of Smith's music does fit into these common trends, other cases do not. For example, in the verse of Say Yes, the bass
53 Ken Stephenson, What to Listen For in Rock: A Stylistic Analysis, 104. 54 Everett, Foundations of Rock, 218.

45 crawls down by minor and major seconds diatonically, but also features an ascending minor seventh.
Say Yes opening bass line

The second bridge, on the other hand, does not follow common practice at all, and ascends and descends chromatically within four measures.
Say Yes second bridge bass line

The verse of Between the Bars does not seem to follow Stephenson's guide, featuring many descending minor thirds, ascending fifths, and a descending major sixth. It makes sense that this root movement would seem irregular, given the unique harmonic progression of i7, VI9, III, IIIMaj7 and then i7, VI9, III, V, VI in the B phrase. Here are the bass lines of the A and B phrases of the verse:
Gmin7 E9 B BMaj7/A

Gmin7

E9

B Further research need be done to determine what standard or common root movement is in modern alternative music, as comparing Smith to previous standards of rock and pop music is clearly not sufficient. However, from analysis of Smith's early music, it is clear that there are few patterns and trends vary widely from song to song. Vocal Harmonies An obvious hallmark of Smith's musical style are the multi-tracked vocals on nearly every

46 recorded song. Smith usually over-dubs his own vocals with himself adding harmony. When analyzed, these harmonies are unique in each song. Many songs feature voices singing parallel thirds, which is fairly standard for popular music. However, Smith frequently plays with vocal harmonies and harmonizes with intervals other than thirds, often using perfect fourths and fifths and minor or major sixths. St. Ide's Heaven from Elliott Smith is especially interesting, with major thirds, perfect fifths, and minor sixths between voices in the chorus. The line begins with the two vocal tracks singing in thirds, and then at the end, move in contrary motion for a bar to form a minor sixth, then both descending to form a perfect fifth:

High

on----------- amphet----------amines.

The moon is a light-------bulb----------- brea------------king

In the second bridge of Say Yes on Either/Or, two vocal tracks form minor and major seconds, minor and major thirds, perfect fourths, tri-tones, and major sixths:

Crooked spin

can't come to

rest,

I'm damaged bad at best

Contrary Motion Smith frequently uses contrary motion between lines. For example, in the chorus of Between the Bars from Either/Or, the vocal line descends while the bass line ascends, forming intervals of octaves, sixths, fifths, thirds, and fourths. Counterpoint intervals are included below. voice

bass
Peo-------------ple---------- you've been bef-------ore that you......

47 In another example of contrary motion, 1:48 into the title track of Roman Candle, the main melodic theme is augmented rhythmically and joined by a melodic line in the bass. The two lines fit together, going in and out of unison with each other. voice

bass

Types of Chords: Voicings, Inversions, and Extensions While it sometimes not constructive to use common-practice analysis to describe popular music, in certain cases with Smith common practice theories of analysis do seem to make sense for describing the function of Smith's patterns of harmony. In songs that seem to follow standard harmonic progressions, harmonic anomalies can be explained through two common practice techniques for explaining chromaticism, mode mixture and the use of secondary chords. While McDonald argues that mode mixture may not be the best approach to analyzing chromatic harmony in alternative rock music,55 there are certain instances in Smith's songs where mode mixture (also called borrowed chords) seems to be the best explanation. In the verse of Speed Trials from Either/Or, an A major triad is used in the key of C, or, VI. In art music, VI is a frequently used borrowed chord, and usually leads to V. Smith follows this common-practice trend (probably unknowingly), and follows the VI with a V9 chord (G9 in the key of C). In Southern Belle from Elliott Smith, the bridge of the song features mode mixture in the guitar chords. If we analyze the bridge in A major, which seems to make the most sense, then a III appears (C-E-G), which, like VI, is a commonly used borrowed chord in art music. In popular music, III chords are occasionally used, and it is interesting that Smith includes it. This irregular chord is then subverted in the following bar, as the harmony moves to a V chord (E-G-B), with the B fifth of the E chord contrasting the C (enharmonically, B natural) of
55 McDonald, 357.

