Happy holidays, unfortunately the much time-consuming song guide was not completed this year as I had hoped. However, it is still being worked on. A few highlights from it for those who enjoy learning of obscure updates about Elliott’s music:
* Few Laps, a Fruit Cup and a Funeral - many longtime Elliott fans will remember seeing this in BMI registries with no explanation. Outreach to those involved with Elliott’s music now provides no indication as to what this is, other than the fact that it clearly was some sort of audio composition created by and performed by Elliott. Beyond that, total mystery. If you have an idea, please comment!
* From a Poison Well - some alt lyrics written in 1999 can be viewed at the link, courtesy of long time fan ghost/snowballinhell. The likely evolution of the song: “First Timer” (New Moon Version - early ‘97) -> “First Timer” (Live Version, Feb 14, 1997) -> “From a Poison Well” (lyric sheet, 1999) -> “From a Poison Well” (studio version, 2003)
* Gimme Gimme Teenage Head - digging through some old, now-deleted content reveals that Elliott and “Happy Ending”, his girlfriend’s band, made some progress on the attempt to create recordings for the band in 2003. The one title we have deducted was recorded based on some comments from the page of the label that was supposedly going to release the music. It’s a Primal Scream cover. Obviously, Elliott would have only been producing. Here is the original.
* Glamourine - Brandt Peterson’s “Just a Little Prick” ultimately made it to the Heatmiser demo tape, but this song did not.
* Glass Onion - In his pre-Roman Candle days, Elliott, either by himself or with some of his collaborators in that time period, recorded or performed this Lennon-penned Beatles song from the White Album.
* I Didn’t Understand - There are at least two unreleased versions that exist. The first is a solo acoustic demo recorded in 1997. The second is what appears to be a piano version with orchestral instrumentation also added during the “strings” session for XO. In the end the second version was scrapped and the acapella version was used instead for the album.
* I Figured You Out - Elliott recorded a proper solo version with him on vocals during the Either/Or sessions before “giving” this to and recording it with Mary Lou Lord.
* Instrumental (Hidden) - Shortly after the end of “Junior Mint” on Heatmiser’s Yellow No. 5 EP, some silence ensues followed by the band kicking off a casual instrumental jam that has not been acknowledged anywhere previously.
* Isolation - According to the director of Thumbsucker, Elliott had “partially completed” this John Lennon cover to contribute to the soundtrack, at the time of his death.
* Joy to the World - The tracklisting for the first Stranger Than Fiction album reveals that this song, which fans previously thought to be part of “The Machine,” is actually a separate tune that “The Machine” simply fades into seamlessly.
* Jump Across the Mountain - As of December 2016, William Todd Schultz has decided to share a clip of this Stranger Than Fiction song. It remains unclear if he will ever share the full recording.
* San Diego - The Birddog “Killer” EP recorded in 1996 with Elliott producing reveals this song which has not previously been acknowledged amongst Elliott’s contributions. As with “Killer” and “Parked Car Homestead,” Elliott also produces this song which ultimately did not appear on the later release The Trackhouse The Valley The Liquor Store Drive-Thru which probably explains its omissions from all previous descriptions of Elliott’s guest discography.
Work on the song guide continues, though as you can see exciting revelations and discoveries tend to slow things down :) I’m also taking a shot at transcribing lyrics to a bunch of songs where Elliott guest-starred that have arguably never been transcribed before. Take a look and see if you can help.
http://songs.alphabet-town.com/songguide
