In many ways, the creature known in traditional folk songs as "Black Jack Davy," among other variants, is one of the original bad boy rebels. His story has been passed down in poem and song since possibly the early 1700s, or, if you listen to Nick Tosches, since the tale of Orpheus and Eurydice. Gypsy Davy wins the heart of an upper class maiden merely by letting his song ring through the woods. With one listen she is spellbound, leaving her fine feather bed/husband/baby (different objects in different versions, often all three), all for the love of Black Jack Davy, a rogue gypsy. "Black Jack Davy" can, and has, been read approximately a zillion different ways over the aeons, and that is part of the enjoyment of the piece. I see it as a liberation in a way for the young maiden, who chooses to run off with a cunning and poor man she is (rather joltingly) in love with instead of remaining "kept" by her wealthy husband. Other interpretations of the story are all up to you.

Among the various permutations of "Black Jack Davy"...

Elliott Smith remains unquestionably one of my favorite songwriters of all time, though I don't listen to him much these days.

Way back in 1998, when I did not live in a major city and was just barely in college, I somehow felt like I was the only person in the world listening to Elliott Smith. This was before Hot Topic, just before emo went mainstream, and before irony had so massively crushed sincerity in an epic battle of wits. In these early-ish days of the internet, I managed to contact someone through a fansite and get my hands on a tape of a film about Elliott, Strange Parallel, made by the idiosyncratic Steve Hanft. I don't think I had ever seen footage of Elliott at the time.

When I put the tape in my VCR and the film unfolded before me, I remember laughing aloud all by myself at the sight of it: I was completely overwhelmed by the fact that there was Elliott, live and onscreen, wearing his Bocephus shirt and digging a hole in the woods, out of which came a guitar. In my isolation, I somehow felt like he and Steve had made this film just for me. It was stunning. At the same time, I also was tickled by the greater idea that someone had made this film, thinking that many other people would watch and enjoy it -- who were these people?! This film pointed the way toward the world beyond just myself, a world of people who maybe thought a least a little like me, especially when it came to music. I would eventually have to move to San Francisco to find them en masse.

Strange Parallel clearly shows Elliott's genius and highlights his sense of humor as well. I think it is one of my favorite things ever. In the 10 years since this film was made, information and odd, detached connections are so much more quickly at our fingertips, and Smith has gained noteriety for so many things, mostly and unfotunately outside his music, but perhaps this footage and the songs within it will be a revelation for you as well.

Sleater-Kinney's "You're No Rock n Roll Fun" is such a perfect rock song! And the video is hottness. 

A long time ago, I read that this song was inspired in part by Elliott Smith, who tended to be withdrawn and commonly wanted to sit in the corner and hear one song over and over again at parties, lost in thought. It was supposed to be an affectionate calling out of sorts. Either way, the song's a blast.

Of course for Christmas I received the new Elliott Smith book by photographer Autumn DeWilde.  All I knew about this book previous to reading it was that it was a photo book of Elliott by Autumn, who photographed him for his Figure 8 cover and made the "Son of Sam" video. I knew it was gonna come with a CD of a Largo show.  But I really didn't have any expectations-- and now that I have read the book I'm so glad I didn't because turning each page brought a surprise.

Autumn included not only gorgeous photographs and the live CD, but also interviews with Elliott's friends.  His old friends.  The ones who truly knew him and cared for him.  Toward the end of his life, many of these friends either were left behind or had falling outs with Elliott.  As a fan, when I heard about this at the time I was wondering what the heck was going on, thinking things must have gotten really bad.  This book answers many questions.  It's not exploitative though, it's merely friends talking about a complicated person they love, in good times and in bad.


There are many fantastic stories of Elliott in this book, many that even his biggest fans have not heard before.  The interviews were fascinating for me.  With each turn of a page, there was someone else I'd been waiting to hear from since his death.  The interviews cleared up some mysteries for me, like why he and Jon Brion had stopped talking in the years before his death, and what long time manager Margaret Mittleman was going through in dealing with a highly talented but also highly addicted client.

I just read that rock photographer Autumn DeWilde is going to be putting out a book of Elliott Smith photos in November.  She's an LA based photographer that took many of the pics of Elliott toward the end of his career.


The book is going to come with a CD of songs from a performance at Largo.  Here's a tracklisting:

'Between the Bars'
'Angeles'
'Clementine'
'Clouds' (Quasi)
'All My Rowdy Friends Have Settled Down' ( Hank Williams Jr.)

God, "Clouds" is one of my favorite songs ever.  It was written by Sam Coomes, one of Elliott's best friends.  Elliott always had the most impeccable taste in covers. 

Largo is a club in LA that Elliott started showing up at right after he moved there in the late 90s.  Jon Brion still performs there every Friday night.  There are many stories of Elliott drinking at the bar, then being coaxed up onstage, sometimes with Jon, sometimes with whomever was performing that night, and taking requests, jumping from instrument to instrument effortlessly, covering Beatles and metal songs.  I still want to go!

Autumn DeWilde also came to my attention through Elliott when she took the promo and album shots for Elliott's album Figure 8.  Now she takes pics for bands like the Foo Fighters and White Stripes.  Big time.