48 the C chord the beat before. Following the V chord is a VII chord, G major. Here, the G natural in the vocal melody contrasts with the G in the accompaniment from the measure before. It is interesting that the full chord progression (I III V VII), is comprised of all major chords, and yet, the rising minor thirds in the vocal melody make the bridge feel anything but happy, the tone that major chords are typically associated with. The mix of ascending minor thirds and major thirds that result in the melody due to this progression creates a very interesting effect. Furthermore, the E major augmented triad outlined by the melody in the second bar sounds very distinct. It is unclear what Smith intended with this unusual sequence; it is yet another example of Smith constantly varying and changing the material he uses in his songs.
AMaj CMaj EMaj GMaj AMaj CMaj EMaj Gmaj

How come you're

not ashamed of what

you

a--------------------re

Secondary Dominants A typical case of a secondary dominant chord appears in the verse of Say Yes from Either/Or. Here, a fairly typical common-practice progression occurs, ending with a V7/V (G7 in the key of F). However, the G7 does not lead to V (C major) as one would expect a secondary dominant would do, calling into question its function as a secondary chord. I Cleaned Out: I top line repeated three times: (V) ii I V V/V (or II) iv V V vi IV V/V (or II) And also on the verse of Ballad of Big Nothing, whose chord progression is as follows, with the V vi V IV I V/V (or II) However, Smith often ends a phrase on a major II chord. He also does this in the verse of All

While in these cases the function of the final chord is ambiguous, in the verse of Whatever (Folk Song in C) from New Moon, a clear case of a secondary dominant occurs. In the key of C, a

49 D7 chord in first inversion leads into a G Major chord, thus acting as the dominant of the G chord. V6/V V The F# in the bottom of the guitar part acts as a perfect leading tone to G, the root of the V chord. G, as a V chord, then resolves to the tonic C major, and the progression is complete. Alternative Dominant and Sub-Dominant Chords Smith frequently uses VII chords as an important dominant or sub-dominant chord in a song. This is standard in rock music; Everett notes the many uses of a VII chord in creating a rock sound,56 placed where a V chord might normally be. Stephenson calls VII9 the subtonic chord typical of rock.57 Some examples of VII (or VII) as a substitute for a conventional dominant or subtonic chord appear in Southern Belle, Alameda, No Name No. 1, and 2:45 AM.

56 Everett, The Beatles as Musicians, 147. 57 Stephenson, 104.

50

Form
Smith's songs are in general very short, but their forms are anything but simple. In a short amount of time, Smith manages to bring significant contrast and development to the material he uses. He creates contrast between sections through a variety of means, including verbal space (see above section), contour, range, instrumentation, texture, and harmony. It is difficult to make useful generalizations about the forms that Smith uses, as most of his songs are distinct from others in his catalog or even from others on the same album. Several of Smith's songs follow standard or traditional pop forms relatively strictly. Some examples: The White Lady Loves You More (rounded binary), Between the Bars and Ballad of Big Nothing (verse-chorus), Single File (ABA), Say Yes and Angeles (verse-bridge) and Condor Avenue (modified strophic). However, the majority of Smith's early work, and even these songs that do follow more typical forms, are constructed through a variety of irregular ways. His forms frequently feature asymmetry, interruption, and other elements unique to Smith's style. These most typical elements of Smith's forms are discussed below. Verse-Bridge Forms Angeles, Placeholder, Southern Belle, and The White Lady Loves You More all feature only a verse (recurring harmonic progression with new text each time), and then a contrasting middle section that we can call a bridge, sometimes also with a brief instrumental transition following the bridge. Say Yes is a verse-bridge form, with its verse repeated seven times, but contains two distinct bridges with completely unique harmonic, melodic and lyrical material each time instead of just one. Verse-Chorus Forms Smith often uses a verse-chorus form with the second or third (one of the middle) verses being an instrumental solo over the verse chord changes instead of vocal melody. Frequently, Smith's verse-chorus forms feature a bridge, or in some cases, two. Examples include Alphabet Town (verse, chorus, bridge that recurs twice), St. Ide's Heaven, and No Name #1.

