Elliott Smith- Unlucky Charm
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- Опубліковано 7 лют 2025
- My flower would not unfold
Always waiting for some sunnier day
Quiet, impatient but afraid and hidden away
And the awful truth's been told, matter of fact
And I can't take it back and I wouldn't want to
Or at least that's what I say
Will you come out now?
Now that it's too late for me to be in on the scene
I hurt you bad, but you know you're a dream
Do you want success, oh yeah
Through somebody else, oh no, no, no, no
So start over, it's been a time since you've had to
Do you got your own thing?
Yeah, what you want to do for now
Stop taking everything back
It confronts you just lying down
Will you come out now?
Who would you do it for
Unlucky charm, beautiful collapsing star?
Who would it be?
Why wasn't it me?
This whole concert is very surreal, including this song. Elliott mentions that it's his last time playing in Portland for a while, probably because he was moving to New York soon (the concert is in may 1997 I believe), and he is in this extremely rare form the entire time. It's not my place to say how much alcohol he drank, but he was definitely sad, and was asking the audience why they were even interested in his music. He was having trouble finishing a couple songs and someone in the audience yells, "Just make up something!", and he begins to play this song. It's astonishing to me that, to him, this is making up something. Sometimes I just don't think he understood how brilliant he was.
Yeah, May 15th, 1997 at EJs. This is my recording, I didn't know for years that it was such a rare song. Elliott was sitting next to me on the floor while we watched Sean Croghan's set and kept shouting requests at Sean. Sean made him come up and help him out on the song. Rebecca Gates closed the show.
Human Clock I am so jealous!!! Oh my gosh. I only discovered him four years ago, and I wish so much that was a decade and a half sooner--maybe I would have got to see him live. That's so amazing you go to sit next to him. I can't thank you enough for recording this concert, because likely no one would have been able to hear this song (to my knowledge, it's never been recorded anywhere else). You have done such a wonderful favor to all of Elliott's fans.
It sounds like there is a faint harmony on some of the vocal parts in this recording, do you recall if there was anyone singing with him during this?
uh lucky fella i wish i had that luck...
Your comment is very interesting and I am trying to feel where you are coming from, since you are familiar with him and his music and I am super new...yes, he sounds a little drunk, or tired, so is this what you mean by "extremely rare form"? Meaning he normally was not intoxicated/high at performances, I guess rare form, maybe not in the best light for an artist and performer you know him as? He does like to chat with his small, cozy audiences, and I have listened to a few where I swear, I don't think most of the people appreciated what they were hearing...all kinds of yelling and half ignoring him while he plays, some rude remarks and bugging him for songs he clearly seems to not want to play, I felt bad for him listening to a few shows, people can be so brutal. I always loved going to see live bands during the 90s and 2000s and even if the band was awful, I would cheer because it's just what humans should do.
P.S. Unless the band that is terrible is also a bunch of rude jerks, then it is OK to boo them off the stage ; )
I would have liked to have seen him play in my area, Philly perhaps, and I probably would have brought him an ice cream cone or small cup - to help perk him up if the show wasn't going well, lol....I am being a goof, idk, read somewhere he spent hundreds on icecream and it was primarily all he ate for a period of time? That is different. He didn't look like he ate ice cream every day but I love his body type on men and I tend to go for lean and lanky, just enough muscle to be a man but probably considered scrawny by the jock types. He was cute in an unusual way & I have never known a person to look so different in so many photos. I find I like his personal photos, the pictures that look like friends or girlfriends took...some of the pro ones are fabulous but the natural ones are best. He had that ruddy, rough face, perhaps acne scarring from teenage days, reminds me of Bryan Adams, rugged and handsome but not a pretty boy.
“You know you’re a dream”
I’ve been coming back to this recording for 14 years. Wish I made it to his show at Field Day Fest in ‘03. My gf at the time and I had our tickets ripped up by our parents after being caught smoking pot 🤦🏻♀️
I’d like to think Elliott would smirk if he heard that.
Omg that is terrible! You already had the tickets, to see him in '03 (same year he died), and your tickets were ripped apart... I would be devastated
Recently I went to see Roger Waters live... the tickets were expensive, but my friend told me "The guy is like 80, this may be the last chance you ever get to see him live", so I went, and no regrets, it was a great show!
