Those of you who are fans of the incredibly talented artist that was Elliott Smith will have recognized the reference in this blog's title - taken from his beautiful song Twilight.
I got to know his music thanks to Mr K. who himself owes this discovery to a BMX video.
I loved him from the very beginning.
His melodies and his voice were the perfect soundtrack to a perfect summer, back when we had just moved into our new apartment.
It feels like we listened to Coming Up Roses and Southern Belle for two months straight every day.
Back then though, I didn't really grasp the depth of his music.
To me, he was more a noise in the background, the perfect companion to mellow evenings and bottles of wine on the terrace.
It's only when I started paying attention to his lyrics that I became hooked.
Once you dig up a little and find out stuff about his life, you actually feel like you're hearing his pain in every song.
He seemed to be a tortured soul, which made for gorgeous, emotionally charged songs.
Last summer, N. gave me a great biography of him which all but turned me from fan to groupie.
It feels now like I can link some songs to some events of his life, which makes them even more special to me.
While his life was cut short way too soon, he did manage to get a nice amount of songs out there and I like to discover new ones all the time.
Elliott Smith's discography feels to me like a box filled with all my favorite chocolates : I can pick whichever one without minding the wrapper's color and know that it will be scrumptious.
Even though I'm a sucker for everything he did, his self-titled album is still one of my favorites.
I have lost count of the number of nights where he sang me to sleep.
The scene in The Royal Tenenbaums where Richie slits his wrists to Needle in The Hay might very well be one of my fave movie moments of all time and whenever I reach an all time low, I can't help but think that that's exactly the song that I would pick too.
Contrary to popular belief though, Elliott Smith isn't a gloomy artist suitable only for depressed people.
His songs are great to sing along to when you're cruising in your car and they're even better to slow dance to with your boyfriend.
Below are my 10 favorite Elliott Smith songs, in no particular order :
* Twilight
* Coming Up Roses
* Son Of Sam
* Miss Misery
* Southern Belle
* Angeles
* Needle In The Hay
* Memory Lane
* Let's Get Lost
* Pictures Of Me
My only regret is that I discovered him too late to get to see him perform.
That's definitely the first thing that I'll do once I go up in the air.
x, K.
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