51 Verse Verse Chorus, Verse Verse Chorus (most popular) The most common way that Smith uses a verse-chorus form is two follow a pattern of two verses followed by a chorus. Generally, he will also repeat the chorus or part of the chorus (a refrain) multiple times to close the song. Examples: St. Ide's Heaven, See You Later, Alameda, (with bridge) Between the Bars, and Ballad of Big Nothing. Forms of Verses While Smith's songs are in general quite short, there is considerable variation in his forms despite their seeming simplicity. For example, if we break down the phrases of each of Smith's verses, we get quite a range of forms that result for each verse. Some of these forms are, of course, debatable. Most phrases can be interpreted as two-bar, four-bar, or eight-bar phrases, depending on the situation. I have taken into consideration harmonic cadences, melody, and repeated text.

Additionally, it is worthwhile to note that many songs feature a guitar solo over the harmonic progression of the verse in the middle of the song, a trend that is common in popular music. Such songs include Seen How Things Are Hard, Whatever (Folk Song in C), Say Yes, Single File (to be discussed further below), St. Ides Heaven, and No Name #1.

52 Interruption and Alteration In his early work, Smith frequently subverts the listener's expectations by interrupting phrases or forms. In other words, he begins to repeat a pattern that has occurred previously in the song, but then begins a new musical idea. For example, in Single File from Elliott Smith, the verse is essentially a twelve-bar, ABA structure. Upon first hearing, the verse sounds like it will end after just eight bars this is due to several factors, including the conclusiveness of the vocal line, the tidy end-rhyme scheme of the lyrics (ABBB), and the lyrics themselves, coming to a seeming point of arrival (Here in line where stupid shit collides/with dying shooting stars/All we've got show what we really are/is the same kind of stars.) When the first of the next four bars begins, it feels like a second verse due to a restart of the pattern. Additionally, pop music phrases generally come in groups of four or eight, more often than twelve. 58 At the end of the twelfth bar of the verse (or fourth bar of the second verse), we expect it to continue on, to round out a complete sixteen bars. However, the form feels interrupted when Smith suddenly jumps to the chorus, which is a stark contrast to the verse due to meter, key, and texture. Upon analysis, however, it is clear that the lyrics are comprised of a quatrain and a rhyming couplet at the end:
Here in line where stupid shit collides with dying shooting stars. All you've got to show what they really are is the same kind of scars. Looking at you all I see is you waiting for something.

Indeed, later, in the instrumental interlude of the song, Smith plays the melody of the verse on guitar, but plays only eight bars the AB from the vocal verse, without the final four bars that subverted our expectations earlier. This reinforces the fact that the AB stands alone as a phrase, and when the second A is added to make the ABA, it makes sense that it subverts the listener's expectations when it does not continue on to a second B to round out the form. The same formal technique is used in Speed Trials from Either/Or. This song, a binary AB form with the A section repeated twice (|A:|B), has a twelve-bar long verse. The form of the verse (A) itself is a ternary ABA structure. At the end of the first eight bars of the verse, we hear a turn58 Stephenson, 5.