But who could have known that Elliott would pass in '03... omg I just feel so sad now... two Elliott fans having their tickets ripped up, when it was one of his last concerts... I am sad and pissed off... sorry... but big respect to you and your gf
It's a real testament to this man's talent that he had songs like this that just narrowly escaped never been recorded. Prolific, brilliant, haunting. What an artist.
honestly one of my favourite songs of his
@@Schodboyblves years later, and it's literally my favorite song of all time lol
It's really amazing, so many of his songs are instantly familiar to me the first time I hear them.
It's a rare phenomenon I've experienced from from various random songs throughout the years, but it seems like almost every Elliott song I hear does that to me.
It's as if he channels his songs directly from the collective unconscious of human emotion.
9 years ago, o well, but I love your comment here & it absolutely resonated with me, word for word!
Omg yes
He was like a visiting alien bringing gifts beyond our feeble appreciation.
elliott saved my life, when in the lost and found place of my distorted reality, his angel voice mirrored my pain, his angel words touched my Soul. Deeply and forever grateful for his peotry and art.
A beautiful, hopeful message and Elliott knows.
I love the fact that no one even claps or anything at the end of this unbelievable song. It just shows that he was so ahead of his time it’s rediculous
Ik this is 6 years late but there is clapping the poster just cut it out and it was a little delayed
Hes so beautiful. The greatest of all time. No one comes close
I can't believe this audio is real, how could people still be talking and laughing instead pf hearing one of the most beautiful and emotional songs on the world... You just can't ignore this feeling, it's absorbing
I'm just now getting into Elliott's old stuff. I LOVE IT.
It confronts you just lying down
Will you come out now?
Who would you do it for
Unlucky charm, beautiful collapsing star?
Who would it be?
Why wasn't it me?
Elliott was a fucking genius
"haha I know, omg he was!" literally what I said when I read this ^_^
One of the songs in like a 25 way tie for my favorite Elliott Smith song:)
Probably my favourite song of Elliott's.I don't know if its the live recording or the song itself , or maybe both , but it seems to have an ethereal quality which drags me in and takes me to another place.As with so much of his music you don't as much listen as feel.
This song sums up my human condition a little too well, Thanks Elliott.
i think this is one of his best songs, criminal its only on youtube
My absolute favorite song of all time.
reminds me in many ways of "jewel box" by jeff buckley. both beautiful, underrated songs from beautiful, underrated songwriters.
that's a great song, I can hear what you mean
Beautiful colapsing star
Such a hauntingly beautiful tune. His songs have such incredible depth it's unreal.
Such an impeccably gorgeous song *~*
Elliott Smith always saves me everytime my dark side starts to whisper ..that sad negativity . a contradiction.
A contradiction in terms
Those chords are beautiful
147 likes and not a single dislike, I'm glad everyone who's come here can appreciate incredible talent when they hear it.
This is my new drug of choice
First time hearing this tune. ES worshipper since 2008…Referred here by “My Favorite Elliott Smith Song” podcast (the one with Steve from American Football)
❤
Thank you for posting everything you post, mymayapapaya, and thus spreading the love of Elliott.
i completely agree with you. which is why i am always looking for stuff i haven't heard.. i think i have heard it all.. i wish he was still around to play more. =/ i can't even dream what it was like to see him live or meet him.
This song is amazing, I have the word Unlucky tattooed on my arm, and I am getting the word charm underneath it soon. For my own reasons not just for the name of the song. But amazing song.
It’s so viscerally beautiful
as though it was always written. Like all his magnificent tunes there's a certain inevitability.
I love you Elliott ❤
thank you for everything Elliott, see you in heaven soon. 💙
so beautiful
i ❤ elliott smith
This song is perfect
My most listened to song of 2024 👍😊
I so wish a proper studio recording would surface of this, I'm aware there is a short version already up on here.
+AshtrayWasp from what I can remember there's a short 1 minute clip of him talking then playing the melody in a studio. It sucks this song escaped being on an album, would've been amazing. This recording is still gold though, he played it perfectly here.
@@SuperBmrp Ohhh no, well it is 2 years later and I am hoping to find even a slightly cleaner version of this song? I love it so and it deserves justice, sigh.
I'm speechless...
I think this might be my fav elliott song
Beautiful song :)
dont worry dude.
there was nothing left to do...
music is all he had left and he accomplished it quite well and left.
i hope hes found peace.
He was murdered. The assailant has moved on and is happily married.
@@Dani92670 who are they?
@cyrusthunders its a machine that doubles voices up... a harmony machine...
God I love this song
I had probably said it before but whatever... One of my favorites by Elliott.
haunting
I wish i can download this song... This my Favorite song i ever head.
me too
never heard this one!
wow
tnx
No, there are faint back-ups (Possibly Janet Weiss), and this is not "Studio" but I don't recall where it was done LIVE.
