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Each time an exceptionally gifted singer-songwriter like Elliott Smith crops up – which isn’t typically – it’s at all times pure to need to hint again their expertise. The place did he study guitar? Who was his favorite musician, and was there one artist who impressed him greater than some other? Was he a fan of Bob Dylan?
Happily, earlier than a 34-year-old Smith was taken from the world in 2003, he had given us solutions to most of those questions. Throughout a webchat with NME in 2000, Smith was requested a bunch of questions on his musical tastes. Whereas Smith was a soft-voiced folk-inspired solo artist within the latter and extra profitable a part of his profession, his roots had been additionally grounded within the heavier rock of his Heatmiser days. Naturally, his style is markedly eclectic.
When requested what his favorite late-night (or “2.45am”) album was, Smith defined that “There are a number of. I feel Marquee Moon by Tv and The Marble Index by Nico [laughs].” Smith talked about Nico quite a few occasions all through his profession.
He was later requested: “In the event you might discover a secret passage to anybody’s head, Being John Malkovich-style, whose would it not be?” Smith replied: “In all probability Nico.” Confirming his love for The Velvet Underground collaborator, Smith later listed his favorite vocalists as “John Doe, Stevie Marvel, Sam Coomes, Nico.”
Later, Smith was requested what age he was when he determined that he needed to be a musician. “In all probability 5, as quickly as I heard [The Beatles’] The White Album. It was just about my inspiration, that and AC/DC.” Smith would typically communicate of his love for The Beatles, particularly John Lennon and George Harrison. He was additionally well-known for pulling some cracking covers out of the locker occasionally; certainly one of his most memorable was a canopy of Lennon’s Abbey Street observe ‘As a result of’.
Smith’s latter spell as an acoustic singer-songwriter was influenced by a few of the greats of the Sixties and ’70s, together with Bob Dylan, Neil Younger and Nick Drake. When requested by NME: “Who is best, Bob Dylan or Neil Younger?” Smith appeared reluctant to attract comparisons. He noticed that as an unfair observe within the arts. “There’s no actual reply to that query. Why make a hierarchy of individuals? They’re each nice. Neil Younger is extra indirect, however I like them each.”
Regardless of refraining from putting a hierarchy upon fellow musicians, Smith as soon as highlighted Dylan’s 1963 second studio album, The Freewheelin’ Bob Dylan, as a private favorite. He recalled Dylan being a dominating presence in his childhood. “My father taught me to play ‘Don’t Suppose Twice, It’s All Proper’ [from The Freewheelin’ Bob Dylan],” Smith recalled. “I really like Dylan’s lyrics, however greater than that, I really like the truth that he loves writing lyrics.”
Hearken to Elliott Smith’s reside cowl of Bob Dylan’s ‘Don’t Suppose Twice, It’s All Proper’ beneath.