53 around like melody, oscillating between C and B, that eventually leads us back to what we hear as the beginning of a second verse. Through the second verse, the same form is followed as the first time through, but in the fifth bar we jump to a new idea, the pre-chorus (or transition), subverting our expectations of completing the same form as the first verse. Thus, the verse can either be seen as a twelve-bar, ABA form, or, we can view this section of the song as two, separate verses, with the second one being interrupted by the pre-chorus and then chorus. The turnaround in the eighth bar, however, leads us more toward the second interpretation. There are many other examples of Smith using a simple form, but mixing up the order of the elements the second or third time a pattern returns. In Clementine from Elliott Smith, the first time through the form we have: intro verse 1 A refrain B bridge C 4 bars 8 4 8

This is a common form for any pop song, of intro-verse-chorus-bridge. We would expect, in the second half of the song, to then hear either a new verse or the chorus again. As expected, Smith begins a second verse. However, the rest of the pattern is not the same where we would expect to hear the refrain again after the second verse, Smith instead inserts another bridge with new material. This new bridge, however, is only four bars long, unlike the first eight-bar bridge. After, we finally hear the chorus, which is now extended to eight bars instead of four. Verse 2 A 8 bridge 2 D 4 refrain B' 8 outro 4 While on the surface this form does not seem very irregular, given that popular songs do occasionally have more than one bridge, given the brief length of the song (2:48), it is unusual that Smith would have time to sneak in two different bridges into such a short form. The extension of the chorus at the end to eight bars, from just four, is interesting in that Smith does not just repeat the four-bar refrain from earlier for emphasis, but rather, he develops it further

54 (adding more chords to the harmonic progression and adding vocal harmonies), thus bringing in new material until the very end of a short, although hardly simple, song. In the early version of Pretty Mary K from New Moon (a newer version of the song was released on Figure 8), Smith similarly mixes up the form on the repeat, as yet another example of a slight difference to keep us on our toes. In the formal diagram below, you can see that initially, Smith plays two verses and then a chorus, while in the second half, Smith inserts the chorus between the two verses, ending the song with the final verse, which is fairly rare for popular music in general and for Smith, as songs often end with a repeated chorus. intro A A B riff A B A tag

In the case of Southern Belle from Elliott Smith, Smith constructs the song from based around two main guitar riffs, which I will call A riff and B riff. The introduction introduces the main A riff, which is two bars long. The A riff occurs as follows, sometimes with slight variation: A riff Each of the three verses is built from this riff. The twelve-bar verse form is: eight bars of the A riff, and then four bars of just strummed guitar. Three transitions, following each of the three verses, respectively, each feature the B riff: B riff The first transition (three bars long) features the riff once, while the second transition (five bars long) features the riff twice. The third transition (ten bars long) features the riff three times. In the bridge of the song, the form of the verses is turned inside out. In the bridge, the first eight bars are just heavily-strummed guitar chords, while the last four bars of the bridge feature the A riff. When the A riff then continues, as part of the third verse, the effect is somewhat disorienting, because we end up with twelve bars of the A riff in a row, divided unevenly between the bridge and the third verse. A similar buildup of tension occurs in Satellite from Elliott Smith. Satellite is

55 constructed of three main themes, A, B, and C, which occur consecutively and then repeat. Following each C theme, an instrumental break occurs, but it increases in length each time it occurs, the first time lasting for three bars, the second time lasting five bars, and the final time lasting seven bars. These examples illustrate the way that Smith subverts the listener's expectations, by making this repeating break unpredictable in duration. Asymmetry While phrases of an even number of measures pervade rock and pop music, 59 Smith's music frequently features oddly numbered phrases. These include Satellite, where instrumental transitions last anywhere from three to seven bars, and Southern Belle, where guitar fill transitions following verses last anywhere from three to ten bars. It is not uncommon for introductions to be an odd number of bars, for example, St. Ides Heaven from Elliott Smith, which features a five-bar introduction. In Alameda, it is the bridge that is an odd length, lasting only three bars. Similarly, the bridge of Placeholder is seven bars long. Or, take Pretty Mary K, which each section easily grouped into four-bar phrases, except for a one-bar transition following the first chorus. All of these examples show the irregularity of phrase length in Smith's music.