Vic Demise nah that's just the reverb on the mic
This is fucking amazing
its live !
its a delay effect. the sound guy must have put it on when elliott was playing live.
it does kind of sound like harmonies.
either way, i love this song.
You can hear them really faintly on "Will you come out now" especially on the word now!
One of my top 5 of his unreleased, too bad the audience was talking over him.
Idiots.
I'm curious, what other 4 would you put up there? For his unreleased
@@lordofleaves257 No Confidence Man, Mr. Goodmorning/Just Between Us, Abused, and Dancing on the Highway.
@@LiviotheDoubleFang interesting, i just listened to all of those. I like how the little bit from the end of "in the lost and found" was used for dancing on the highway, i always felt it had a bigger purpose
I think the people talking and not listening adds a lonesome quality that really augments the tone of the song. Same with that slight echo.
you said it better, because you said it in fewer words!
How do you find these great songs. Damn. I like to think that I know all things Elliott Smith but you always have something new. Thank you so much!
The "Will you come out now?" line sounds like "Let me take you down" from Strawberry Fields
xo elliott
Afraid and hidden away
@cyrusthunders He was a really talented acoustic guitarist actually
Please release studio version Jesus
Profound lyrics
Is this live? What an amazing performance...
+cmartmozzy yes :)
I wish I could talk to him.
had this on cd when i was 17
Who would it be?
Why wasn't it me...
elliott digged zz top! yeah!
this is from elliottsmithbsides . com from the "confusion" live songs tracklist. you can download a lot of free songs from there its great.
Sad how it seems like the audience isn't even listening, not even an applause ;~;
I love you for saying this, Garbanzo! I was just saying this in my novel comment above. I have noticed this in several of his shows I've come across on UA-cam - like knitting factory New Years Eve 1999 - turns midnight and he is like by himself for the first few minutes. It seemed like he was there to entertain people, like he was the hired help. Girls were sitting up front and they should have been all over a nice Happy New Year hug for 2000, what losers.
Elliott was so unappreciated then, it feels. He is a lost art, a hidden gem, our melancholia treasure.
does somebody know if this is the only version of this song, or if somewhere there is a studio version or a better live recording? cause it would a pity if this recording was the only one , the song is brilliant
so true. well said. i posted my comment and then read yours. crazy!
CS
Mymayapapaya if anybody can find a studio version its you
Confronts you just lying down...
Although it's extremely difficult to hear, there are back up harmonies each time he sings will you come out now and when he sings do you got your own thing. I'm guessing the venue must have had a horrible sound guy because i really had to crank up the volume to hear it.
Nick Hugo it’s actually the stage echo, and the fact that it comes out how it does is pretty amazing.
The venue clearly has a pretty broad echo, as you can hear in the first half of the bridge. It just so happens that high pitches project the best on this stage, and the chorus is an effective canon against itself, so for specifically those notes, the echo of the upper notes is about the same volume as the original lower notes and they produce a consonant harmony.
I'll change it but I can't say for sure
I think he says "it hurts you just lying down."
i am 20 and i love this song
???
センス良いですね。🎉
Who's doing the backup harmonies? they sound awesome
@kamalmanzukie so true
SOMEBODY SAVE THE SWEET ADELINE DOT NET WEBSITE!!! ITS SET TO EXPIRE! I don't wanna lose all those great tabs. That site is like my bible..
Could anyone tell me what style hat that is? I've loved it ever since I first saw him wear it and I want to try and find a similar one
it's a bucket hat
@@AnbaricDaemo Lmao, UA-cam really is like it's own special little Twilight Zone. Where else can one come across a silly question in a comment section, only to see it took 8 years for someone to answer the poor person, with the obvious (blatantly) answer. No one else could take the lead here?
Yes, he did rock the bucket hat like few can.
ergot, did you hear that yell? , well thast was me
@cyrusthunders it's just a bit of reverb man.
Is there a recorded version of this song?
What year was this?
What backup harmonies?
@mymayapapaya use your imagination!
@Stillillgal come back to sweetaddy
I like how beautiful stuff like this goes unreleased on XO, and instead we get Waltz #1...
What's wrong with "Waltz #1"?
if you are implying that waltz #1 is a bad song, I am genuinely stunned
You must be a smith fan trolling lol. That statement is too specific to not know his career intimately, but too ridiculous to be a real opinion.
@@aysecgagon3355 bahahaha....😆
ridiculous bass line...ridiculous