Strung Out And Thin...

today was a thankful, yet humble day to be alive. we had our veteran's appreciation day at church as well as our annual thanksgiving dinner afterwords. i was glad to go this time since i have missed it the past four years while at college. when all was over with i went to the funeral home next door and visited with some old family friends who were grieving over their grandfather who had just passed away. it was a sad time, but also a good one. good in the fact that this old man who i have known for a long time had lived a great life and died in peace. he was one of the chilocco boarding school alumni who i have met over the years. those poor native children who went to the indian boarding schools hold a close relationship to one another. it was bittersweet and beautiful at the same time.

when i got home i decided to listen to some more mellow music than the harsher stuff of late. singer songwriter Elliot Smith was on today's music time for me and i had forgotten how great he really was.



now i like to say that music this melloncolie can not be too good to listen to when certain moods are about one's self, but that was not the case this time. the soft vocals of this young man stood out amongst the realities of today's pace and now, past memories. i was in a good mood for once when listening to this type of mellow music and i know for certain that this was something much more different than what has been goin' on in my life these past few weeks. the music was just there and not interfering with my life. it wasn't a stop sign to tell me where to go and how to feel. no, this time the music was just there to help me relax and feel at ease.

elliot smith is dead. he died at the age of 34 in los angeles by two stab wounds to the heart. the circumstances around his death are still being talked about today by family and fans alike. some have ruled it out to be a suicide (another one of my tragic hero's...) and others believe it to be murder. regardless of that which has happened, the music is what's important now, and what great music we have here for us.

this man created five albums in his time, whith two more released after his death. he is known for the song, "miss misery" from the movie Good Will Hunting for which he won a grammy. for me, i will always remember the song "needle in the hay" when it was used in the suicide scene from The Royal Tennabaums. richie says the line " i'm going to kill myself tomorrow," which is a quote from the french movie Le Feu Follet or The Fire Within, and then he proceeds to do himself harm. luckily bill murray was there to rush him to the hospital. the movie still stands as one of my favorites by wes anderson.

today i want to post my favorite elliot smith album. the wonderfull, yet emotional and tragically beautiful, Either-Or. this is probably his most popular album, but that doesn't take away from it's power. dig in deep and listen to a man on the edge of life, but don't linger there yourself because there is more to life than what's on the edge.


http://www.mediafire.com/?jhzuy4ho3uz

Your hand on his arm
The haystack charm around your neck
Strung out and thin
Calling some friend, trying to cash some check

He's acting dumb
That's what you've come to expect

Needle in the hay
Needle in the hay
Needle in the hay
Needle in the hay

He's wearing your clothes
head down to toes, a reaction to you
You say you know what he did
But you idiot kid, you don't have a clue

Sometimes they just get caught in the eye,
you're pulling him through

Needle in the hay
Needle in the hay
Needle in the hay
Needle in the hay

Now on the bus
Nearly touching this dirty retreat
Falling out 6th and powell, a dead sweat in my teeth
Gonna walk walk walk
Four more blocks, plus the one in my brain

Down downstairs to the man,
he's gonna make it all okay

I can't beat myself
I can't beat myself
And I don't want to talk
I'm taking the cure
So I can be quiet wherever I want

So leave me alone
You ought to be proud that I'm getting good marks

Needle in the hay
Needle in the hay
Needle in the hay
Needle in the hay