Elisions One formal anomaly that occurs in three of Smith's songs, that is worth noting, is Smith's use of elisions as a form of interruption or variation. The most prominent of these elisions occurs in Alameda, in which Smith interrupts the last bar of the first chorus with the beginning of the second verse. Essentially, this is the same as Smith inserting one 2/4 bar at the end of the chorus, the only 2/4 bar in the entire 4/4 song. This elision is such an important part of the song's overall feel and style that when Beck Hansen covers Alameda in concert, he includes the elision in his version.
59 Stephenson, 5 and Everett, Foundations of Rock, 328.

56
Elision between chorus and third verse in Alameda

Were this the only case of Smith using an elision in this way, we might dismiss it as an anomaly or, perhaps, simply as a recording mistake. However, that a similar break of form occurs in two other songs leads to the conclusion that this trend is instead a unique factor in Smith's style, rather than an anomaly or mistake. In Talking to Mary from New Moon almost the exact same situation occurs, with the final bar of the first chorus being shortened by two beats, with the third verse beginning halfway through what would have been a regular 4/4 bar. In Needle in the Hay, if we think of the song in 4/4, then at the end of the eight-bar long guitar introduction, then the eighth and final bar is a 2/4 bar instead of 4/4, the only such measure in the entire song. Why Smith chose to place these elisions into only these songs is, of course, unclear and is up for interpretation. However, it can be said that this simple and subtle formal variation is one of many factors contributing to the unique effect Smith's music has on listeners. Hemiolas and Mixed Meter Music from the time of both Elliott Smith and Either/Or feature hemiolas and mixed meters. In Single File, Smith switches between a pattern of one 2/4 bar followed by two 4/4 bars in the introduction and chorus, and straight 4/4 phrases in the verse. In Rose Parade, the verse and chorus feature a four-bar pattern of 4/4, 2/4, 4/4, 4/4 for its verse. Go By from New Moon is perhaps best analyzed not as mixing meters but simply stressing certain beats such that a hemiola occurs in the bridge, a subtler approach than outright change of meter. Considering that many rock musicians employ mixed meters, Smith's toying with time is not especially unique in the context of popular music in general. However, in the context of 1990s alternative music, and solo acoustic music in particular, this irregularity of meter does appear to be uncommon.

57 Phrase Rhythm: Text, Melody, and Harmony In music with lyrics, form exists at three different levels: textually (through grammar and sentence structure of lyrics), melodically (through contour and range of the voice or melodic instrument), and harmonically (through harmonic progressions and cadences). Form, then, can be viewed as a combination of these various phrases and when they come align or overlap. In popular music, the most straightforward examples of this are verse and choruses. Generally, choruses are set apart by repeated lyrics and a melodic hook, and verses are generally the parts of the song with new material each time over a repeating harmonic progression. However, in many cases, and certainly in the case of most of Smith's music, textual, melodic, and harmonic patterns do not coincide consistently or predictably. Many of Smith's songs are difficult to analyze formally because of this. Depending on how we distinguish a chorus from a verse and a refrain from a chorus, and if we determine form based primarily on textual repetition, melodic repetition, harmonic repetition, or some amalgamation of all three, then many of Smith's songs will differ in our interpretation of them. See below for several examples. Whatever (Folk Song in C) For example, in Whatever (Folk Song in C), simple melodic and harmonic ideas underplay text describing a relationship. Despite this simplicity within each aspect of the song, the form of the text, melodic material, and chords never once line up. However, to us as the listeners, the form is still clear and it feels obvious where the verse and chorus are due both to textural contrast (a different guitar picking pattern in the beginning of the chorus) and a new chord (A minor), which begins the chorus and doesn't appear in the verse. See the chart below, comparing textual, melodic, and harmonic phrases in Whatever. (Each letter corresponds only to its respective category, i.e., A in text is different from A in melody.) Text Melody Harmony Verse A A A B A A' Chorus :| C :| B :| A'' B A' A'

