Thinking about Elliott, and about covers, I’m reminded about another post I wanted to write. For a little while, I was kinda obsessed with the song “Thirteen” by Big Star. I’d heard Elliott Smith’s cover first, and only much later heard the original. The differences are pretty striking. The lyrics to the song are fairly straightforward - a little adolescent longing, a little teenaged angst. The heart of the song is the last verse:
In the original, it comes across sort of like “I’m here if you want me, but if not, I’ll be OK”. But in the Elliott Smith version, the last verse sounds much more hopeless - as if he knows what the answer is, knows it’s ‘no’, but can’t bear not knowing for sure.
Here’s the original, hilariously enough set to scenes from Harry Potter:
And Elliott’s cover:
Won’t you tell me what you’re thinking of?
Would you be an outlaw for my love?
If it’s so, well let me know, if it’s no well I can go
I won’t make you
In the original, it comes across sort of like “I’m here if you want me, but if not, I’ll be OK”. But in the Elliott Smith version, the last verse sounds much more hopeless - as if he knows what the answer is, knows it’s ‘no’, but can’t bear not knowing for sure.
Here’s the original, hilariously enough set to scenes from Harry Potter:
And Elliott’s cover:
1 comment:
Why dost he still love her?
Post a Comment