58 Condor Avenue Another interesting case of formal overlap comes in Condor Avenue from Roman Candle. This song is comprised of two sections, which I will call A and B. These two components could be viewed simply as one formal unit that repeats, but because the B section repeats at the end, I have broken the form into two sections for clarity. The form of the song is ABABABB, with throughcomposed lyrics that change each time through each section, save for two lines of refrain: each A section begins with the lyric, She took the Oldsmobile out past Condor Avenue. Each B section ends with the lyric, It'll make a whisper out of you. The material in between these two lines is always new. Smith uses this sort of strophic form to tell a story; he is able to describe the events of the story while tying them together with these two refrains. This sort of storytelling form is common in folk music; how Smith works within this form, however, is unique. It is distinct because of the way the poem's form and the harmonic form overlap. In the twenty-four bar A section, the text (lyrics) are best broken up into three rhyming couplets (Avenue/quietude, hoarse/forth, knees/diseased), while the melody and harmony are both a twelve-bar phrase that repeats once. In pop music, a harmonic phrase frequently ends on the same beat that a new phrase is beginning, unlike art music, where a harmonic progression will cadence at the end of one measure, before a new one begins on the next measure. In the case of Smith, this also applies to the way in which his lyrics line up with the musical form; many poetic lines end on the first beat of a new musical phrase. Because of this, the rhyme scheme is altered slightly, and some of the end rhymes of poetic phrases are delayed until the first part of a new musical phrase. Below, the lyrics are grouped into the two-bar musical phrases that they correspond to, with one line of text per two bars of music. Additionally, italicized versus roman font is used to indicate the separation of each stanza into two harmonic-melodic sections (lines 1-3 and 4-6 of each verse), which overlap the tripartite division of the verse into poetic sections based on rhyme and meter. Rhyming words from each couplet are bold.
Verse 1 1 She took the Oldsmobile out past Condor Avenue 2 The fairground's lit, a drunk man sits by the gate she's driving through

59
3 4 5 6 Got his hat tipped, bottle back in between his teeth. Looks like he's buried in the sand at the beach, I can't think about you driving off to leave, barely awake, to take a little nap while the road is straight.

Verse 2 1 She took the Oldsmobile out past Condor Avenue 2 And she locked the car and slipped past into rhythmic quiet3 4 5 6 tude. Lights burning, voice dry and hoarse. I threw the screen door like a bastard back and forth The chimes fell over each other, I fell into my knees. The sound of the car driving off made me feel diseased.

Verse 3 1 She took the Oldsmobile out past Condor Avenue 2 Cops were running around the scene, looking for some kind of 3 4 5 6 clue. They never get uptight when a moth gets crushed, unless a light bulb really loved him very much. I'm lying down blowing smoke from my cigarette, little whisper, smoke signs you'll never get.

Alameda In Alameda from Elliott Smith, a verse-chorus form with a brief bridge, Smith plays with form by allowing the first line of the chorus to function differently each time it recurs. The first time, the last line of lyrics from the first verse is completed grammatically with the first line of the chorus. Thus, poetically, one idea bleeds over from the verse into the chorus, while musically, the start of the chorus marks the beginning of new harmony and texture.
(from verse 1) How you maintain them all in a constant state of suspense, (start of chorus 1) For your own protection over their affection. Nobody broke your heart, You broke your own 'cause you can't finish what you start.

On the other hand, the second chorus follows an instrumental verse with no words; thus, the first line of this chorus (You're all pretension, I never pay attention) functions independently:
You're all pretension, I never pay attention. Nobody broke your heart, You broke your own 'cause you can't finish what you start.

60 This example further illustrates how Smith often juxtaposes textual and musical forms without necessarily making them line up. Satellite In analysis of art/classical music, the question of unity frequently arises. Meaning, how is a piece or movement tied together? This questions is appropriate for Smith's music. His variations on form and phrasing can make it difficult to distinguish phrasing. But considering other sources of unity, such as dynamics, textual theme, texture, rhythm, or even rests can help to offer clear form to Smith's more irregular songs. A good example of this is Satellite from Elliott Smith. In this song, various textual, melodic, and harmonic pieces are pieced together. The song is constructed with 3 main themes: A (6 bars), B (8 bars), and C (8 bars), which repeat. These themes are distinguishable by their starting pitch (with one beginning on E, one on F, and one on D, respectively.) The A and B themes are both in the key of D or G, with the B theme identical to the A theme, but with an extra measure at the beginning.

A B The C theme is centered around a Dm scale, with a newly natural F. C Additionally, an interlude breaks up the A and B phrases, which increases in length each time it occurs. Despite these irregularities, the form of the song is clear through rhythm and contour: each phrase of the song ends with a descending three or four measure sequence to indicate the end of the phrase. There is no vocal chorus to ground us, only a refrain of the song's title, satellite, on the descent of the C theme each time it recurs. When determining section names of Satellite, we are left with many ambiguous hints. It

61 seems natural to group the A and B phrases together as a verse, given that B is simply an extension of A material. However, the four-bar rest between the two phrases seems to divide them, as if they are best analyzed separately. The B and C phrases might be grouped together, given that no rests separate them, but because they are in different modes, this makes little sense. Because no text repeats, it is impossible to label a verse or chorus based on lyrics alone. We can certainly label the C phrase as a refrain, given that it repeats multiple times at the end of the song (although with new lyrics each time), as is common in popular forms.
Form of Satellite

intro A interlude B C interlude A interlude B C interlude C interlude C outro

12 6 4 8 8 3 6 4 8 8 5 8 7 8+4 7

62

Conclusions
Elliott Smith's early catalog, comprised of music recorded from 1994 to 1997, features a wide range of stylistic diversity. Smith's overall musical style, from Roman Candle to Figure 8, changed dramatically in just six short years. Which album in this progression is the most innovative, emotionally true, or influential is, of course, subjective. However, upon analysis it is clear that Smith's final works grew from the creativity expressed early on in his musical career. This study has explored many concrete characteristics of the musical style Smith crafted and refined in this early period. Throughout Smith's early catalog a number of factors remain constant. Smith consistently employs a concise but descriptive poetic language whose function is almost always to tell a story or detail a scene. The production of all of these recordings emphasizes dissonance in Smith's music, whether this dissonance occurs as a suspension in his guitar, between two almost-unison vocal tracks, or in a meticulously crafted piece of counterpoint. Additionally, in all of Smith's early work he works within standard, short popular song forms; it is the extent to which he modifies these forms through interruption, repetition, and variation that changes from song to song. While the genre Smith created is unmistakeably his own, his wide-ranging influences reveal themselves in subtle but significant ways throughout his catalog. The rich textures and anguished characters imagined on Roman Candle and Elliott Smith channel Smith's affection for historic country and blues legends, while the irony of his apathetic aggression reflects both his own musical experiences and the prevailing aesthetic of his generation. Tracks from New Moon center around the quick finger-picking and story-telling of his folk idols. The pop-driven aspects of Either/Or reflect Smith's mainstream tastes, and from it came tracks like Between the Bars, Angeles, and Say Yes, which are today the most widely heard songs of Smith's oeuvre. It is this album that served as the turning point between Smith's work as a lo-fi indie craftsman and the developed production and songwriting featured on his final albums. While Smith's final musical output in the early 2000s represents a lifetime of artistic development, his earliest albums have proven to be just as enduring in the critical and public eye. A remastered version of Roman Candle was released just this year. Almost fifteen years after its initial release marking the debut of Smith's solo career the sophisticated musical language and

63 haunting emotional subtlety expressed through this language have become increasingly appreciated, a testament to the enduring power of Smith's creative output. It is tragic that Elliott Smith left us so soon, but continued exploration of the language he used in his music will only broaden the inspiration musicians take from his musical vision and deepen the comfort and catharsis listeners find in his extraordinary musical voice.

64 Works Cited Ankeny, Jason. Elliott Smith. allmusic. Accessed 2 September 2010. <http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=11:gifqxq9hldhe>. Coyle, Michael and Jon Dolan. Modeling Authenticity, Authenticating Commercial Models. In Reading Rock and Roll, ed. Kevin J.H. Dettmar and William Richey. New York: Columbia University Press, 1999. de Wilde, Autumn. Elliott Smith. San Francisco: Chronicle Books, 2007. Elliott Smith MTV Interview. YouTube video. Posted 2 September 2009. Accessed 30 August 2010 <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VSqumt6Bt-g>. Elliott Smith Songwriting Lesson. YouTube video. Posted 10 December 2006. Accessed 20 July 2010 <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lgNAXlBDeZw&feature=fvw>. Elliott Smith Swedish TV Interview & Waltz #2 Live. YouTube video. Posted 27 October 2006. Accessed 20 August 2010 <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XnqjZzMscFo>. Everett, Walter. The Beatles as Musicians: Revolver through the Anthology. New York: Oxford University Press, 1999. The Foundations of Rock. New York: Oxford University Press, 2009. Fritch, Matthew. Down On the Upside. Magnet 46 (September/October 1998). From A Basement on the Hill. Anti-Records. Accessed 3 September 2010 <http://www.anti.com/catalog/view/31/From_A_Basement_On_The_Hill>. Griffiths, Dai. From lyric to anti-lyric: analyzing the words in a pop song. In Analyzing Popular Music, ed. Allan F. Moore. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2003. LeMay, Matthew. XO. New York: Continuum, 2009. Leppert, Richard and George Lipsitz. Age, the Body and Experience in the Music of Hank Williams. In All That Glitters: Country Music in America. Lewis, George H., ed. Bowling Green, Ohio: Bowling Green State University Popular Press, 1993, 22-37. McDonald, Chris. Modal Subversions in Alternative Music. Popular Music 19, no. 3 (Oct. 2000): 355-363. Mellers, Wilfrid. God, Modality and Meaning in Some Recent Songs of Bob Dylan. Popular Music

65 1 (1981): 142-157. Moore, Allan F. Rock: The Primary Text. Aldershot, England: Ashgate Publishing, 2001. Nugent, Benjamin. Elliott Smith and the Big Nothing. Cambridge: Da Capo Press, 2005. Smith, Barnaby. Elliott Smith: Roman Candle reissue. The Quietus, Reviews. 12 April 2010. Accessed 5 September 2010 <http://thequietus.com/articles/04066-elliott-smith-romancandle-reissue-review>. Smith, Elliott. Roman Candle. Cavity Search Records CSR13. CD. 1994. ---------- Elliott Smith. Kill Rock Stars KRS246. CD. 1995. --------- Either/Or. Kill Rock Stars KRS269. CD. 1997. --------- New Moon. Kill Rock Stars KRS455. CD. 2007. Smith, Roger Len. What They Play. Acoustic Guitar Magazine (November 1998). Steininger, Alex. Elliott Smith: Happiness 7. In Music We Trust 29 (March 2000), <http://www.inmusicwetrust.com/articles/29r29.html>. Stephenson, Ken. What to Listen For in Rock:A Stylistic Analysis. New Haven: Yale University Press, 2002. Wormwood, Vladimir. Elliott Smith: New Moon. PopMatters. 8 May 2007. Accessed 2 September 2010. <http://www.popmatters.com/pm/review/elliott-smith-new-moon/>. Zanes, R.J. Warren. Too Much Mead? In Reading Rock and Roll, ed. Kevin J.H. Dettmar and William Richey. New York: Columbia University Press, 1999.